Author: ISM Media Group - Page 314 - International Solidarity Movement

Excessive force in Bil’in leaves Palestinian in hospital with two operations

Excessive force in Bil’in leaves Palestinian in hospital with two operations
by Martinez, 11 May 2007

Photo by Jonas

Israeli occupation forces used excessive violence today in Bil’in to quell the regular Friday demonstration against Israel’s Apartheid Wall, arresting 10 and injuring seven.

Palestinians were joined by international and Israeli solidarity activists after Friday prayers. Abdallah, a resident of Bil’in and member of the popular committee, explained the theme of the demo for today. He stated, “This demonstration today is dedicated to Azmi Bishara. Azmi Bishara was a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament. Israel is accusing him of working with Hizbollah during Israel’s lost war with Lebanon last summer. Azmi is now living in Qatar because, if he returns, Israel will put him in jail for 25 years. But it is Olmert and Peretz who should be in jail.”

Azmi Bishara, Photo from Electronic Intifada

“From Bil’in, we are sending out support and solidarity for Azmi Bishara,” rang a chant as the demonstration started.

The demonstration left the mosque and marched towards the gate in the Apartheid Wall. Israeli soldiers and border police from the M’gav unit were already waiting for the non-violent demonstration at the destination.

Photo by Jonas

Demonstrators reached a wall of barbed wire which the occupation forces had constructed on the path. Chants of “End the Occupation” and “Tear down the wall” could be heard. One Israeli border policeman suddenly took aim and shot a Palestinian demonstrator with two rubber-coated steel bullets.

Martinez, and American activist, described the event: “I was just a few feet from Adeeb Abu Rahma when the border policeman shot him. The officer was just about 6 feet away. He took aim for Addeb’s legs and hit him twice on the inner side of his thighs. Immediately, Adeeb fell to the ground screaming. Activists immediately came to his assistance. When they lowered Adeeb’s pants to assess the injuries, I could see two fairly large holes, bleeding.”

Adeeb was taken away by medics with the Red Crescent and driven to the hospital, where he sits at this moment. The rubber-coated steel bullets, because they were shot from such a close range, entered Adeeb’s body. He just finished two operations in a Ramallah hospital where he must remain for at least two days under physician supervision. Rubber bullets are considered deadly by the Israeli army if they are shot at a distance from under 40 meters.

At this point, Israeli activists confronted the Israeli commanders to demand an explanation.

Jonathan Pollock explained, “when we tried to get details from the commander, details which he is mandated to give, the commander instead arrested us. There has been a rapid increase in violence in the last few weeks on the part of Israeli forces. This reflects a desperate attempt to break the non-violent resistance by using unwarranted military force and violence.”

Israeli activist being arrested, Photo by Jonas

In all, 6 Palestinians (Iyad, Abid, Aid, Naser, Issa, Yosef) and 4 Israelis (Jonathan, Sarah, Nir, Gur) were arrested and later released.

Israeli forces invade the village, firing tear gas, Photo by Jonas

Six other demonstrators were wounded by rubber bullets or tear gas when the border police left the site of the wall and entered the village.

Police were shooting projectile tear gas cannisters and firing rubber bullets as they progressed further into the village of Bil’in. Border police were pushing people out of the way with their rifle and throwing activists around.

Israeli forces assaulting Palestinian activist

The border police effectively chased the majority of the demonstrators back into the village by using brute force.

For more information, contact:
Abdallah, 0547-258-210
ISM Media Office, 02-297-1824, 0599-943-157

War Games in Beit Leed

Israeli military using Palestinian population for war games scenario
by Malaka 2, 10 May 2007

Beit Leed is a Palestinian village located between the cities of Nablus and Tulkarm. It is a village completely isolated. Whether you are coming from Nablus or Tulkarm, one must cross through a checkpoint, littered with young Israeli soldiers, metal detectors, cages, turnstiles, and lines of people just waiting and waiting and waiting for the Israeli soldiers to let them cross so they can get to their jobs or to take their exams or visit family members.

What has been happening in Beit Leed almost every Wednesday night for the past three months may be nearly unbelievable for many minds of the readers of this entry.

Imagine this: You live in Pennsylvania. Canada comes into your state and sets up these military installations throughout your state. These installations come in the forms of 25 foot high walls, trenches, fences, sniper towers. Then you have checkpoints, armed with Canadian soldiers. Many of them do not speak English but they speak French. And you have to explain to these Canadian soldiers why you want to cross from your Pennsylvanian neighborhood to the next Pennsylvanian neighborhood where your sick Pennsylvanian grandmother lives. Pennsylvania is hot in the summertime. You are caged in with hundreds of other Pennsylvanians, waiting in queue until it is your turn to explain yourself to the Canadian occupiers of your neighborhood. “No Smoking” signs are scattered throughout the cage in which you are waiting. Nerves are up. It’s hot. Soldiers are laughing in an air-conditioned booth and your physics test is already half over because you have been stuck like an animal in this fenced in area.

Now, imagine this as Palestine. This is the Huwara checkpoint leading into the main part of Nablus. Then you reach another one before the village of Beit Leed.

On these Wednesday nights, the Israeli military uses the village and villagers of Beit Leed to practice a war-games scenario. The army has chosen Beit Leed because it resembles Syria or Lebanon. This their practice ground so they don’t have another failed war like last summer’s.

This is what the mayor of Beit Leed had to tell us:

Mayor of Beit Leed

“In our town here in Beit Leed, people live peacefully. Most of the residents here are farmers or workers. They go to bed early because they have to get up early. You go to bed as a father and you wake up early from the screams and the yelling of the soldiers around your house and they scream really loud. They sound like animals and then your kids wake up. And you know that, as a father, you can’t protect your child, you try to comfort your child but you know that you aren’t even secure yourself. So, what do you expect from a child that grows up in this situation and wakes up every night to invasions and gunfire and soldiers going through our homes.”

“And also, I am not against anybody. I am not against Jews or Christians. But I want to ask a question to the western societies… Why is it that when I go to the mosque to pray, I am a terrorist? But when a Jew or a Christian goes to a synagogue or church they are called religious? Why is it that if I grow a beard I am called Hamas but some of you here have beards and you are not called this?”

“I respect all religions. Jews they have their own and I have my own. All these three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, they all have the same God.”

“Why does the army came here at night to our town? Why do they come to our homes and at night? I believe that in Israel they have open wide areas where they can practice their training. So why do they come here and why at night if they are not here to terrorize people and make people get scared? Why don’t they do it inside Israel or somewhere else but not in a big population of Palestinian people?”

“The fear of the soldiers invading our homes in our town- of them being inside of your home, that at anytime they can come inside your home makes you very scared.”

“The number of traumatized children has increased recently. Usually they wake up at night from nightmares, especially from the recent military training. Also, in the morning, kids prefer to stay at home instead of going to school because they are scared of going outdoors and facing the soldiers. You can imagine that that’s for the kids- but for the old people, like myself, when I want to go to the mosque to pray, I prefer to do it at home. Or to go to work, i prefer to stay here because I am afraid. Imagine if this is how an old person feels, how these little children are feeling.”

“For the Palestinian child, the Israeli soldier is a nightmare to them. And if Israeli really wanted peace, and it is clear that they do not want this, they should at least want to give these young Palestinian a good image about Israel because our children only know these soldiers with a gun and in their nightmares. So, when they grow up, this is the only image they will have of the Israelis in Israel.”

Abandoned Palestinian home that army uses for training

“This training has been going on for almost three months. The army drops the soldiers by helicopters on the top of the hill. And early in the morning around 2 or 3am they invade the village. Of course, the army doesn’t announce anything. They do this because they want the psychological effect to be higher on people, for the Palestinians to be surprised by the army’s presence.”

“We tried to contact some legal organizations. We contacted human rights organizations inside Israel, contacted the Israeli media. There have been some reports on what is happening in our town. But our resources are no many. And the Israeli is above the law. They do not use the law in their invasions. And of course, if they were using the law, they wouldn’t be here. But according to international law it is illegal yet they still come.”

“In response to these reports that have been published about Beit Leed, a military commander has said, ‘The Israeli army has the right to come to the West bank and to trainings in Palestinians towns and villages.'”

. . .

So, with this in mind, with cameras in hand, with fluorescent jackets on our backs, we set out into Beit Leed around midnight to catch this breach of international law on tape.

The winds were strong and it was humid. Some rain arrived and with it went the street lights. Absent from the streets (starting at 10pm) were Palestinians, except for two guides and curious residents who questioned us about why we were there and to tell us their personal stories.

Maybe it was because the army knew we were there. Or maybe it was because the electricity was out and the weather was temper-mental. But the army did not arrive. We headed back to the home where we were staying around 4:30am, tired but ready in case we heard those US-funded jeeps come rolling through the village.

We found out the next day that a small Israeli army regiment actually invaded a nearby Palestinian village near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim.

Regardless, at least Beit Leed had a better night sleep Wednesday night. But just like the army, we’ll be back. They’ll have the war games/state-sponsored terror practice book. We’ll have our cameras and our journals.

And you’ll all be sleeping comfortably. There is not Canadian Occupation. No checkpoints before arriving to work at the hospital. No 18 year old soldiers rummaging through your briefcase before reaching your second grade class where you teach social studies. No walls of Apartheid separating you from your favorite coffee shop across the way.

The Struggle Uses Images to Counter the Wall

The Struggle Uses Images to Counter the Wall
Interview with Shai Pollak from the Nyon film festival
from Solidarités

During an interval in the screening of Shai Carmeli Pollak’s film Bil’in Habibi (Bilin my love) at the Nyon Film Festival, we discussed the film with its creator; an activist in the Israeli group “Anarchists against the Wall.” 1

You made this film which tells of the villagers of Bil’in’s struggle against the apartheid wall that Israel has built since 2002 in the West Bank. Can you tell us about this fight?

Bil’in is a small village close to Ramallah. The decision to deprive it of its land was made in 2005 and its inhabitants joined the fight of the villages under Israeli occupation against the confiscation of their grounds and the construction of the wall (2). The participation of Israelis in such struggles started in 2003, at the village of Masha. For four months, the Israeli tent was installed on the village land that was to be confiscated and divided by the fence. Thousands of Israelis and people from all societies came. A group of activists started to meet to establish links with the popular committees; this occurred near other villages before the fight started in Bil’in itself.

Can you explain what these popular committees are?

They are democratic independent structures that link the energies of a village and organize the struggle; they make all the decisions. In Bil’in, the popular committee developed very creative forms of protest, associating direct actions and artistic initiatives. By surfing to the website of the village, you can get an idea of this rich creativity (3). The peaceful weekly demonstrations are always violently repressed by the army and the police force. It should be stressed that the villagers have never given up on non-violence and that hundreds of them have been wounded since beginning the protests. There hasn’t been a demonstration without severely wounded persons. A special feeling of unity was created: Dr. Barghouti, new Minister for the information of the Palestinian government, often takes part.

Are the popular committees related to one another?

A national committee establishes the links between the village popular committees. To date, only the village of Budrus has managed to move back the wall to the green line by their actions, without court proceedings. But I see reasons to hope because the struggle continues, there is a group of Israelis determined to support it, and that international solidarity develops. With the popular committees, we try to fight against the occupation, but also for peace, because there can not be peace as long as the occupation lasts. The Israelis who join the movement must understand that peace can not be concluded without satisfying International law, and obviously without putting an end to the occupation.

We talked to the mayor of Bil’in, who takes part in the popular committee. He explained to us the importance of extending the fight to other villages, the independent Israelis, the international solidarity activists, etc. What do you think about it?

I think that this unity is very important, it exist on all the levels and relates to all the aspects of the struggle. Let us think for example of the day of the demonstration. People decide to go from their village to the fence. In the absence of international or Israeli support, the demonstration becomes much more dangerous. Because the Israeli army changes its rules of engagement according to whether the Palestinians are alone or not; they admit this openly. They do not change their rules according to manner of protest, but because of the ethnic origin of the protestors! So, the presence of Israelis and internationals is very important.

You mentioned the court action that the people of Bil’in brought. (4)

This was not easy for Bil’in since to do so was to recognize the right of Israel to decide. In addition, the International Court of Justice declared the construction of the wall illegal, since it does not follow the green line of 1967, but Israel did not recognize this decision. The universal struggle of internationals, Palestinians, Israelis, men and women, are important, because our adversaries also have international links. For example, the settlement built on the lands of Bil’in is by three companies, one Israeli and other two Canadian. Solidarity with Bil’in must also comprise financial support for the popular Committee (www.bilin-village.org) or our group. The human relations established with people who are supposed to be enemies were as important as our participation in the fight. One cannot have normal relations because of the occupation and the occupied zones, without engaging against the occupation, colonization, and racism.

How your film was received?

Many people have said to me that I had shown them things which they did not know about, although previously they believed they know the situation. I also had calls to treat me as a traitor. Certain spectators expressed their anger to me. Others said that I should show it only to the Israeli public, for fear it might feed anti-Semitism. My answer is that if somebody is an anti-Semite, they surely do not need my film, and I am much more anxious for the future of Palestine and Israel that by anti-Semitism. The film is for the entire public and also for the Palestinians, which will learn that there is a group of Israelis that recognizes the wrongs caused by the occupation, by Zionism, and I wish to also reach an international public. Because I fear that many people are influenced by the Israeli propaganda which presents the Palestinians as terrorists. People must know who is the attacker and who is the victim. This film shows human beings, marvellous people, and what was imposed on them.

Interview by Aldjia MoulaÏ and Karl Grünberg
Notes:
(1) “Anarchists against the wall”
(2) In Bil’in the wall consists of a double fence alongside a military road.
(3) Bil’in Village
(4) The villagers filed four proceedings in the Israeli courts: against the illegal construction of the wall, against illegal expropriation of their land, against the construction of a settlement on their land, and the legality of the building permits on their land.

Flee, Freedom Fighter, Flee

Ha’aretz: Flee, Freedom Fighter, Flee
by Yonatan Pollack, translated by Rann Bar-On

The basis of my political education, on the price one must pay for the struggle, was very close to home – within the family in fact. My grandfather, Nimrod Eshel, was among the leaders of the seamen revolt in the early 1950’s. In a desperate attempt to break the strike and with no reason to arrest them, Ben Gurion instructed that he and others should be conscripted into the army. He was 27. My grandfather and his comrades saw the conscription as de facto administrative detention, but decided to go to the recruiting office anyway. This was a purely tactical decision, taken only after they had discussed going underground and the influence of such a step on the strike.

A few years earlier, my grandfather was arrested by the British in Latrun and Cyprus for his part in smuggling Jews from Europe. He often refers to these periods of arrest by saying “I had nothing against the British. It was a war – they arrested me and I tried to escape”. Indeed, the prisoners had planned their escape from both places, though the plans were never executed, but nonetheless clearly showed their feelings as to the duty to fulfill their period of punishment.

When I grew up a little the anarchist movement became my political home, and with it the ethos of the Spanish Underground fighters who were forced into exile, many of whom crossed the border back and forth to harass Franco’s army in the hills. To the stories of the past, other peoples’ memories, I want to add my joy at the end of Apartheid in South Africa, at the return of that country’s exiles. Together with the release of prisoners, those who had managed to escape from the Boers’ jails to Mozambique or Botswana, came back.

Those who escape from the clutches of a repressive regime, whether they are guerrilla fighters or political leaders, deserve support and even admiration from dissidents for the sacrifice they made. Exile, one must remember, is not an easy choice even for those who despise the political regime in their country of birth.

Due to its inability to deal with the demand that the state change from a Jewish ethnocracy to a real democracy, Israel is these days opening a new front in the attack on its Palestinian citizens. This front has taken shape in the form of Shabak statements to the effect that the demands of Israeli Arabs for equality is subversive and will be terminated even if it is not against the law, in the definition of Israeli Arabs as a strategic threat, and most of all in the invention of a criminal case against one of the most prominent leaders of the the Palestinian public in Israel – Azmi Bishara.

Any rational person with eyes in his head can see that that case against Bishara was made up by the Shabak. Despite this, in the current political atmosphere, Bishara’s trial (had he decided to show up for it) would have turned into a show trial and would have concluded long before the investigation was over. Even before the start of the the trial, while a ban on publication – full or partial – was still standing, Bishara was attacked by right-wingers, some more extreme than others, from Lieberman to Steiniz through Tamir and to Beilin. Many will be delighted to have rid themselves of the articulate challenge Bishara puts forth to Zionism and to the character of Israeli society. It is convenient for them to attempt to showcase him as one who has fled from the just punishment he deserves.

It is not surprising when the chorus of voices calling for Bishara to come back and receive his punishment comes from the right-wingers who see him as a strategic threat, but for some reason some of those who do understand the false spirit of the investigation are calling for him to come back and recognize the validity of the law, to come to terms with it in the name of civic responsibility. Those are the people who are abandoning him by the roadside and making him stand alone against the storm. In doing this, they are are abandoning the entire Palestinian Israeli public.

Bishara’s civic responsibility demands in fact that a spade is called a spade, that is to say that the treatment of the Palestinian minority by the Jewish majority in Israel, especially towards its political freedoms, has forced Bishara into becoming a refugee, and is leading to a dangerous situation. Everyone knows that in the face of political desperation, these are those who turn to using the pen as a weapon, and there are those who will be pushed into choosing other means.

It is pointless to return to a trial whose result has been predetermined. It was just for Bishara to leave into forced exile, from where he will be able to continue to point arrows at the enemy of all human beings – racism. All that remains for us to say is: flee, freedom fighter, flee.

Haaretz: Military Police to probe soldiers’ assault on leftist Israeli activists

Military Police to probe soldiers’ assault on leftist Israeli activists
by Amos Harel

VIDEO can be seen HERE

The Military Police criminal investigations division is to launch an investigation into an incident in the West Bank on Wednesday in which armed Israel Defense Forces reservist soldiers used violence against left-wing Israelis protesters.

The protesters had dismantled a temporary roadblock in the Hebron Hills, close to the town of Dahariyah, provoking the troops’ response.

Around 10 anarchist activists and several Palestinians arrived at the site and removed cement blocks that were blocking an unpaved footpath connecting the town to Route 60, the main road in the West Bank that runs from south of the Hebron Hills to Hebron itself.

The activists then moved to the main road near the Otniel settlement and attempted to block it to traffic. The reservist soldiers who arrived the scene tried to remove the protesters, and which point the clashes erupted.

The footage, filmed by protesters at the scene, shows an officer beating one of the activists, pushing the Israeli protesters away, wrestling with some, shoving a woman and stabbing a young man in the ribs with a rifle barrel.

The demonstrator was seen collapsing to the ground, screaming in pain, holding his chest. It was not known how seriously he was wounded.

Speaking after consultations with IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi later Wednesday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the images apparently showed excessive and serious behavior on the part of the soldiers, and the incident would be investigated and dealt with accordingly.

Peretz urged demonstrators from the right and from the left to act within the confines of the law.

The Channel 2 military reporter said maintaining roadblocks in the area was essential, because several Palestinian suicide bombers have used that route on their way to Israel.

Palestinians and human rights groups complain that the hundreds of roadblocks have ruined economic and social life in the West Bank.