Author: ISM Media Group

Children Beaten Outside Their Home by Israeli Soldiers in Hebron

On the 16th of November two 10 year old Palestinian boys were beaten, harassed and detained by six Israeli soldiers outside their home in central Hebron.

Their house is situated next to an illegal settlement which is protected by a large number of Israeli soldiers. The children were playing together with two older friends when a soldier started shouting verbal abuse at them. He then forced them at gunpoint to face the wall and raise their hands . After 15 minutes of harassment from the soldiers and verbal abuse from settlers, met with stone throwing from Palestinians, a policeman came and checked the IDs of the two adults and let them go.

The two children were detained, accused for having cut of the cable to one of the surveillance cameras belonging to the Israeli Occupation Force. After more soldiers arrived on the scene, a total of six Israeli soldiers beat the children in front of the policeman and four other witnesses. The soldiers also threatened to kill one of the older friends. The children were detained by the soldiers for one hour and twenty minutes before being brought to the police-station.

NYC Indymedia: Glitterati at Leviev’s New York Gala Stunned by Encounter with Palestinian Rights Protest (Updated)

By Adalah-NY

Over 100 well-dressed, well-heeled New Yorkers attending the invitation-only opening of diamond mogul Lev Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store this evening appeared stunned and aghast to find their evening derailed by a noisy protest against Leviev’s construction of illegal West Bank settlements. Gala attendees set down their champagne glasses and gathered by windows to view the signs and Palestinian flags, and hear protesters’ chants.

30 New York City human rights activists chanted, “You’re glitz, you’re glam, you’re stealing Palestinian land.”, and “All your diamonds cannot hide, your support for Apartheid.” Protesters called on New York City’s upscale residents to boycott Leviev’s diamonds. Disconcerted attendees hastily exited to their limousines to loud chants of, “Occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag.”

Lev Leviev is one of Israel’s richest men. He built his enormous fortune trading in diamonds with Apartheid-era South Africa. His company now buys diamonds from the repressive Angolan government. Leviev uses profits from diamond sales to fuel the conflict in Palestine and Israel by funding the construction of suburban developments for Israeli settlers on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, undermining the prospects for Middle East peace, and threatening farmers’ ability to survive and remain in their homes. Leviev’s diamonds are “conflict diamonds” in a broad sense of the term, funding repression in Angola and violations of international law in Palestine.

Leviev and his former US partner Shaya Boymlegreen have also angered New Yorkers with their abusive local developments schemes. Leviev has invested $1 billion in real estate in New York City over the last year. In New York City, Leviev and Boymelgreen have employed underpaid, non-union workers in hazardous conditions and violated housing codes to construct luxury apartments that displace low-income and moderate-income residents in Brooklyn, provoking local branches of the Laborer’s International Union and ACORN to launch a campaign against these abuses (www.shayaiscoming.org). Brooklynites remain concerned that Leviev and Boymelgreen are key developers in the planned Gowanus Village project.

Leviev’s real estate empire in Israel is building homes for Israelis in the West Bank settlements of Mattityahu East and Zufim, according to Gadi Algazi in the August, 2006 Le Monde Diplomatique, and in Maale Adumim and Har Homa, according to The Jerusalem Post. He has
also built homes in the settlement of Ariel. All the settlements in which Leviev has built homes seize vital Palestinian water and agricultural resources and carve the West Bank into disconnected Bantustans, destroying hopes for a viable Palestinian state. All Israeli settlements built in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violate international law.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth also reported on January 28, 2004 that Leviev is a primary donor to the Israeli organization the Land Redemption Fund, which allegedly uses fraud and intimidation to extort land from Palestinian farmers for Israeli settlement. While Leviev donates to UNICEF and OXFAM, 50% of families in the farming village of Jayyous are now on food aid, according to the Financial Times, because they are being choked by Leviev’s expansion of the all-Jewish settlement of Zufim. Leveiv and Boymlegreen are building the settlement of Mattityahu East on the village of Bil’in’s land. Bil’in has earned international acclaim for its three year campaign of nonviolent protest against the construction of settlements and Israel’s wall on their farmland.

“Leviev’s new Manhattan store hides the devastating use of its owner’s fortune underneath shimmering facets of polished diamonds. As long as Lev Leviev violates international law by building settlements in the West Bank and attacks New York’s communities with invasive
luxury development, there can be no business as usual for him,” said Daniel Lang/Levitsky of Jews Against the Occupation/NYC. Adalah-NY will hold a second protest at Leviev’s 700 Madison Avenue jewelry store on Tuesday November 20 from 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

For more info: Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East:

www.mideastjustice.org

justiceme@gmail.com

Update 17th Nov

Susan Sarandon will cross a picket line – if there are diamonds on the other side. The actress waded through a throng of picketers to get to a cocktail party for the Leviev jewelry store launch on Madison Avenue this week. A group carrying Palestinian flags was on the sidewalk protesting the Finesse Diamond Corp., which provides gems to Leviev, and Leviev’s construction of illegal West Bank settlements. They were shouting, “You’re glitz, you’re glam, you’re building on Palestinian land” and “Occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag.” Our source reports that Sarandon went in and “tried not to notice the yells outside.”

Servere Military Repression at Bil’in Demonstration, Members of French Parliament Present

Today saw a large demonstration in Bil’in against the apartheid wall attended by members of the French Parliament. 200 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched from the village down to the apartheid wall, where the procession was met by the Israeli army. Extreme force was used to try and push the demonstration back to the village. Despite facing a barrage of tear gas, rubber bullets and sound bombs the protestors managed to stay in the area close to the apartheid wall for about an hour and a half. Four People, two Palestinians, one Israeli and an American, were detained by the army, but were later released.

The apartheid wall annexes about 60% of Bil’ins land. The weekly protest was started almost three years ago and has resulted in the supreme court ordering the wall be moved west to give Bil’in back 250 acres of land. However, the protest continues as the wall is still standing and the illegal settlement of Mattiyahu East, which was built on seized village land, was recently legitamised by the same court.

In the course of 200 demonstrations 800 people have been injured. An Israeli attorney and a Bil’in resident both suffered permanent brain damage from rubber-coated steel bullets shot from close range. Another Palestinian lost sight in one eye. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders have been arrested, and have even had their houses raided by the army. Some people have spent months in prison.

For a link to Skip Schiels Photos of the demonstration click here

Apartheid Masked: Fourth in a Series of Non-Violent Protests Against Apartheid Road 443

The fourth in a series of non-violent protests against apartheid road 443 took place today. 150 Palestinians and internationals marched to the side of the road to protest the Israeli system of apartheid, of which road 443 is a large part. Even though highway 443 is located in the West Bank, and its expansion was built on seized Palestinian land, Palestinians are not allowed to use it.

The separate road system has become a symbol of the apartheid system in the occupied territories which treats Palestinians as inferior. Other examples include the legal system whereby Palestinians are held under military law, and can be detained for long periods of time without charge, while Israelis have all the privileges of civil law.

The Israeli army attempted to stop the procession with force but the demonstrators managed to reach the side of the road and protest for about an hour, conveying their message to passing drivers. Half of the protesters were children who had the day off from school. At the end of the protest some of the children climbed up a light poll and hung a Palestinian flag. The police stopped Israeli activists form joining the protest by setting up a road block, which created a large traffic jam. At the end of the protest about 25 men kneeled and prayed next to the solders, the solders occasional pushed the praying men.

Members of French Parliament Attending Tomorrows Demonstration in Bil’in

For Immediate Release

Tomorrow 36 members of the French Parliament and regional mayors will join the people of Bil’in for their weekly protest against the apartheid wall and settlements. Palestinian, Israeli and international protestors will meet at 12pm by the mosque in Bil’in village to march to a site near the Modi’in Illit settlement.

The popular committee of Bil’in have been organizing weekly protests for almost three years now, culminating in an Israeli supreme court decision to reroute the apartheid wall further west to give Bilin 250 acres of its land back.

However, the protest continues as the supreme court also rejected a petition to stop the construction of another Israeli settlement, Mattiyahu East, on Bil’ins land even further to the west. Israel, with US support, appears determined to retain major West Bank settlement blocs, including one west of Bil’in, that carve the West Bank into bantustans.

The weekly protest started In December, 2004 when the Israeli army started bulldozing village land and uprooting olive trees to build the wall. Palestinians, Israelis and internationals suffered patiently together as the soldiers met the nonviolent actions with teargas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and clubs. Over 800 have activists have been injured in 200 demonstrations. An Israeli attorney and a Bil’in resident both suffered permanent brain damage from rubber-coated steel bullets shot from close range. Another Palestinian lost sight in one eye. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders have arrested, even had their houses raided by the army. Some people have spent months in prison.

Creative activities are a regular feature of the protests. One Friday, activists locked themselves inside a cage, representing the wall’s impacts. Another time, a Palestinian “outpost” was built on village land located behind the wall and next to an Israeli settlement, mimicking the Israeli strategy of establishing outposts to expand settlements.

Another Friday protestors handed the Israeli soldiers a letter saying, “Had you come here as guests, we would show you the trees that our grandfathers planted here, and the vegetables that we grow… There will never be security for any of us until Israelis respect our rights to this land.”

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