Author: ISM Media Group

IOF Plans Home Demolitions in Fasayil

Home Demolitions Planned in Fasayil
from Brighton Palestine 12 April 2007

On Sunday, April 8, Israeli Occupation Forces visited the village of Fasayil, close to the settlement of Bet Syel in the Jordan Valley, and told residents that five houses would be demolished after the Pesach, the Jewish holiday. The residents of Fasayil fear the army may return soon.

Fasayil is situated within Area C and villagers have been prohibited from building new structures or improving their existing homes since the Israeli occupation in 1967. As a result the villagers live in severe poverty in homes in a terrible state of disrepair. Israeli occupation law systematically denies the villagers the right to develop basic facilities or the means to sustain a livelihood. Last year the IDF ordered the demolition of the village’s electricity pylons which supply the only power source for the village. The Israeli courts also ruled that the villagers could not tarmac the road to access the village and ordered the demolition of the village toilet. These demolitions have been halted after interventions by the Palestinian Authority and foreign governments.

The villagers of Fasayil are under constant threat from house demolitions. One woman has had the same house demolished four times.

The land previously owned by Fasayil has been expropriated by the illegal settlements of Tomer and Bet Syel. The residents are now forced to work for the settlers as their traditional livelihood is being destroyed. 90% of the villagers work in the settlements, for companies like Carmel-Agrexco with no contracts, sick pay or employment rights. Many children from the village work on the settlement as the village is prohibited from building a school and students often have to travel to Jericho to get an education.

Palestinians from Fasayil who challenge these Israeli restriction are forced to pay massive legal fees for representation in the Israeli courts.

The current demolition orders in Fasayil are a part of a systematic policy to force the Palestinian residents out of the area. However, the villagers plan to stay on their land despite the relentless harassment by the Israeli state. Fasayil is resisting the Israeli attempt to destroy their community with very little support from outside agencies. They feel that their plight is going unnoticed and are asking for international support to stop the demolitions.

To see a video the Israeli Occupation Forces demolishing Palestinian homes and internationals attempting to halt the operation, click HERE.

For more info, contact:
Brighton-Tubas Solidarity Group 05260122203, thewallmustfall@riseup.net
ISM Media Office, 0599-943-157

ZNet: Rachel’s Words Silenced Again

Rachel’s Words Silenced Again
by Tom Wallace 12 April 2007

Once again the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” has been cancelled, this time in South Florida.

In New York and Toronto the play was cancelled due to pressure from the Jewish community or those that claim to speak for the Jewish Community. The play was successfully staged in NYC at the Minetta Lane theater. It is currently enjoying an extraordinary run at the Seattle Repertory Theater and many more are planned.

Wherever it has been staged, there has been support from the Jewish community as well as criticism. The Jewish community is not monolithic and no-one speaks for “it,” though many claim to.

Much has been written about the play and though theater critics have mostly given glowing reviews, some have been luke warm, and a scant few have even been negative. That is how theater works.

Unfortunately, the power behind the movement to silence Rachel remains nameless and faceless.

They work in the background by using blackmail and other forms of pressure on theater managers and owners. They do not have to justify their stance and we never get to know who “they” are.

I experienced this silencing first hand while volunteering in Bethlehem as the media coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement immediately after Rachel’s death, and as British activist Tom Hurndall was mortally wounded, and as American activist Brian Avery was seriously injured. I saw that US journalists, under extraordinary pressure, pulled their punches while the British media helped push for the truth.

As a result, the Israeli soldier who shot Tom Hurndall was tried and found guilty of manslaughter. In contrast, there has been no pressure from US media or politicians for a thorough and transparent investigation into Rachel Corrie’s killing, though Israeli Prime Minister Sharon promised one to President Bush.

Censorship however, can create a backlash. A small group of people created Rachel’s Words in response to the popular anger over the New York Theater Workshop’s cancellation of the play last year. We ultimately helped bring Rachel’s message to an even wider audience.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” is a play based on the writings of a twenty three year old American woman from Olympia Washington , who was committed to making a difference. Editors Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner culled the best of Rachel’s writings from the time she was very young until her death. Her life ended tragically while trying to protect the home of a Palestinian pharmacist from demolition by a Caterpilar bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier.

The play is not about the death of Rachel Corrie, it is about her life – her dreams, her beliefs, her desires, her experiences, her faults and all of her humanness.

It was her humanity which prompted her to travel to Gaza and see for herself what was happening.

She quickly learned some ugly truths about another side of humanity, a little more about US foreign policy, and a lot about people’s ability to survive under obscene circumstances.

She noticed that the weapons carried by Israeli soldiers which kill Palestinian children are “made in USA .” So are the bulldozers that illegally destroy Palestinian homes, the helicopter gun ships and the f16 fighter jets that drop 1 ton bombs on apartment buildings full of Palestinian families.

Of this Rachel wrote “This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benatar and have boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop.”

Her writings are based on what she saw. This was her experience and she died for it. The resulting play about her life prompts valuable discussion.

If we had more uncensored discussion on the issue of Israel and Palestine in general, Rachel might be alive today dancing to Pat Benatar.

Rachel represents much of what is best about who we are or like to think we are as Americans.

Those who want to silence her have a right to criticize. They have a right to produce their own play. They even have a right to lie and cheat.

They do not have a right to silence anyone. No one in this country has that right. Some of the gravest errors in US history have resulted from efforts to silence dissenting viewpoints.

By caving to their demands, the Mosaic theater has committed the ultimate crime in the world of theater and arts; that of censorship. They should reconsider their decision lest they lose the right to be called a theater.

Tom Wallace is the editor of American Hummus

RJI: (VIDEO) Israeli soldiers force Palestinians to be human shields in Nablus (en Espanol)

Israeli army forces Palestinians to be human shields
from Research Journalism Initiative 11 April 2007

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 IDF officer

YNet: IDF soldiers use Nablus youths as ‘human shield’
by Ali Waked 12 April 2007
Spanish follows English

VIDEO – Despite repeated promises by the Israel Defense Forces not to make use of Palestinian civilians as ‘human shields’ during its activity in the territories, troops operating in Nablus were filmed ordering two Palestinian youths to stand in front of their vehicle to protect it from stones thrown by locals.

The act, which was also in violation of a Supreme Court decision from 2005, was filmed by a foreign activist on Wednesday in Nablus’ Sheikh Munis neighborhood, where the soldiers encircled the home of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member Abed el-Qadr.

During the operation the IDF forces demolished the house, but it later turned out that el-Qadr was not on the premises.

Meanwhile, a number of Palestinian youths threw stones at an IDF Hummer that was securing the soldiers encircling the house. According to foreign peace activists at the scene, the soldiers then ordered two youths who happened to pass by to stand in front of the vehicle in order to stop the stone-throwing.

The peace activist who filmed the act told Ynet, “The soldier closest to me said they were only asking the youths to tell their friends to stop throwing stones.”

He said he eventually stopped filming so as not top upset the soldiers, but added that the incident continued for “several more minutes.”

The activist said this is the first time he had seen soldiers ordering Palestinians to serve as human shields for army vehicles, but added that in the past few months he had witnessed a number of incidents in which soldiers used Palestinian civilians during their activity.

Research Journalism Initiative filmed the incident.

YNet’s March 4th article reported on Israel’s use of human shields in Nablus.

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RJI: (VIDEO) Soldados Israelies obligan a los Palestinos a ser escudos humanos en Nablus 12 Abril, 2007

El ejercito Israeli oblige a los Palestinos a ser escudos humanos de Research Journalism Initiative 11 Abril 2007

YNet: Los soldados Israelies utilizan a jovenes de Nablus como “escudos humanos”
por Ali Waked 12 Abril 2007

Los soldados Israelies utilizan a jovenes de Nablus como “escudos humanos”.

VIDEO – A pesar de repetidas promesas de las Fuerzas de Defensa Israelies de no utilizar a civiles Palestinos como “escudos humanos” durante su actividad en los territories ocupados, las tropas que operan en Nablus han sido filmadas ordenando a dos jovenes Palestinos a permanecer delante de su vehiculo para protegerles de las piedras que tiraban los jovenes de la localidad.
El acto, que tambien viola una decision del Tribunal Supremo de 2005, fue filmado por un activista extranjero el Miercoles en el vecindario Sheikh Munis de Nablus, en donde los soldados cercaron la casa del miembro de las Brigadas de los Martires de al-Aqsa, Abed el-Qadr.
Durante la operacion las fuerzas armadas Israelies demolieron la casa, si bien despues pudieron comprobar que El Qadr no se encontraba alli.

Mientras tanto, unos cuantos jovenes Palestinos lanzaban piedras a un Hummer del ejercito Israeli que protegia a los soldados que rodeaban la casa. De acuerdo con los activistas de paz que se hallaban en la escena, los soldados ordenaron entonces a dos jovenes que pasaban por alli, que se mantuvieran en frente del vehiculo, para parar el lanzamiento de piedras.

El activista de paz que filmo la escena declaro a Ynet, “El soldado mas cercano a mi me dijo que solo estaban pidiendo a los jovenes que dijeran a sus amigos que pararan de lanzar piedras.”
Dijo que el entonces paro de filmar para no enfurecer mas a los soldados, pero que el incidente continuo durante “varios minutes mas.”

El activista dijo que es la primera vez que ha visto soldados ordenando a los Palestinos que sirvieran de escudos humanos para los vehiculos militares, pero anadio que en los meses anteriores habia sido testigo de varios incidents en que los soldados usaban civiles Palestinos durante su actividad.

Research Journalism Initiative filmo el incidente.
YNet del 4 de Marazo ya informaba de la utilizacion por parte de Israel de escudos humanos en Nablus.

(Traduccion del ingles por amdelmar, de ISM Catalunya, desde Ramallah)
www.internacionalesporpalestina.org

Si no veis correctamente el video lo podeis encontrar en www.palsolidarity.org o bien en YouTube.

The Unbelievable Stench of Irony

The Unbelievable Stench of Irony
by Dan Glass, Brighton-Palestine, 10 April 2007

The look in their eyes gave it all away. They knew something was wrong – how could they not? Only sixty-five years ago my grandparents were running from young soldiers dressed in green, with machine guns strapped to their under-developed arms, with officers sending them orders, with their uniform trousers tucked into their calf high boots. Those same soldiers who were charged with sexually assaulting women, killing innocent civilian children and with swastikas on their arms inspired the tactics of soldiers you find at Israeli checkpoints today that we have seen throughout out journeys over the past week. It’s sick. It’s enough to make a skull smile.

When will the zionist advocates, the belief in an ethnically centred Jewish state, realise that if you try to snuff out a culture, blow out its light and extinguish its values – they will only unite into a fighting force? Just as the Jews did? All you have to do is experience the beauty of Palestinian family hospitality and values, the rich taste of home grown humus and the colours of the hijabs which adorn the proud role of Palestinian women, to realise that whatever plan, zone or border one builds – it will never break the will of such a tenacious people. When will the zionist followers learn that playing poker with some of the brashest profit-driven corporations on the planet is a venal and dangerous game? Just as Coca Cola and IBM were complicit in the Holocaust crimes and as Carmel Agrexco and EDO MBM are today, when it is these cultures turn to role the dice and shuffle their hand, they will pull out the wrong card and suppressed community anger will eventually pop and explode? And when will the zionist believers realise that destroying a human civilisation next to ‘their borders’ wreaks long term consequences? That what must also be counted in the costs of war, are the trampled vegetation, the charred trees and the carcasses of livestock who have innocently strayed within the territories of human greed? Unfortunately, it is these policies of ecocide and this ignorance which will ultimately be the undoing of the arrogance of the human species.

For me, not only is the situation desperate and disparate, but, more than anything, an embarrassment – an embarrassment for all that my holocaust-surviving grandparents fought for. Lying in their graves, they turn, turn and turn in sheer disbelief. If only their suffocated silence could screech their thoughts of, ‘WHAT IS GOING ON??!!’. For all the nights they slept rough, for all the food they were starved of, for all the limbs they lost and all the holocaust-remembrance ceremonies held ever since 1945 – the justification of divisions in the name of security is a farce when we have learnt many times that two, three, ten or twenty cultures can co-exist in peace. So, I write this personally for all you young Jews out there – realise that every innocent Palestinian death, every crop-trashing and every person who is being actively robbed of their livelihood, their homes, their water and, above all, some semblance of dignity, is being done in your name and in the struggles your grandparents fought so hard for.

The Judaic culture has a great and wonderful history of strength, solidarity and resistance – today we may not be a great race – but we can, once again, be a great people. Just as my grandparents (and many of yours too) stared back death in the face with hope for peace – we can do too. Remember, the only thing more powerful than the British and American Governments and NGO’s who are funding the occupation, is the British and American civil population. The time has come, the stakes are raised and the mirror is holding high the glinting reflections of what our grandparents dreamt of. Tear down the Israeli ghettos and the wall of death and say, ‘No nations- No borders- not in my grandparents, mine or my future generation’s name.’

VIDEO- IOF demolishes Palestinian homes in South Hebron

VIDEO- IOF demolishes Palestinian homes in South Hebron

Video taken by Tayyush

On Wednesday 14th February Israeli Occupation Forces demolished a large number of houses and agricultural structures in four different villages in the South Hebron Hills – Qwawis, M’nezel, Um-Elhe’r and the Abu-Kbeita family near Yatir settlement. The villagers in this area struggle to stay on their land despite ongoing home demolitions, violent attacks and constant settler and military harassment.

Read full story HERE