Author: ISM Media Group - Page 310 - International Solidarity Movement

“(VIDEO) Don’t s**t on our apricots!”

“Don’t S**T on our apricots!”
by Martinez, 16 May 2007

Mohammad Abu Swai, who holds the deeds to this land, explains the situation in Artas village

Maybe it was because the word was spread, the call was headed, and 4 Israeli and 9 international solidarity activists joined Palestinians in the village of Artas today to resist the Israeli army’s demolition of a field of apricot trees in Jesus’ hometown of Bethlehem.

Photo of apricot tree, cut by Israeli forces, Photo: Jonas

Or maybe it was because it started to pour down rain, equipped with lightning and thunder, causing not only the army, but also the activists to take shelter in the nearby caves.

Israeli bulldozers ripping apart land for extension of Israeli settlement of Efrat, Photo: Jonas

Regardless, the Israeli bulldozers will be back tomorrow morning, and the Palestinians of Artas village are still seeking the help of solidarity activists to join them in resisting these abhorring actions on behalf of the Israeli army.

The illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat is in the distance. The army is destroying this field of apricot trees in order to pave the way for a new sewage system for the illegal colony. The day before we arrived, contractors and soldiers lined the trees and land with markers, reading “10 meteres, 40 meters, etc,” leading all the way up to 150 meters.

Israeli settlement of Efrat in distance, Photo: Jonas

Some of us talked about making T-shirts that say “Don’t shit on our apricots!”

Artas is a beautiful village, as are her apricot trees and her people. As Israeli bulldozers ripped away the hilltop in the distance to make way for military roads, settler roads, and a place for the militarily-funded Bedouin security personnel to sleep at night and guard the construction site, farmers from Artas whipped up some delicious tea and thanked us all for coming to resist the demolition of their fields.

But the rain came and pushed all the soldiers away. Villagers from Artas believe they will be back in the morning.

Update to come.

We’ll be back there too.

World Bank condemns roadblocks, 5 activists arrested for dismantling them

by the ISM Media Crew, 16 May 2007

UPDATE, May 17 From Kobi Snitz: All 5 of us were released thanks to the excellent work by Gaby Lasky who made the prosecution seem especially ignorant today. We were not required to deposit any money and the conditions of release are that we stay 500 m away from Dahariya junction and (the Israelis) to not participate in illegal assembly. The internationals will have to stay in a specified home of a friend (but not be under house arrest). The prosecution still say they will try to deport them but that is a lot less likely now that they are not under arrest anymore.

Thanks to everyone who came to court to support us, collected evidence did legal support and brought food.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 May 2007

Three Israelis and two international solidarity activists were arrested today at a non-violent action in Daharia, removing an Israeli roadblock. The roadblock has been installed since the late 2000. It prevents the 90,000 Palestinians in Dhahariya and neighboring villages from accessing Route 60, the main road into Hebron. This forces them to take a longer alternative route, turning what would be a 20-minute journey into an hour and a half. The nearest hospital to Dharirya is in Hebron, so this roadblock added more than an hour onto the journey time for an ambulance, effectively cutting off the village from emergency medical care.

Photo from previous roadblock removal

All activists are currently spending the night at Kiryat Arba police station. The Israelis are accused of illegal assembly, interference of a police officer in duty and property damage. They will be brought to court in Jerusalem tomorrow at around noon (exact hour TBA).

As for the 2 internationals, it is still unclear what may happen to them. Gaby Lasky, the lawyer defending the activists, said that they may be sent today to the ministry of interior and face deportation or may be brought to court tomorrow in Jerusalem along with the Israelis.

On May 3, protesters dismantled a temporary roadblock in the Hebron Hills, close to the town of Dahariyah. In response to this non-violent action, armed Israeli soldiers violently attacked Israeli protesters. The military police criminal investigations division has launched an investigation into the incident. Video of the attack can be seen HERE

According to a May report released by the World Bank, “Currently, freedom of movement and access for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm contrary to the commitments undertaken in a number of Agreements between GOI and the PA. In particular, both the Oslo Accords and the Road Map were based on the principle that normal Palestinian economic and social life would be unimpeded by restrictions. In economic terms, the restrictions arising from closure not only increase transaction costs, but create such a high level of uncertainty and inefficiency that the normal conduct of business becomes exceedingly difficult and
stymies the growth and investment which is necessary to fuel economic revival.”

Full World Bank report HERE

For more information, contact:
ISM Media Crew, 02-297-1824, 0599-943-157, 0542-103-657

Moral Arguments and Counterarguments on Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

By Kathy Kamp

Omar Barghouti, “Moral Arguments and Counterarguments on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, (BDS)” presented to the 2nd Bil’in International Nonviolent Conference, 19 April 2007. It’s in two parts, to make it easier to download.

PART 1
PART 2

Omar Barghouti an independent Palestinian political and cultural analyst and human rights activist. He holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in New York (USA). He is currently working on his doctoral dissertation in Philosophy and Ethics at Tel Aviv University. He has contributed to the books, Controversies in Subjectivity, and The New Intifada: Nonviolent Means of Resistence. Barghouti feels the solution t the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict lies in changing the government to a secular democratic state of all its citizens in historical Palestine. He support international use of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to bring an end to the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Sheffield: Palestine Solidarity Protests

The northern branches of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign held a series of events in Sheffield on 12 May, 2007, in what was described as the biggest Palestinian solidarity event outside London for many years, calling for an end to 40 years of Israeli occupation and for justice in Palestine. The day’s events included a march and rally, a mock-up of a checkpoint, food, dancing and a photo exhibition.

On Saturday May 12, a coalition of Palestine solidarity groups from the north of England organised a rally in Sheffield city centre to demand an end to forty years of Israeli occupation and justice for Palestine.

The event was well attended with banners from as far afield as Bradford, Durham, Liverpool, Manchester and even Glasgow.

Before marching around the city, demonstrators were entertained by traditional Palestinian dancing performed by Al-Zaytouna, a group of students from the University of Nottingham. This was followed by the first two speakers of the day.

The march itself was led by a group of cyclists, including a four-person bicycle which appeared to have found its way to Sheffield from Nottingham. After the cyclists came a samba band (who may or may not have been the local branch of Rhythms of Resistance) and the rest of the march.

On returning to the rally-point, Clare Short MP, who has recently travelled to Palestine, spoke. For a former cabinet minister she was surprisingly forthright, denouncing house demolitions by the Israelis as “war crimes” and stating unequivocally that the situation in the occupied territories can be considered a new form of apartheid.

Short was followed by Ismael Patel from Friends of Al-Aqsa, who traced the roots of the current situation to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, when the British Mandate of Palestine was promised to the Zionists. He asserted that Palestinians would be happy to welcome the victims of Nazism, but that the crimes of the Holocaust did not justify Israel’s brutal occupation.

The final speaker of the day was Betty Hunter, national secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. She praised the event and encouraged participants to come to the national demonstration for Palestine in London on June 9.

Hunter was followed by further dancing from Al-Zaytouna, who this time actively encouraged spectators to have a go. Fortunately, all of formal events were finished before the rains came.

During the speeches, a “checkpoint” was set up to try and convey the realities of Palestinian life. Participants stood in line waiting to have their papers checked by soldiers. Somehow I suspect that in reality Palestinians don’t have to stop the wall blowing down in the wind, although as a piece of street theatre it seemed quite effective.

The event seems to have been broadly successful. Michael Sanford, 22, a post-graduate student at the University of Nottingham said, “The impressive turnout demonstrates the depth of support for the Palestinians in the UK. Hopefully today’s rally is something we can build on in the future as we continue to work for Palestinian self-determination.”

The children of Al Hadidiya live here no more

The children of Al Hadidiya live here no more
by Daphne Banai, 15 May 2007

A month ago we went to see the people of El Hadidiya. They have been living in the Israeli Occupied Jordan Valley for over 100 years, but have been expelled – to accommodate the needs of the illegal Israeli settlement that popped up around them. For the last 10 years, Palestinians in Hadidiya have been living near the settlement of Ro’i, growing wheat and tending to their sheep. But their Israeli settler neighbors demanded their removal because they fancied their land.

In despair the Hadidiya family turned to the Israeli Supreme Court looking for justice, for protection, from the colonizers’ judicial system. What a joke ! Claiming they were nomads (they are not – they try to settle and own the land !) – the court said it would not matter where they settle, and rejected their claim…

They turned their hoping eyes to us, and we had nothing to to offer them. What could we do? What could we say? That we’ll help?

Today we came again to see what’s happening with those gentle people and found ruins, destruction and lots of medications (for a broken heart?)

An old bike, some coins that are not in use any more, men’s shoes coupled up tidily – as if waiting for a couple of bare feet to make their way in, a dovecote – all the doves flying around it, a child’s toy.

The place still smells of life, carried on the sounds of death.

Everywhere I looked I could see the eyes of these little children piercing me. Will they come haunting us forever? And how does one live with the pain, with the shame?