Author: ISM Media Group

ANOTHER VOICE

For Immediate Release

ANOTHER PEACE IS NECESSARY
Not one that celebrates Apartheid…

We, a group of Palestinians and local and international supporters concerned with OneVoice’s “One Million Voices to End the Conflict” campaign, are disturbed by the methods by which they have been collecting signatures, and oppose the upcoming concerts that serve to obscure the reality and illegality of Israel’s belligerent occupation.

The OneVoice formula for ending the “conflict,” (i.e. occupation), outlined in a 10-point document, is oversimplified and misleading. It fails to mention key elements required for a just and lasting peace. From justifying settlement blocs to avoiding the refugees’ right to return, the OneVoice plan avoids the framework of international law, and serves to subordinate Palestinian rights to Israeli interests. Such high profile initiatives serve as a dangerous distraction to the facts that Israel continues to create on the ground and will only obstruct any real solution that is based on justice.

“Like many other diplomatic misadventures, the OneVoice campaign overlooks the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and repackages dangerous concessions into an initiative that looks nice on the surface. It is misleading, and many are starting to realize that,” said Another Voice organizer Haithem El-Zabri.

Furthermore, we are disturbed by the manner in which OneVoice has been gathering support for their campaign. We are discovering that many Palestinians and Israelis have signed on without access to the 10 pillars or proper understanding of the OneVoice initiative. Several organizations that have been listed as endorsing OneVoice’s campaign have informed us that they had not authorized such endorsement and have contacted OneVoice to have their name removed. Several artists have also withdrawn their participation in the October 18th event, after learning more about it. We are interested in making sure that our people are fully informed about the OneVoice formula and its implications before signing on or attending its public events.

Another Voice opposes any efforts that violate Palestinian national and human rights, and asserts that the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian “conflict” is one based on international law and human rights, references to which are completely absent from OneVoice’s campaign and literature. If OneVoice organizers are truly interested in a just and lasting peace, they are called upon to join efforts to demand that Israel comply with international law.

For more information, contact:
Natasha Aruri: +970-599-794-761
Huwaida Arraf: +972-547-473-308 / +970-599-130-426
Web: www.anothervoice-palestine.org
E-mail: info@anothervoice-palestine.org

END

Giving credit where credit is due

It seems ISM has been accused of being behind another conspiracy theory. This time the backlash to the One Voice Normalization event is the fault of ISM. In fact, the only thing ISM has done about the event is repost a call to boycott from PACBI. Below you will find an excerpt from Mr. Lubetzky’s blog, a response from PACBI, and a response from a solidarity activist.

————

Daniel Lubetzky wrote:

The Bad Guys Uncovered…

Per my prior blog post, I could have placed my bet on who is behind the “boycott” of the OneVoice Summit…

…No one other than the “International Solidarity Movement.”

Read the full blog entry here:
http://blog.peaceworks.net/2007/10/the-bad-guys-uncovered/

————-

PACBI wrote:

Dear Mr. Lubetzky,

This is in response to your having uncovered the bad guys. The statement that has been calling for a boycott of the Jericho Tel Aviv One Voice event was initiated by PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel in collaboration with several Palestinian cultural centers, and organizations.

The call is not the first call for a boycott of a normalization event, or project, nor will it be the last (please refer to our website www.pacbi.org). It is supported by a general call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions endorsed by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, better known as the call for BDS.

Our main aim of the statement (https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/03/pacbi-celebrating-peace-or-camouflaging-apartheid/) is to inform the Palestinian public, that might be unaware, that they are being lured into attending a so called “free concert” or festival, when in fact they are being required to “vote” on a ten point mandate that would be the basis for a negotiated Peace.

We believe that your organization’s mandate contributes to the confusion that has been perpetuated by the state of Israel, and its various lobbying efforts all around the world, that aim to blur the distinction between the victim, and the victimizer, the oppressor, and the oppressed, and presents Palestinians and Israelis as equal partners on a bargaining table, with no regard to Palestinian right to self determination, freedom, equality and justice.

——————

An Activist wrote:

By portraying the conflict as balanced between equal sides with equal responsibilities, and by defining the root of the problem as violence and extremism while ignoring the context of displacement, dispossession, and occupation, in which this violence and extremism occur, you are misrepresenting the conflict in a way that damages the chances of ever achieving a just solution.

The concept of two states has been co opted by the American and Israeli administrations to mean apartheid. The Israeli state annexing the settlement blocs and the Palestinians living in Bantustans. The concept of a just solution for the refugees has been co opted to mean the refugees giving up the right of return for a right to return to Israeli controlled open air prisons. That is the “Peace” that you are supporting.

Soldiers damage Palestinian belongings and assault and kidnap the youth

08 October, 2007

Following the Israeli army invasion of Deir Istiya on October 7th, during which the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) imposed a curfew on the village, one which officially continued throughout the next day, Human Rights Workers visited with families who had been subjected to IOF house raids and arrests.

The IOF entered homes during this latest raid on the northern West Bank village of 4,000. In one home, Occupation soldiers entered the home and seized three children, ages 11, 15, and 16, taking them out of the home to a nearby schoolyard to interrogate them. The youths were accused of having thrown stones at the invading IOF forces from the rooftop of their home. An hour of interrogation, during which soldiers kicked the youngest boy, resulted in little more than harassment of the youths. The army realized that they had no reason to hold the youths, and so returned them to their house.

The soldiers had arrived in three military jeeps, approximately 20 soldiers of whom remained outside while four soldiers proceeded to search and ransack the house, from bottom to top, before leaving.

The family reports that soldiers returned two hours later, parked in front of the home and waited for a while before again leaving.

IOF soldiers later went to both boys and girls schools, interrupting students in their classes. Although the schools were opened, the curfew was still imposed and officially remains so as of the evening of October 8.

Villagers at the west end of Deir Istiya reported hearing sounds bombs going off around 8 pm that evening.

HRWs also visited families who had suffered from Israeli army violence just over a week ago when they invaded.

During that invasion, at least 3 youths were kidnapped by IOF soldiers.

One family recounted how approximately 20 IOF soldiers had come to their home 8 days prior after 1 am while the family was sleeping. One daughter had been sleeping in the front room when she heard noises outside. Calling her parents in the next room via her mobile, the family soon learned that their home was surrounded by Israeli soldiers. While the soldiers did not demand entry, they instead proceeded to throw stones at the two entrances doors in the front and the windows around the house. Later inspection revealed the IOF soldiers had broken a window in one front-facing room, as well as a window in the family vehicle around the back of the house.

After waiting for the soldiers to cease stoning the house, the father finally opened the door to ask what they wanted. The father and mother report that 4 soldiers entered the home, and beat the father and one daughter, 23 years old, and his wife all over their bodies.

The family of 8, including three children under 18, was made to leave their home and were kept outside, guarded by soldiers, while 4 soldiers searched and ransacked the home for approximately another 45 minutes. The father managed to gain entry into his home and accompany the soldiers as they went room to room, damaging the home and their possessions.

A tally of the damage and acts of IOF violence during the house raid includes:

• A side panel was ripped off of the computer and internal damage was done to it
• The frame of a bed was ripped apart
• Several cupboard and cabinet doors were broken and torn off their hinges
• Outer doors damaged by stones
• The cassette door of a stereo was ripped off its hinges
• Many items from the kitchen were broken; as well, many belongings and personal items were torn out of cupboards and off shelves, left broken or on floors

While these acts of collective punishment are common in occupied Palestine, adding yet further misdeeds to a litany of IOF misdeeds to civilians, the family’s greatest sorrow that day was the kidnapping of their son: the youth, 19 years old, is a student at Salfit University and is not involved in political activities. He was taken during this house raid, in his underwear as he had been sleeping. Soldiers would not permit his mother, desperate to clothe and help him, to give him a shirt and pants. The youth was taken blindfolded from the house and dragged down the street nearly a half kilometer away. At one point, the mother recalls, he was pushed from his standing position and kicked while fallen on the ground.

The family was given no information on the whereabouts of their son, and have since been making all efforts to locate him, without success. Two other youths, ages 18 and 19, were also kidnapped by IOF soldiers that evening.

Another village resident, Dr. F, a professor at a local university, mentioned that it is common for the IOF to raid villages throughout the year, but particularly around Ramadan and the Olive Harvest season, when families are especially keen to avoid problems from either soldiers or settlers. He feels that the increase of attacks by both settlers and IOF soldiers is part of a greater plan long put into practice of dividing society at all levels, economically and communally.

Boy is physically harassed by soldiers and later arrested

October 7th, 2007

A local boy has been detained and later arrested by the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) on this day in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, for carrying a bag containing a drawn swastika as well as drawings of weapons and Hamas; pictures of weapons were also supposedly found in the boy’s backpack. The incident began at approximately 1:30 p.m. when two soldiers, at the checkpoint below the illegal settlement of Tel Rumeida, found a swastika drawn on the boy’s backpack. After questioning him and taking his backpack, the boy was told by the soldiers to come back with his parents.

The boy returned without his parents at approximately 3:00 p.m. where the soldiers then detained the boy and repeatedly slapped him in the face. The soldiers then found another swastika clearly drawn in a notebook found in the backpack. The boy was put in a stress position, where the soldiers then placed the notebook with the swastika clearly visible in front of the boy.

A half an hour after the boy was put into a stress position, Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were at the scene. The boy remained in the stress position, despite it being a clear breach of the Geneva conventions. The soldiers then explained to the international observers that the boy’s backpack contained drawings of weapons of weapons and Hamas, as well as photographs of weapons that the soldiers claimed could be classified.

Moments later the boy was taken up to Tel Rumeida settlement after being blindfolded and handcuffed, where TIPH said they were not allowed to go through. Around two and a half hours later the boy was then placed into the back of a Border Police jeep, and taken away from the area.

Later that night he was released.

Iftar Curfew in Deir Istiya follows previous house occupations

October 7th, 2007

The residents of Deir Istiya, population 4,000, were sentenced to confinement in their homes shortly before breaking fast for the day. At around 5:10 pm, a convoy of between 10 to 12 military jeeps, manned with border police, entered the northern West Bank village near the city of Nablus announcing over megaphones: “everyone must go home. Deir Istiya is under curfew and you will endanger yourselves if you break curfew,” according to village resident Dr. F.

House Arrest

Curfew, although a seemingly innocuous term, dictates that civilians must stay locked inside their homes, often for days at a time, if not longer. The rules of curfew are fairly stringent: windows should be blacked out, and those seen loitering near windows (looking out to see what is happening) are liable to be shot. Work, school, and medical emergencies must be forsaken during curfew, as must trips to the supermarket or bakers to buy needed food supplies.

Although caged in their homes, residents took the initiative to update themselves on one anothers’ condition: shortly before Iftar began (at sunset), the invading Israeli forces kidnapped 3 young brothers, ages 10, 15, and 17, taking them and holding them for 1.5 hours while interrogating them, accusing them of knowing someone who engaged in resistance activities. While the youths were brought back to their home after interrogation, the soldiers also proceeded to search the house.

As of 9:30 pm, the residents of Deir Istiya remained forcedly locked in their homes, everyone afraid to venture outside for fear of being shot and killed.

Prior Punishment

Although this may be the first time in a more than a year that Deir Istiya residents have been put under house curfew, they have nonetheless recently suffered other IOF invasions. In September, while the IOF invaded Nablus’ al Ayn refugee camp, it simultaneously invaded Deir Istiya, occupying at least one home for one week and forcibly entering numerous homes in the village.

Upon arriving, the IOF told the family they would just stay 10 minutes, then shortly after obtaining the keys to the second floor of the home, revised their declaration to stay for 1 week, giving no explanation as to why they had invaded the village and taken over the home. The entrance to the second floor of the village home is separate, thus the army was able to come and go without directly passing through the family’s home.

The soldiers would come to the home in the evening, arriving anywhere from 6 pm to 2 am, stay overnight, and leave at some point during the day. The family never knew when to expect the soldiers, nor could the family enter their second story at any time. One of the six inhabitants of the house, a high school student, was unable to access her books which were in a room on the second floor. This came at an important time for high school students, when they are busy studying for their final exam, one whose results are critical in determining whether and where they go on to university. Yet the family was terrified to try to enter the second story, frightened of the repercussions of the soldiers.

During the day, the soldiers were also seen around the village, throwing tear gas and sound bombs in busy civilian areas, including into the town Mosque where Muslims were at evening prayers. The IOF also broke down doors of other homes in the area. Some families had vacated their homes temporarily, and others have homes in Nablus and Ramallah where they work, so when the IOF found no reply they broke down the door and, in numerous instances, searched the houses, breaking belongings at random will.

ISM human rights workers stayed with the family one night, after being called to the village 4 days into the occupation of the house. During that night, the IOF soldiers did not return to the home—this coincided with heightened IOF presence at Ayn refugee camp, where the army waged an invasion of destruction on the densely packed refugee population [https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/09/21/army-incursion-in-al-ayn-refugee-camp-nablus/]. HRWs were able, however, in the soldiers’ absence to climb up a ladder into a second story window and obtain the textbooks the high school student needed.

The family of six –a grandfather and grandmother, three university students and one high school student –were visited later by EAPPI workers.