Author: ISM Media Group

En Bil’in de nuevo (In Bil’in again)

A journal entry giving more detail about Friday’s demonstration in Bil’in.

English version follows Spanish

by Maria del Mar, 10 Noviembre

Tengo 61 anos. Soy Espanola. Estuve tambien el ano pasado en Bil’in. Las Fuerzas de Ocupacion Israelies rompieron mi hombro en dos trozos y un tendon, durante la manifestacion pacifica, por nuestro lado, pero no quebrantaron mi confianza en la noviolencia activa que tiene que llevar algun dia a terminar con la ocupacion Israeli, con el muro, con los asentamientos ilegales…………a permitir que todos y todas puedan vivir en paz. Asi pues, gracias a Dios he podido volver y he vuelto. Llevo aqui tres semanas, pero eso es otra historia que espero contar tambien.

Hoy en Bil’in me ha impresionado ver tal cantidad de activistas de paz internacionales de todas las partes del mundo, desde jovenes de 20 anos a adultos de incluso 75, hablando idiomas diferentes, con creencias diversas, pero entendiendonos perfectamente en el idioma de la paz, de la solidaridad, de la determinacion a manifestarnos pacificamente junto a palestinos y activistas israelies que apoyan a los palestinos en sus justas reivindicaciones.

Ibamos coreando consignas contra la ocupacion, contra el muro. Bastantes han intentado y conseguido pasar el muro de alambrada de espinos con cantos que cortan como cuchillas y situarse al lado de los soldados reivindicando el derecho de estar en la tierra robada por el muro a los campesinos Palestinos. Mientras tanto los soldados israelies nos iban castigando con gases lacrimogenos, con bombas de sonido, con balas de goma.

Cuando finalmente ha podido mas el coraje que las armas, muchos activistas han conseguido situarse al lado de los soldados, al otro lado del muro, hablandoles de que la ocupacion tiene que cesar y otros que nos apoyabamos en la baranda mientras que otros, que no hemos podido pasar el muro, tambien les hablabamos desde el otro lado, diciendoles que podian rehusar a seguir siendo complices de su gobierno que podian abandonar el ejercito, que la ocupacion debia cesar, que el muro era ilegal, que no podian estar reprimiendonos, puesto que eramos civiles desarmados y que esto va contra la legislacion internacional.

Al mismo tiempo ibamos levantando nuestras manos desnudas en alto, ibamos repitiendoles que eramos internacionales y nuestros paises de procedencia. Los israelies les hablaban en su propio idioma.

En un momento dado ha sonado una voz de alarma. Un grupo numeroso de soldados israelies tambien fuertemente armado estaban bajando la montana, con la evidente intencion de cortarnos la retirada, de cogernos entre dos fuegos.

Pero ha podido mas la resolucion, y el coraje de los activistas de paz. No nos hemos apartado un milimetro, de nuestras posiciones aun a riesgo de resultar arrestados, heridos o quizas muertos y se han visto en la disyuntiva de dispararnos alguno de sus artefactos, con riesgo de alcanzar a sus propios soldados o buscar a otros activistas que pudieron estar desperdigados. Asi, despues de unos minutos de vacilacion, han ido pasando a nuestras espaldas, formando un angulo recto. Poco despues escuchabamos y oliamos ya a alguna distancia sus gases, sus bombas de sonido, sus balas de goma e incluso su fuego real.

Una vez mas el activismo noviolento, ha ganado una batalla para nosotros importante. Estar juntos Palestinos, Israelies que creen en la paz e internacionales juntos, dando un mensaje a los soldados, al mundo, de que la ocupacion debe cesar, que el muro debe caer, y que los palestinos tienen todo el derecho a vivir en paz y ganarse su pan en su tierra, libres de toda invasion, violencia y “apartheid”.

Somos solo personas solidarias con personas, ante la pasividad de nuestros gobiernos occidentales que miran hacia otro lado mientras aqui se continua matando en Gaza con mayor intensidad, e impunidad, pero tambien en el resto de territorios palestinos ocupados ilegalmente por Israel.

Hagamos correr la voz,. exijamos a nuestros respectivos Gobiernos que no permitan las ilegalidades, tenemos la fuerza de la razon, pero tambien la fuerza de nuestros votos, del boicot contra Israel, el boicot que termino con el “apartheid” en Sudafrica, y de nuestra solidaridad con el pueblo Palestino.

Y despues de lo que he estado observando, creo aun mas que la noviolencia activa puede conseguir lo que el ojo contra ojo no conseguira jamas, la justicia y la paz.

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by Maria del Mar, 10th November

I am a 61 years old Spanish woman. I was last here in Bil’in December 2005. In Bil’in the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) broke my shoulder in two pieces, during the peaceful demonstration. But they could not break my confidence in active non-violence that will lead some day soon, to the end the Israeli occupation, to the fall of the Apartheid Wall and to the end of illegal settlements. It will enable everyone to live in peace in this land. So, luckily, I’ve been able to come back, and have been here for three weeks.

Today in Bil’in I was pleasantly surprised to see such a number of international peace activists from all over the world. There were young people in their twenties and adults up to 75 years old, speaking many different languages. There were different beliefs represented, but we are all able to perfectly understand the language of peace and solidarity. We were determined to hold a peaceful demonstration with Palestinian and Israeli activists to support the Palestinians in their demands for justice. Even the Frenchman Jose wounded last week was there.

We were chanting against the occupation, against the wall. Some activists managed to cross the razor wire barrier and stand right beside the soldiers, thus showing their right to be on the land that the occupation, the settlements and the wall have robbed from the Palestinians who need it for their livelihoods. In the meantime, Israeli soldiers were punishing us with tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets.

When nonviolent courage finally proved stronger than weapons, those activists who had dared to cross the razor wire and stand beside the soldiers, started to tell them that the occupation has to end. The others who weren’t able to cross stood beside another group of soldiers, trying to explain to them that they can refuse to continue in their complicity with their own government and that they can leave the army. They also said that the occupation has to end, that the wall is illegal, that they can not continue attacking us, since we are unarmed civilians, and that in doing so, they are violating international laws.

At the same time, we put our bare hands up, repeating that we are internationals and the countries from which we have come. The Israeli supporters spoke to the soldiers in Hebrew.

Just then, somebody told us that a large group of Israeli soldiers, also heavily armed, were going down the hill behind us. They wanted to cut-off our escape, putting us between a rock and a hard place.

But the courage of peace activists avoided this. We did not move a single millimetre. from our positions, risking arrest, injury or even death. The soldiers had to choose between shooting us, taking the risk of hurting their own soldiers too, or trying to find other activists in elsewhere. So, after a few minutes, they passed behind us in a straight line. Shortly after, we could hear and even smell at some distance their gas, their sound bombs and their rubber bullets.

Despite this, non-violence once more won an important battle. Internationals and Israelis in solidarity with Palestinians gave a message to the soldiers and to the world. The occupation has to stop, the wall must fall and all Palestinians have the right to live in peace, to earn their living on their own land, free from occupation, violence and apartheid.

We are only people in solidarity with other people. We have the awareness that we must do something while our governments are looking away, while here Palestinian blood is shed every day — mainly in Gaza but also in the rest of Israeli occupied Palestine.

Let us spread the word, let us demand that our governments not continue to permit these illegalities. We have the strength of being right, but also the strength of our votes. We can boycott Israel. Such a boycott helped South Africa to finish their apartheid. We have the power of our solidarity with Palestinians and with all peoples that are suffering injustice.

After having lived so many years, I believe more and more, that active non-violence, can achieve what the rule of “eye for eye” will never do: justice and peace for everybody.

Bil’in mourns Gaza atrocities

by the ISM media team, November 10th

Bil’in village today mourned the atrocities in Gaza as well as commemorating the second anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat. The villagers, accompanied by Israeli and international supporters, marched from the mosque led by a youth marching band, carrying a funeral tent and wearing black ribbons around their foreheads and across their mouths to symbolize the silence of the international community at the atrocities in Gaza. As the march reached the edge of the village soldiers could be seen in the olive groves beside the road.

The 150-strong demonstration marched to a gate in the fence and held a ceremony to commemorate the Gaza victims and Yasser Arafat. On the other side of the fence the usual array of Israeli military and security looked on. Most protestors then marched down the hill alongside the series of razor wire and metal fences and began to dismantle the illegal razor wire.

The Israeli military responded with multiple rounds of tear gas and sound genades and started firing rubber bullets at the protestors.

One international was hit in the arm and then face with the same rubber bullet. This military violence didn’t deter the crowd which managed to create a bridge over the razor wire using olive branches. Reinforcements quickly arrived to deal with this ‘threat’.

Once on the other side the demonstrators sat down and started chanting anti-Occupation slogans before deciding to disperse to avoid further Occupation violence.

After the demonstration the IOF invaded the village, shooting 8 of the village youth with rubber bullets, and hitting one teenager with shrapnel from live ammunition in the hand. Two children had to be hospitalised. Soldiers fired tear gas into and shortly afterwards raided the house of Ahmad Hassan and beat 3 members of his family. This arbitrary raid is yet another example of the collective punishment meted out by the Israeli military in their unsuccessful attempt to quench the spirit of resistance that refuses to die in Bil’in.

Injuries:
Basel Naem Burnat – shrapnel in hand from live ammo
Nour Yusef Samara – rubber bullet in back of the head, hospitalised
Saji Burnat – rubber bullet
Basel Mansour – rubber bullet
Khalid Shawkat – rubber bullet
Ashraf Jammal – rubber bullet
Yasin Mohammed – rubber bullet
Wi’am Mohammed – rubber bullet
Mohammed Ahmad Hassan – rubber bullet
Sam from UK – hit in arm and face with rubber bullet

Scottish Rabbis volunteer threatened with deportation during olive harvest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Theresa McDermont, a volunteer from Scotland who came to pick olives with Palestinian farmers and Israeli rabbis today sits in an Israeli detention cell, awaiting deportation. She is not being charged with any crime.

Theresa, a post office worker, has been detained since the 31st of October. She will have a court hearing on the 13th of November and her attorney is Gabi Laski. She came to the country to join Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights. The group of rabbis and other Israeli and international volunteers are invited by Palestinian farmers to help pick olives during this year’s harvest. Palestinian olive pickers have been facing violence from Israeli settlers and harassment from Israeli soldiers.

On the 8th of November, another olive harvest volunteer with Rabbis was released from Israeli detention. Sam Grafton, a twenty-six year old theatre director from Britain had been picking olives with a Palestinian family in a Nablus village. The Israeli colony of Yitshar had been built near the the family’s olive groves. Israeli border police ordered Sam out of the area and arrested him. The next day, they brought him before a judge who released Sam on conditions that restrict his movement within the Palestinian areas.

Theresa was put into detention on her way into the country and is unlikely to get off so easily.

For more information:
Attorney Gabi Lasky: 054 441 8988
Arik Asherman, Rabbis for Human Rights: 050 560 7034 or 02 648 2757

Israeli soldiers rampage through Hebron after Palestinian youth demonstrate

by ISM Hebron, 8th November

Palestinian youths demonstrated against the Israeli massacre in Gaza at the Israeli checkpoint on Shuhada street today. All shops in Hebron closed in mourning.

International Human Rights Workers (HRWs) arrived at 1pm to see Israeli soldiers firing live rounds at demonstrators who hid behind burning tires and threw stones. Two soldiers ran out from the checkpoint firing their guns. Ten minutes later five more soldiers ran out, followed by a further five riding in an armoured vehicle. They positioned themselves behind concrete road blocks, firing rapidly at the demonstrators.

The soldiers then closed the checkpoint for the next few hours.

At 1.12pm a milkman arrived on his donkey and approached the checkpoint but was sent back. Immediately after, a Palestinian HRW heading out of the Israeli controlled H2 area into the Palestinian market in the H1 area of Hebron managed pass the checkpoint with a video camera. International HRWs heading the same way, however, were refused passage by the soldier on duty. Two Israeli settlers tried to exit but were also sent back.


Armed Israeli settler (note the rifle slung over his back) films events


The same armed settler continues filming from the comfort of the soldier’s section of the Shuhada street checkpoint (checkpoint 56).

At 1.24pm soldiers fired live and rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrating youth. Soldiers then moved away from the checkpoint and toward the Old City. They moved up a side street near Beit Romano settlement to attack a group of youths at the end of the street. They were hiding around a corner behind a burning tyre. Once again the soldiers shot at the youth, who threw stones at them.

At 1.36pm Israeli soldiers advanced along the side street. Suddenly several Palestinian children around 11 or 12 years old ran around the corner and threw rocks at the soldiers. One soldier was hit on the leg and fell to the ground.


Rubber-coated steel bullets and empty live cartridges collected by HRWs from the scene. Note the small calibre shell – this does not come from the rifles that Israeli soldiers carry.

More soldiers poured out through the checkpoint and five returned, clearing their rifles’ magazines of the empty live cartridges. At 1.30 the Palestinian with the donkey was allowed to unload his milk. International HRWs were again refused exit by the soldiers but Palestinians were allowed out.


Armed Israeli settler casual with the Israeli soldiers. Note the small calibre side-arm.

By 1.37pm five Palestinians had been detained at the Shuhada street checkpoint along with the donkey. When asked by a HRW, the soldier on duty said there was still “ongoing trouble” and that he would let people through as soon as things calmed down. They were finally let through at 2.10pm. Only the exit side of the checkpoint was working at this point, though Palestinians were being allowed through it in both directions.

Inside the Old City market, four Armoured Personal Carriers (APCs) were driving around. At 1.48pm one of them pushed a fruit stall backwards along the street and spilled the oranges. By 2.30pm soldiers were patrolling the street randomly stopping Palestinian men and forcing them to lift their shirts.

At 2.40pm six Palestinian youths stoned an APC that was driving through the area carrying shooting soldiers. A soldier jumped out, shot at the youths, jumped back in and drove away. Five minutes later more stones hit a stationary APC which eventually backed away.


Israeli soldiers inside the supposedly Palestinian-controlled H1 area of Hebron.

At 3.05pm six Palestinian youths threw stones at an army jeep from behind two burning tyres. The jeep drove around the area shooting at the protesters.

Israeli soldiers were moving along a street in the H1 area (which is supposed to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority) kicking parked cars. They were very abusive to journalists, both Palestinian and international. They screamed at them and tried to damage a car that belonged to one of them.

A soldier pointed his gun at a seven year old girl from about 300 feet away. She ran into her home scared. When she came back he shouted “sharmuta” (Arabic for whore) at her. He gestured dismissively at a HRW who said to him, “You just called a child a whore?”

“Get a life,” he said.

“And your life is calling children whores?”.


One of the many tear gas canisters the Israeli soldiers shot.

Soldiers then shot tear gas at a group of women and children, including six HRWs. The soldiers laughed at the painful effects it had on them. They spent the next three hours driving up and down the street, laughing and joking. They shot tear gas directly at children, hitting one ten year old boy in the leg. He had been riding past on his bike at the time, clearly not carrying any rocks.

Overall, they shot off more than 50 canisters of tear gas, at least 50 rubber-coated steel bullets as well as a significant number of live rounds.


A Palestinian child taken away by Israeli border police near the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Updated 10th November.

ISM Hebron also wrote a report from the second and third days of these protests.

Ma’ariv: “Forbidden by the High Court, Built by Construction Companies, Approved by State Prosecutor”

translated from the Hebrew orginal by Rann Bar-On

The [Israeli] state prosecutor is singing from two hymn sheets: it submitted a document to the High Court condemning illegal construction in Modi’in Ilit, but is also asking to legalize it to ease the lives of residents.

by Efrat Forsher, November 2nd

Ignoring the High Court

Despite a court order that expressly forbids the continuation of illegal construction in the Matityahu East neighborhood in Modi’in Ilit, and at the height of a criminal investigation, an access road was suddenly opened up connecting some of the houses in the neighborhood to the main road leading to the city. The state prosecutor explained to the High Court that it sees these illegal acts in a severe light, as they ignored an explicit court order. However, in the same breath and totally in opposition to its stated position, the state prosecutor asked the judges to approve the construction for humanitarian reasons.

The High Court is currently debating a motion filed by the ‘Peace Now’ movement following an investigation by ‘B’tselem’ and ‘Ba’Makom’ that exposed the existence of plans for the expansion of the ultra-orthodox settlement Modi’in Ilit on private Palestinian land. The motion asks the High Court to cancel the plans, including the construction of 3000 residence units.

According to the appelants, the land was expropriated from the residents of [Palestinian village] Bil’in, and the work began without permits being issued. When the motion was filed, 750 residence units had already been built, some of which were occupied.

Two days after the motion was filed, the High Court issued an order forbidding the continuation of construction in the neighborhood, the occupation of the residence units and the continuation of sales. The momentum of construction was halted and the residence units were left standing bare at various stages of construction, with the exception of around eighty that were previously occupied by families.

The Court Order was Scaled Down – and Broken

Later on, the state prosecutor admitted that the construction plans hadn’t been approved. The national police unit for the investigation of fraud is now conducting a criminal investigation into the suspected illegal construction.

After the motions were filed, the planners made several changes to the plan and refiled it. This time, they designated five enclaves of private land belonging to Palestinian residents of Bil’in. It was stated that in all of those areas where construction had previously taken place, the land will be returned to its former state, the areas will be fenced off and will be covered in soil.

In July the High Court scaled down its order so that work can begin. The High Planning Council in the Area of Judea and Samaria also gave the companies ‘Green Park’ and ‘Green Mount’, the partners in the project, permission to act. As part of the works, the enclaves were fenced off
and the roads crossing them that lead to the populated area, Hetziva B, were destroyed.

However, something else also happened. Despite the High Court order, another road was prepared last month, running from the populated area and connecting to the road to the city of Modi’in Ilit. To build this road, gravel was removed, potholes blocked up, the soil was compacted and infrastructure prepared for the paving of the road, all of which will pass through the ‘disputed area’.

A Request for ‘Temporary Approval’

Employees of the Civilian Administration on a tour of the area were surprised to see construction equipment working on the road and ordered an immediate halt to the work.

In a document the state prosecutor filed last week with the High Court, it states that construction and development were carried out against the court order, the construction permits and the plan, and emphasizes the gravity of these acts. In the same breath, the state prosecutor requests ‘temporary approval’ of the bypass road, justifying this by saying that ‘humanitarian concerns’ have arisen. It argues that the fencing-off of the enclaves has cut off access for the resident population that due to its socio-economic situation relies almost entirely on public transport.

At the moment, everyone is waiting for the High Court to decide in the matter. The residents of the neighborhood are hoping that the High Court will approve the road and will rescue them from the isolation that was imposed on them. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are hoping that the enclaves, which they say were stolen from them, will be returned to their owners.

The Justice Ministry responded that “the state believes that the residents of the populated buildings in the Matityahu East neighborhood have no connection to the illegal construction carried out by the construction companies. Since the court allowed the continued residence of the populated buildings, and the only means of access of public and emergency vehicles to the populated area was cut off, an impossible situation was created that is impossible to ignore.”

“The Only Means of Access was Cut Off”

Additionally it was written that “the state has no choice but to approve the completion of the construction of the access road within the appropriate legal framework as suggested by the state in its response to the High Court. We emphasize that this does not lessen the gravity of the acts carried out on the land.”

Yariv Openheimer, the general secretary of ‘Peace Now’ attacked the conduct of the state prosecutor and said that “the prosecutor is compounding crime upon crime and is attempting to approve illegal construction. In doing so, it is turning the High Court decision into a sad joke. The state must act against those who break the law, not cooperate with them.”

The ‘Green Park’ and ‘Green Mount’ companies who carried out the construction stated that the residents opposed the destruction of their only means of access to the populated area that passed through the third enclave, in part using physical obstructions.

Representatives of the families conducted negotiations with the construction company and agreed that the possibility of a temporary access road be looked in to as an interim solution: “the approval of the road was done without malice, and without violating any judicial order. Construction was halted the moment the civilian administration ordered it.”

The Modi’in Ilit local council did not respond to the matter prior to the handing down of the High Court verdict.

See also these previous stories on the ISM website: