Author: ISM Media Group

Turning the other cheek near Bethlehem

by Kobi Snitz

The first visible achievement of the non-violent resistance of the Ma’asara villages was visible even before the demonstration began. When people began preparing for the demonstration they noticed that, unlike previous Fridays, there was no construction today. The bulldozers were parked far away in their fenced lot and the security guards were nowhere in site. However many soldiers were waiting on the opposite hill to the demonstrators, assuming that the demonstrators would just leave.

As it turned out, work was performed at the site after all. A little role play game: the demonstrators turned into a demolition crew. They broke cement foundations laid down for the wall, filled holes dug for posts and also broke and torched wooden frames used to lay more foundations. This was the most constructive work on the part of the army that was done at the site since construction started. Palestinians were literally breaking the cages which were being built to jail them in. However, they army could not let a good deed go unpunished. The non-violent demonstrators were attacked by paramilitary units, injuring 10 of them with blows to the face and body.

In addition, Palestine Solidarity Project organizer Yusef Abu Maria was arrested and will likely spend days in jail before he or his lawyer will even be told what he is accused of. Abu Maria stands out at the demonstrations as a determined activist who inspires others with his fearless willingness to face army brutality.

Throughout much of the demonstration, Abu Maria and others chained their hands together to symbolize the damage that the wall will cause to their lives and to demonstrate their non-violent nature. Indeed, even as they were repeatedly kicked and punched by Occupation Forces, none of the demonstrators raised a hand to harm their attackers. Instead, as could have been seen in several press photographs, Abu Maria raised his right hand defiantly to signal a V as he was being beaten.

Evening Tribune: ISM at Alfred Univeresity

“Founder of non-violent Palestinian resistance movement speaks at AU”
by Ryan Westerdahl, The Evening Tribune 12 April 2007

ALFRED – For Huwaida Arraf, a young woman who has stared down armed soldiers, a speaking engagement at Alfred University presented a different challenge – persuasion.

Arraf, who spoke for more than an hour in AU’s Nevins Theater Wednesday, is co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a civilian movement dedicated to non-violent resistance against the Israeli presence in Palestine. She began her speech with an appeal to her audience for open-mindedness.

“I would hope that what I have to say is not controversial,” she said.

Arraf is a Palestinian-American whose parents were born in Palestine, and a third-year student at American University’s Washington College of Law. She divides her time between America and Israel/Palestine, studying and organizing resistance. Arraf said that Palestinians under Israeli governance are deprived of basic freedoms.

“We were treated like second and third-class citizens,” she said.

Arraf began her career in activism working with Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings Palestinian and Israeli young people together to create dialogue and bridge perceived differences between the groups. She said the children discovered that they shared common ground.

“The same likes and dislikes, hopes and aspirations,” she said.

While working for Seeds of Peace, Arraf met her future husband and co-founder of the ISM, Adam Shapiro. The couple started the ISM in 2001, and have dedicated themselves to expanding and promoting the movement. Palestinians have a history of non-violent resistance that often goes unnoticed amidst reports of terrorism, according to Arraf. She described tying cans to cats’ tails to confuse Israeli soldiers trying to impose a curfew, and resisting Israeli control in the town where her mother was born.

“We organized a tax boycott,” Arraf said.

Arraf encouraged her audience to get involved with the ISM, adding that international support for the Palestinian cause is vital. She described the difficulty of finding major news outlets to publish detailed accounts of Palestinian civilian deaths.

“Palestinians feel completely abandoned by the international community,” Arraf said.

While the ISM is predicated on non-violence, it has been accused of supporting violent resistance – such as suicide bombing – behind the scenes. Arraf denied that the ISM supports violence, but she said that Palestinians have the right to engage in violent resistance directed at military targets.

“If you make the decision to resist, then you have to choose how to resist,” Arraf said. “Personally, I believe we should all live together.”

Arraf encouraged the audience to research the conflict, form their own opinions, and get involved with finding a solution.

“We need that little bit of hope,” she said.

Israeli Army shoots member of Brighton delegation with rubber bullet

Israeli Army shoots member of Brighton delegation with rubber-coated steel bullet
from Brighton Palestine Friday 13th April 2007

A 28 yr old Brighton man was shot in the arm today by a rubber bullet fired by the Israeli Army. He was on a weekly demonstration against Israel’s apartheid wall in Bil’in village, Palestine.

For over two years, Palestinians in the West Bank village of Bil’in have been non-violently resisting Israel’s illegal annexation of their land. Yesterday they were joined as usual by Israeli and international supporters, including Tom and several other people from Brighton, as they began their march to the Apartheid Wall, which is being built a short walk from their village.

Before the demonstration reached the wall the Israeli Army started firing tear gas, saturating the olive groves, and the rubber coated bullets. It is thought that fourteen protesters were injured. A medic from the Palestinian Red Crescent was shot in the stomach, and another local man was shot in the groin. A visitor from France was shot by a tear gas canister at close range and sustained severe burns.

Tom, after being treated by the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance, said:

“This violent attack by the Israeli Army on peaceful unarmed demonstrators is unbelievable. The people of this village have had their land stolen, their olive trees uprooted, and their livelihoods devastated. By daring to protest against this injustice they are met with aggression and violence. This has made me more determined than ever to support them, and other people in Palestine, in their struggle for their land, their country, and their freedom.”

Tom was with several other people from Brighton, who are in Palestine as part of a delegation organised by Brighton Tubas Friendship Group. On of the delegation, Richard Johnson, aged 76 yrs, who was with him said:

“I was really upset to see Tom shot, but amazed by the persistence, resilience and enterprise of the local demonstrators. After the Army shot tear gas and rubber bullets, they reformed time and time again to try to finish their protest. Whilst I was on the demonstration I heard about a local man from the village whowas so badly beaten by the Israeli Army last night that he had three vertebrae broken. The Israeli Army then went to his house and shot his wife in front of his 15 children. Such behaviour is barbaric.I am proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Bil’in today and absolutely support them in their struggle.”

AP: IOF Soldier suspended after forcing Palestinians to act as human shields

Cooperation between Research Journalism Initiative and the International Solidarity Movement in publicizing video footage of Israeli soldiers forcing Palestinians to be human shields leads to a rare case of action against IOF officer

IDF suspends officer over troops’ use of Palestinians as human shields
By The Associated Press 13 April 2007

The Israel Defense Forces has suspended the commander of an operation in which troops ordered two Palestinian youths in the West Bank to stand in front of their vehicle to protect it from stones thrown by locals, the army spokesman’s office said Friday.

Following the incident in which IDF soldiers apparently made prohibited use of civilians, GOC Central Command Yair Naveh ordered the suspension of the commander of the mission from all operational activity, in addition to the ongoing investigation into the matter, the IDF statement said.

Additionally, the chief military counsel has ordered a military police investigation into the incident, the statement said.

The footage was filmed by a foreign activist in the course of a raid on the home of a wanted militant in Nablus. During the operation, troops damaged the house, but the fugitive was not inside.

Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti denounced the suspension as window-dressing.

“They are treating it as an isolated incident,” he said. “The problem is
systematic and … they (troops) continued the practice despite the court order,” he said.

Human rights groups say the use of civilians in military operations has dropped sharply since the Supreme Court banned it outright in 2005, but has not ceased altogether.

The landmark Supreme Court ruling was prompted by an outcry over the army’s widespread practice, in a 2002 West Bank offensive, of forcing Palestinian civilians to approach fugitives’ hideouts.

The army, which launched the offensive following a rash of suicide bombings, defended the practice at the time, saying it kept civilians out of harm’s way and encouraged militants to surrender peacefully. And it says it never allowed troops to use civilians for cover during battles.

But in August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student was killed in a gunfight that erupted after he was forced to knock on the door of a building where a fugitive was hiding.

See previous story and video HERE

Israeli army shoots 15 at Prisoner’s Day demonstration in Bil’in

Israeli army shoots 15 demonstrators with rubber-coated steel bullets in Bil’in
by the ISM Media Team13 April 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At least 15 demonstrators were injured today in the village of Bil’in. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at a crowd of Palestinian, Israeli, and internationals, who were non-violently resisting Israel’s Apartheid Wall and Occupation of Palestinian land.

Every Friday for the past 26 months, Palestinians and their Israeli and international colleagues have been meeting in Bil’in and demonstrating against the Apartheid Wall. Today, in commemoration of Palestinian Prisoner’s Week, a portable “jail cell” was carried along the march towards the Wall. Palestinians, with their hands tied, resembling prisoners, marched inside the cell. Photos of Marwan Barghouti and other political prisoners were seen throughout the march.

Israeli forces were waiting inside of the Wall, however, preventing the demonstrators from reaching their destination. A high-powered water tank was also inside the Wall, waiting to be used on the demonstrators. Instead, the army started propelling tear gas at the peaceful demonstration. As people began to scatter in various directions, soldiers fired indiscriminately into the trees.

When the demonstrators regrouped and began their march to the Wall again, the army began using an excessive amount of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Martin, an American solidarity activist, explained, “Just as people cleared the smoke from the tear gas they had to start dodging rubber bullets. Even the demonstrators who were retreating back to the village were at risk. I even saw a medic from the Red Crescent being carried away.”

“Every time I turned around I saw another person being carried away. I have never seen the army this aggressive in Bil’in,” said Miriam, a Palestinian activist.

Although the army would not let even one demonstrator reach the Wall, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets continuously, the demonstrators persisted for two hours on trying to reach the Wall.

Another Palestinian activist explained, “Just like our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Israeli jails, we too are in a jail here in Bil’in. But our prison here has no ceiling.”

According to Stop the Wall, of the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners being held captive by Israel, 450 are children and teenagers, 125 are women. Held in “administrative detention” are 1,050 Palestinians, which means they have not been charged with any crime and can be jailed for up to 6 months with the detention renewable indefinitely. 186 Palestinians have died in the 27 Israeli-run prisons.

For more information, contact:

ISM Media Office, 0599-943-157, 02-297-1824