Women’s Demonstration in Hebron, Hope from Association of Women’s Action by Martinez, 2 April 2007
Yesterday, the Hebron Women’s Club organized a demonstration in the Old City of Hebron. The women met at the Israeli Machsom (checkpoint), which separates the Palestinian neighborhood of Tel Rumeida (H2) from the rest of Hebron (H1).
Palestinians living in H1 are subject to arbitrary home invasions and incursions by the Israeli military. H2, however, is under total Israeli military control. No Palestinians are allowed to drive cars of any kind in H1. If you are sick, you must be carried through the checkpoint where an ambulance may be waiting for you on the other side. The same holds true for pregnant women, who have to move from Tel Rumeida some time before giving birth to ensure that they are close to a medical facility.
Tel Rumeida is unlike any other place in the West Bank. Extremist settlers live side by side with the Palestinians, often in Palestinian homes whose residents fled because of the violence inflicted by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Many adult male settlers carry M-16 rifles as they walk the streets of Tel Rumeida with their families. Settler youth and, at times, settler adults, throw stones at and spit on Palestinian women, men, and children, while the Israeli soldiers stand idly by.
At the checkpoint in Tel Rumeida, soldiers will detain Palestinian men under the guise of completing a “security check.” This should normally take just a few minutes, but often the soldiers will detain the men for hours.
At this Machsom, the Women’s Club gathered. On the Tel Rumeida side of the barrier, Shuhadda is the name of the street that leads directly to the Ibrahimi Mosque. Palestinians used to frequent this once-bustling market avenue which borders the Old City—to shop and to reach the Mosque. Because of the Israeli settlements, however, which have been constructed illegally on Shuhadda, the Israeli army has shutdown the street to the Palestinians. The shops have been closed and the Palestinians must walk the long way through the Old City in order to reach the Mosque.
Though the Women’s Club was not marching down Shuhadda St. to reach the Ibrahimi Mosque, marching from the Machsom was a symbolic event, highlighting the violation of the Palestinian right of movement to reach their holy sites.
Palestinian women and internationals joined the march through the Old City to the Mosque. There was no incident from the Israeli soldiers during the procession.
There are three Israeli Machsoms that one has to cross before entering the Ibrahimi Mosque. They are equipped with Israeli soldiers, turnstiles, cameras, metal detectors, and sometimes have long lines because the soldiers detain Palestinians at will as they cross.
Today, as the women from the procession crossed through the first pf the three checkpoints, the soldiers detained three young Palestinian men, ages 16-20. The soldiers forced the Palestinian men to stand facing the wall, noses nearly touching the stone building.
When international human rights workers (HRWs) asked why this was happening, one soldier replied, “Because they are terrorists.”
The women from the demonstration crossed the second of three checkpoints and entered into the Mosque to pray. The third checkpoint is in the Mosque. (The checkpoints were created by the Israeli government after Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli doctor, entered the Mosque in 1994 and opened fire, killing 29 Palestinians and wounded 150 others).
Bullet hole in wall of Ibrahimi Mosque, shot by Baruch Goldstein
Eights HRWs remained with the Palestinian detainees. Additional soldiers arrived outside of the Ibrahimi Mosque and demanded that the HRWs leave from the area. The HRWs responded, “We will leave when our friends (the detainees) can leave.”
The Palestinian men were released a few minutes later.
When the Women’s Club exited the Mosque, they had to exit into the Old City through a separate checkpoint. The Israeli soldiers do not let the Palestinians or internationals exit through the checkpoint where they entered the Mosque.
The Women’s Club invited the demonstrators to visit the Association of Women’s Action for Training and Rehabilitation (AOWA). This group is assisted by TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron).
Sawsan Nasradeen, explained the goals and activities of the group. She said, “Women’s Action gives strength to Palestinian women, supporting them in their journey into the political world. We also teach women the art of embroidery and sewing. We can then help to sell their crafts to different groups in Israel and internationally… Everything you see here was made by hand. TIPH gives us the materials and we create these beautiful things… The women train other women these skills—everything from production to cooking—so we can help them earn an income.”
“There are women who have lost their husbands and sons to the Occupation. Some are dead or in jail. Women’s Action gives these women a place to work, we give them hope,” Sawsan explained.
Sawsan then explained that kids from the ages of 9-12 learn from the women at AOWA, “what their rights are, and what the Israeli soldiers can and cannot do to the Palestinians, and how to respond.” AOWA has opened 6 kindergartens as well. “We provide a safe place to children,” said Sawsan.
Major accomplishments for AOWA have been their exhibitions in Qatar and Spain, where the women’s handicrafts are displayed and sold and their profits returned to the women in Hebron. Their last exhibition kicked off on March 17, the date that is traditionally celebrated as “Women’s Day.”
For more information regarding AOWA, contact:
Sawsan Nasradeen, sawsanwoaction@yahoo.com
AOWA Main Center, 02-296-1563
AOWA Hebron Branch, 02-229-1546
Hundreds defy apartheid restrictions on movement in Beit Furik from IWPS, 1 April 2007
Nearly 200 Palestinian and international activists defied Israel’s apartheid policies at the Beit Furik checkpoint in Nablus today. The non-violent demonstrators joined together to resist the closure of the checkpoints by the Israeli military for the Jewish Pesacht holiday. The demonstration was also commemorating the anniversary of the Palestinians’ Land Day when, 31 years ago, the Israeli military killed six Palestinians who were resisting the confiscation of their land during a non-violent demonstration in the Galilee.
The Palestinian and international demonstrators marched toward the checkpoint chanting slogans against the closure and Israel’s apartheid restrictions on freedom of movement. Soldiers were unable to block their path and the demonstrators were able to proceed to the Beit Furik side of the checkpoint. The activists then occupied the checkpoint, sitting down in the center of the crossing.
Since 2002, it has only been possible to enter Nablus through six checkpoints on foot. It is even more difficult to exit. Men between 16 and 45 (it varies from day to day) can only exit their city with a special Israeli-issued permit which can only be obtained outside of Nablus. The city is often sealed off during Jewish holidays. Today, the road to Beda was blocked by soldiers and hundreds of young Palestinians were prevented from leaving Nablus through Huwarra checkpoint.
For more info, contact:
Anna (IWPS), 054-216-7376
ISM Media Office, 0599-943-157
Re-Ignited in Palestine: Tel Rumeida Circus for Detained Palestinians by The Shmoogster
The Tel Rumeida Circus for Detained Palestinians had their first reunited circus extravanganza last night. Due to heavy rains, our flames were dampened 2 weeks ago when we attempted to have our first 2007 circus show in Tel Rumeida.
Last night, however, Katie and I brought our fire poi and our fire juggling torches to H2, and filled those Occupied streets with glee.
H2, for those of you who may not know, is an area of Hebron that was divided up under what was called the “Hebron Protocols” in 1997. H1, making up 80% of Hebron, was to be granted limited autonomy under the supervision of the Palestinians Authority. H2, where the Tel Rumedia neighborhood is located, was placed under the full control of the Israeli military.
What this translates to is that anyone living in H1 (under ‘limited ‘autonomy’) is subject to arbitrary home invasions and incursions by the Israeli military. In H2, however, under the control of the Israeli army, things are a lot more intense and unbelievable…
No Palestinians are allowed to drive cars of any kind in H2. If you are sick, you must be carried through the checkpoint where an ambulance may be waiting for you on the other side. Same hold true for pregnant women, who have to move from Tel Rumeida some time before giving birth to ensure that they are close to a medical facility.
Tel Rumeida is unlike any other place in the West Bank. Illegal, extremist settlers live side by side with the Palestinians, often in Palestinian homes whose residents fled from the soldier and settler violence. Settlers carry M-16 rifles as they walk the streets with their families. Settler youth and, at times, settler adults, throw stones at and spit on Palestinian women, men, and children, while the Israeli soldiers stand idly by.
At the checkpoint in Tel Rumeida, soldiers will detain Palestinian men for sometimes hours while the soldiers do a “security check.” This should normally take just a few minutes, but often the soldiers will detain the men for hours, just because they feel like it.
The Tel Rumeida Circus was initiated as a response to de-escalate these situations. Katie and I were playing with our circus toys with the Palestinian children on Shuhadda Street. On this street, settlers commonly break Palestinian windows and throw stones at Palestinians and international human rights advocates.
The kids do not usually enter the street because they are afraid of being attacked by the violent settlers. But when we would arrive with out juggling pins and poi, smiles stretching from ear to ear would be seen galloping down the stairs to join on for our quaint circus show.
We noticed on one of these days that a Palestinian man had been detained at the checkpoint for quite some time. Katie and I decided to bring our mock-circus performance to the checkpoint. It was already an absurd scene– 18 year old Israeli soldiers detaining a Palestinian man at a crappy little checkpoint, separating Palestinian land from Palestinian land. So we decided to add to the absurdity while adding a bit of non-violent intervention to the scene.
So we brought our show to the checkpoint. Our attempt was to put the soldiers in a better mood which would lead into them releasing the Palestinian detainee. Katie and I improvisationally announced: “We are the Tel Rumeida Circus…” We spun our poi and juggled our pins there, next to the checkpoint. And it worked. After a little while, the Palestinian was released and we departed back down Shuhadda St. And we would return as often as we could to Shuhadda St with our equipment, making our spontaneous circus shows when a detention was occurring.
We eventually grew and started to teach the kids how to do circus tricks.
And we would do our TRCDP fire show every Friday night…
So last night was our special Palm Sunday Performance of TRCDP. (Actually, that was just a coincidence). Our audience of Palestinian children was so excited—it had been over 7 months since we last performed on those streets in H2. The internationals were pretty excited as well.
Two Israeli soldiers could be seen several meters away. I saw one of them on the phone…
We played with our fires for nearly half an hour.
Our circus soundtrack blasted from on of the Palestinian shops.
As we finished, a tank whirled around the corner in our direction, but our circus had already been extinguished. Maybe they were coming to stop us. Maybe they were coming to join us. Regardless, we will reunite there every Friday. And TRCDP has already started planning to get our show on the road. Our goal is to perform at as many permanent checkpoints as we can. We’ll see you at a checkpoint near you.
All of this circus stuff was preceded by Land Day. There a handful of places where non-violent demonstrations against Apartheid were taking place. I found myself at the demo in Bil’in….
Bil’in Commemorates Land Day
All over the West Bank on Friday and Saturday, non-violent demonstrations were enacted against Israel’s Apartheid Wall and Israel’s theft of Palestinian land.
This year was the 31st anniversary of “Land Day,” a day when Palestinians commemorate the killing of six Palestinians in the Galilee in 1976. Israeli troops killed these non-violent demonstrators during peaceful protests over the confiscation of Palestinian lands.
Land Day’s theme encompasses the Palestinian struggle against foreign occupation, the strive for self-determination, and national liberation. Today’s theme additionally focused on Israel’s Apartheid Wall and the denial of freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Simultaneously, non-violent and direct actions were taken against Israel’s current system of Apartheid throughout Palestine. Palestinians were joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists in the villages of Bil’in, Umm Salamuna, Budrus, and Qaffin, among other places.
In Bil’in, the non-violent demonstrations have endured for well over two years now. Israel’s Apartheid Wall has stolen around 60% of Bil’in agricultural land. Still, Palestinians in Bil’in march every Friday against this obstruction and blatant barrier to peace. With their numbers usually in the hundreds, the demonstrators continue to march to the Wall, where Israeli army routinely responds to the non-violent demonstrators with tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber bullets.
On Saturday, the commemoration of Land Day, things weren’t very different.
About 150 Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals gathered outside of the mosque in Bil’in. Posters were plastered to the walls bearing the message of Land Day.
Half way through the march to the Wall, separating the Palestinians from their land, one could spot Israeli soldiers hiding out under olive trees, lounging out in the backyards of Palestinians, waiting for the chance to intervene with the demonstration.
When I arrived to the gate in the Wall, a soldier was holding up a piece of paper and was speaking in Hebrew. Presumably this was their “Closed Military Zone” order. Palestinian and international press were already on the hill beside the gate. As the rest of the march showed up, slogans were thrown, “No to the Wall. No to Occupation.”
On the other side of the wall, an Israeli police water tank waited to shoot its high-powered hose at the demonstrators. They have used this in the past. Though I have never felt it, others have said that the chemicals the police put in the water make it “feel as if your skin is peeling off when it hits you.”
Demonstrators, demanding to get to their land on the other side of the Wall, began trying to dismantle the barbed wire that the army placed on the inside of the Wall. The police tank then began shooting its hose towards the demonstrators. They fired the hose a few times before the soldiers eventually crossed the barbed wire and into the non-violent crowd.
With their shields and helmets and guns as protection, some soldiers started to push at the demonstrators. Against the soldiers’ armor, some rocks were thrown by some of the Palestinian boys. In response, the army started to throw sound grenades from over the fence in the direction of the demonstration.
The army then crossed the demonstrators who had gathered at the gate and began to fire rubber bullets towards the direction of the rock throwers. The marchers who were still working on getting to the gate began to retreat from the firing, and back toward the village.
This left the demonstration in two parts—a “divide and conquer” tactic I think.
Soldiers tried to arrest one Palestinian protestor but the crowd around him “de-arrested” him by locking extremities. Several Palestinians were forced to the ground with Israeli shields. Some sound grenades were thrown in intervals. Off in the distance you could hear the army shooting rubber bullets at the crowd who had retreated.
Slogans and chants were made towards the army. After about an hour, the demonstration came to an end and people began heading back to the village. Memory told me that the army would continue to fire sound grenades and tear gas as the peaceful demonstrators were retreating. And today was no different.
As the Israeli soldiers were coming back from firing at other section of the demonstration near the village, they crossed us and began to fire tear gas. Three or four Palestinian boys were slinging rocks from the bottom of the hill towards the armed Israeli soldiers at the top, and the boys began their new targets.
But every few meters you would hear a canister hit the ground and see the smoke rise from it. Nearer to the village, I could see a water tank on a Palestinian’s rooftop which had been hit with presumably live ammunition.
Land Day in Bil’in ended with no arrests and minor injuries.
At the Checkpoint also ended with no arrests or injuries.
Last Saturday, photographer Khaled Jarrar exhibited his photos at the Qalandya checkpoint. The name of the exhibit was called “At the Checkpoint.”
Qalandya checkpoint is not located on any border. Instead, the checkpoint has been erected between the Palestinian towns of Ramallah and Qalandya refugee camp, on one side, ar-Ram and Occupied East Jerusalem on the other. Thus Palestinians are forcibly parted from Jerusalem– the historical, economic, spiritual, and physical heart of the West Bank.
Passage through Qalandya checkpoint has become nearly impossible for most Palestinians, and for those needing to reach nearby Jerusalem. In order to reach home, work, and families, Palestinians must cross through this fortress-like structure. Passage is denied to Palestinians without an Israeli-issued Jerusalemite residency I.D. or permit. Palestinians– women and men, young and elderly, are all subject to this form of collective punishment.
Eligible Palestinians must usually exit the car on either side of the massive barrier, make their way through a maze of turnstiles, gates, Israeli soldiers and security, metal detectors and video cameras, before exiting the other side where they can board another vehicle to reach their destinations. This nightmare is even worse when a medical emergency is involved. Palestinians seeking medical attention are often refused crossing by the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint.
Several of us volunteers met Khaled a little while before the exhibit was to go up. We scoped the scene– are there soldiers present? Available space to hang the photographs? It was little windy that day but we had to wait for the right moment. There were a few local and international media outlets present… And then it was time.
There were about 10 of us there at Khaled’s car. Each of us took 3-4 photographs, pre-wired for hanging, so that we could just find a spot on the fence and begin the art exhibit.
After 5 minutes, all 60 or so photos were hung. I heard some Hebrew being yelled from the top of the Apartheid watch tower, but I wasn’t sure if it was directed at us or not. Passers-by started to walk in the direction of the makeshift gallery to see what all the commotion was about. Cars that were waiting to cross through the gate in the Apartheid Wall began to pull into the parking lot next to the checkpoint, and the drivers joined the observers at the art show.
The photographs displayed scenes at the numerous checkpoints that Israel has erected through the West Bank. Photos of Israeli soldiers screaming at elderly Palestinians as they waited to cross the barrier to reach their families and friends; endless lines of Palestinians waiting for hours in the hot sun, just to reach their homes; sound grenades exploding at peaceful demonstrations; Palestinian hand wrapped around barbed wire that the Israeli army placed near the checkpoint.
Khaled told me that he “wants to share the pain and plight of the Palestinians with the world.” He pointed towards the checkpoint. “This is what the Palestinians have to deal with everyday. A wall separating them from their land, from their families, from Jerusalem. Through my photos, I want to show the world the injustices we are living with everyday.”
Just the day before, as I mentioned in my last dispatch, the Israeli military shut down the YMCA-sponsored bicycle race. The race was a symbolic race against Israel’s Apartheid system, scheduled to bike from Ramallah, past Qalandia checkpoint, all the way down hill fdor 30 miles or so to Jericho, one of the most ancient cities on the planet.
Khaled was there taking photographs, his camera lens sticking out the back of the van in which he was riding. He snapped a few of me just a few minutes before we got to a small checkpoint where the Israeli army halted our exhilirating bike race. You can read my bike race story at: http://joeskillet.livejournal.com/12220.html
Khaled rushed home that night and developed and framed his photographs. There were a handful of pictures now hanging up at Qalandia checkpoint of that botched bike race the day before.
More people started to arrive, people coming in through the fortress from Jerusalem, and others going to. Dr. Mustafa Barghouti even showed up. Dr Barghouti is a doctor who was trained in the former Soviet Union – He headsthe Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, that he established back in 1979.
Here he is attending the “At the checkpoint” exhibit:
and here he is being surrounded by Israeli soldiers a couple years ago:
The photo exhibit stayed up from 1pm -4pm. There were no reported incidents of the Israeli Occupation Forces intervening.
Like the Tel Rumeida Circus for Detained Palestinians, Khaled plans to take his show “to a checkpoint near you.”
On March 30, 2007, three young men from the village of Rafat were arrested by the Israeli Forces following a nonviolent demonstration on the village’s land. At 1:44pm, the demonstration was finished and all participants were on their way home. The three men—ages 16, 20, and 24—who were walking by were detained on the road by eight soldiers who were checking IDs on their way out of the village. After 30 minutes, the three men were escorted by soldiers down the road away from the village, handcuffed, and forced into separate jeeps, where they were taken into custody for seven hours.
The IOF took the young men to the Kafr Kasem checkpoint outside the village of Az Zawiya. Upon arriving, soldiers stripped each man of his shirt, and tied one man’s shirt around his eyes as a blindfold. They used other blindfolds to blind the others. The men report that over the seven hours in custody, 40 soldiers took turns periodically kicking and hitting them with their hands and their guns in the head, back, and stomach. The 16-year-old reports that he told the soldiers his back hurt, at which point they told him to lie down on his back and began kicking him in the stomach. The men were forced to sit on the floor blindfolded and handcuffed with no food or water. Later they were forced into a small room where soldiers turned on air conditioned cold air and left them there in their undershirts. A female soldier—who had participated in beating the men—stuck a thin wooden stick in each blinded man’s nose and ears, and put small stones down the backs of their shirts. One man also reports that the female soldier asked if he had a girlfriend, and bit his left ear.
While in custody the men were each questioned about the nonviolent demonstration earlier in the day where they had no confrontation with soldiers—nor did anyone else present. Soldiers also asked the detainees where they worked and how much money they made. One soldier smoked in front of them, and when they asked if they could smoke too, he said yes, if they gave him 200 shekels.
At approximately 8:00pm, the three men report being released from custody near a garbage dump where they had to walk two hours home. Soldiers confiscated their identification cards, which are vital for going to work and through checkpoints throughout the West Bank. By Israeli law, Palestinians must carry identification cards with them at all times and being caught without them is grounds for imprisonment.
Background of incident:
The demonstration in Rafat earlier in the day included 150 people as part of the Stop the Wall campaign to commemorate the 31st Land Day celebration in Palestine. Participants marched West from the center of town towards the Israeli Apartheid Wall. One group of men prayed, while another group of 30 men approached the Wall (made of wire fence, electric sensory wire, and razor wire), broke open a gate, and tore down part of the Wall before Israeli forces arrived on the scene at around 1:15pm. All participants retreated to the village and there was no confrontation or clashes with Israeli soldiers during the demonstration.
Since 1976, Land Day is marked by Palestinians to protest against the the colonization and confiscation of Palestinian lands by Israel. Rafat is adjacent to the 27-settlement bloc of Ariel, the largest Israeli settlement network in the West Bank. The Wall around the Ariel bloc stretches for 114 km and grabs within it 120,000 dunums of prime aquifer-laden agricultural land which produce about 30 percent of the West Bank’s olive oil production. The Apartheid Wall dips farthest from the Green Line here and deep into the West Bank by about 22 kilometers.
Contact details: IWPS withholds this information as a courtesy to those involved – we will do our best to furnish you with all the relevant information you might need to begin action.
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