Author: ISM Media Group

Succesful demonstration and olive harvest in Um Salamona

2nd of November 2007

Today, the villagers of Um Salamona called for a demonstration that would assist Mahmoud Takadka, in harvesting his olive trees on his land, located just below the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat. The villagers of Um Salamona have had difficulties getting to their land because the Israeli army has prevented them from crossing Road 60, the construction site of the Apartheid Wall. Under the current Israeli plan, the Apartheid Wall will separate approximately 3,000,000 square meters of Um Salamona’s land from its Palestinian owners, destroying thousands of grape and olive trees that are vital to the livelihood of the local farmers. This is a violation of a recent Israeli High Court ruling, which confirmed that the land is Palestinian-owned.

Early this morning, the farmer and his family tried to get to his land, but the Israeli Army denied them access. Instead, the farmer started harvesting on his fields close to the school, and waited for human rights activists to arrive.

At about eleven o’clock, dozens of Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists joined the farmer and his family in a new attempt to get through to the land. The demonstration went across the route of the wall, continued a few hundred metres and was then stopped by the army. The activists and farmers went peacefully through a razor-wired fence on the side of the road and managed to continue on to the fields. There, the activists and the farmer successfully harvested all of his olive trees. After finishing about three hours later, everyone went peacefully back to the village. No one was injured.

IMEMC: Israeli soldiers exchange photos of killed Palestinians

Thursday November 1, 2007

Israeli soldiers have recently exchanged photos of killed Palestinians on their cellular phones, the Israeli Daily Mariv reported on Thursday.

The daily explained that the soldiers have set photos of killed Palestinians as their mobiles’ screen pictures instead of their families’.

The daily received a number of photos of those being exchanged by the soldiers and that some soldiers revealed that such photos have recently spread widely among soldiers, serving on Gaza-Israel border lines.’

The Israeli newspaper maintained that most categories of the Israeli army, including the tank battalions, the infantry and others have been using these photos, the latest of which was of a Palestinian who was killed by the Israeli soldiers during an infiltration attempt.

“The photos exchange has become a hobby among the soldiers, in way that would have relieved us as victorious against the terrorists ‘Palestinians'”, the newspaper quoted one of the soldiers as saying.

A spokesperson of the Israeli army has responded to such a report by saying that the army will start an examination into the case and that if it proved correct, the army would guarantee morals of its soldiers.

Throughout the Palestinian uprising (Intifada), the Israeli army has been involved in a series of misconduct, such as the killing of a four-month-old Palestinian baby in southern Gaza, and the dragging in the street of a killed Palestinian in the West Bank.

For the original article, click here:
http://www.imemc.org/article/51245

Adbusters: Maxim’s Sex War

By: Sean Condon

With photos of women in black bikinis striking provocative poses, Maxim magazine devoted five full pages in their July 2007 issue to answer the single most pressing question in the Middle East: “Are the women in the Israeli Defense Forces the world’s sexiest soldiers?”

Commended for their ability to “take apart an Uzi in seconds,” Maxim featured four “drop dead gorgeous” former Israeli soldiers scantily clad in military garb and swimwear.

“My job was top secret,” said Nivit Bash, who wore a black army cap and not much else for her picture. “I can’t talk about it other than to say I studied some Arabic.”

What also wasn’t talked about was that the feature was actually part of a branding campaign by the Consulate General of Israel in New York to improve Israel’s public image. The consulate apparently believed that using women in Maxim would make
readers forget Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and use of hundreds of thousands of cluster bombs in Lebanon in the conflict last summer. It was Maxim’s decision to use the ex-soldiers, whose photo shoot was partly funded by the American-Israel Friendship League and Israel21C.

While some female members of the Israeli parliament denounced the feature as “pornographic,” there was little outcry about the
magazine’s decision to promote and celebrate an army that has been accused of war crimes by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

“When people view Israel, for the most part they view it as a land of conflict anyway,” says David Saranga, a spokesperson for the consulate. “Maxim knows what its readers like, and they wanted to stylize it as girls of the IDF. Look, we’re a democracy, we’re a free society, we invited them to do something in Israel and they chose what to do.”

Maxim refused an interview request and only issued a brief statement saying it was “pleased” with its work.

Roof occupation in Hebron

At 1 PM on November 1, 2007, six soldiers began occupying the roof of the house of the Ewawy family in the old city of Hebron, while only a 14 year old girl, who had just returned from school, was at home. The girl began screaming for help, and neighbors called for international human rights workers (HRWs) to come.

Eight HRWs responded to the call and began taking pictures and video taping the soldiers on the roof. The HRWs repeatedly asked the soldiers why they were there, but the soldiers refused to answer the question. The HRWs reminded the six soldiers that they were on the roof of a family and that they had no right to be there. The soldiers continued to ignore these comments.

The HRWs called the District Coordinating Office (DCO) for the Israeli Army in Hebron to inquire about the reason for the soldiers’ presence. The DCO responded that the soldiers were there for “security reasons.” Such house invasions occur in the old city of Hebron about once a week, for which the army usually cites “security reasons.”

When the HRWs asked the DCO if they could do anything to help the family, who were frightened by the unnecessary presence of armed men on their roof, the DCO said no.

Neighbors and HRWs repeatedly called TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron), but they refused to investigate. TIPH is an organization, created by the UN and agreed upon by the Israeli government, whose mission is to “help promote stability and an appropriate environment conducive to the enhancement of the well-being of the Palestinians of Hebron.”

Soldiers remained on the roof for 3 hours. When they finally left, they harassed the HRWs by telling them, “More soldiers are coming in 2 hours. Wait here for them.”

This house has recently been subject to having eggs and rocks thrown at it by young settlers who live nearby.

Anti-Apartheid Demonstration this Sunday near Beit Ur

On Sunday, at 10 am, November 4th a demonstration against the apartheid road system will take place on the Israeli-only 443 highway. The demonstration will take place at the bridge near Beit Ur that runs above the Palestinian only tunnel that runs beneath the highway.

For seven years now, Highway 443 has been accessible to Israelis only. Palestinians are forbidden to travel on the highway, even on the 9.5 kilometer-long segment which passes through occupied West Bank territory and is built on land that has been confiscated from Palestinians whose olive trees have been cut down “for the benefit of the local population.”

Palestinians are forbidden to travel even along the segment that is nine and a half kilometers long and passes through West Bank territory. The road was widened in the 1990s using land confiscated from the local Palestinians under the pretense that the road would be open to Palestinians as well as Israelis, many ancient olive trees were destroyed during the road expansion.

The policy of prohibiting Palestinian movement on this road is not an isolated case. On 312 kilometers of main roads in the West Bank, vehicles bearing Palestinian license plates are forbidden or restricted access. According to OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Of the 539 physical obstacles and check point that restrict Palestinian movement, only fourteen separate the territories occupied in 1967 from Israel proper. Nearly all of the physical obstacles and checkpoints that make up the closure regime are located along the roads for Israeli use. These roads, in addition to the segregation wall, carve up Palestinian areas into isolated enclaves. This fragmentation is at the root of the West Bank’s declining economy.

Thursday October 24th Palestinian Israeli and international protesters blocked the highway for over fifteen minutes by organizing a sit down in the road. Palestinians distributed a message to the drivers in Hebrew (see: http://www.apartheidmasked.org/?p=118) on the highway: “We know what it feels like to be blocked. We experience it daily.”

Journalists can meet at the demonstration itself at 10 am, at the bridge near beit Ur that runs above the Palestinian only tunnel that runs beneath the highway.

From Tel Aviv, meet at the central bus station at 8:30, and contact Ilan Shalif beforehand as early as you can if a ride is needed. Email is best, ilan@shalif.com and include your mobile phone, or call him at 036482749 or 0524655520 but do not send a text message.

From Ramallah, meet at the Manara at 9 am.

For more information:
Yousef Karaje 02-2488113
or Mohammad 0545573285

and visit www.apartheidmasked.org