Author: swing

Nonviolent action by Palestinians and internationals stops settler road construction in Um al Kheir

Christian Peacemaker Team

Palestinians block earth-moving equipment in Um al Kheir
Palestinians block earth-moving equipment in Um al Kheir

26 April 2009

Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills village of Um al Kheir today changed the route of a road being constructed by settlers from the illegal settlement of Karmel. The villagers, acting with internationals, nonviolently blocked the road-building equipment as it prepared the roadbed on land which belongs to Palestinians living in the village of Um al Kheir.

Palestinians and internationals gathered to confront settlers from Karmel, Israeli soldiers, and Israeli border police as work began at 7:00 AM. Israeli soldiers allowed the road work to continue despite a pending legal complaint filed by the village in Israeli court. One older Palestinian man who was sitting in front of earth-moving equipment was accidentally struck by stones which were dislodged by the work.

Survey markers placed the previous week in the village indicated that construction of the road would include the demolition of a Palestinian home and several agricultural structures. As marked now, the road will include the annexation of a large area of Palestinian land by the settlement, but will not include demolition of the home. A legal decision on construction of the road is expected within ten days.

Representatives from the United Nations Refugee Works Administration (UNRWA) were also present during the work because the villagers have refugee status. Residents of the Bedouin village of Um al Kheir bought the land the village currently occupies, including the land being used for construction of the settler road, fifty years ago. They were forced to move the village from its original location near Arrad in 1948, after the creation of the state of Israel.

Recent expansion of the Karmel settlement has included the construction of twelve double houses around the perimeter of the settlement. These are surrounded by a fence and a military road, which encroaches onto Palestinian land. The new road as proposed will extend the settlement farther into Um al Kheir, and will result in the annexation of a substantial area of land outside the existing settlement houses. Numerous other Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills have been impacted by the expansion of settlements and outposts in recent months.

The residents of Um al Kheir, along with villagers from nearby At-Tuwani and other villages in the area, remain committed to nonviolence as they struggle to oppose the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements and outposts. Villagers have filed legal complaints, and staged nonviolent grazing actions in the South Hebron Hills throughout the spring grazing season.

Construction of Israeli-only road threatens homes of Umm al Kher-al Faqir residents

“My family bought this land in 1948 after being expelled from our old home. It was just us, the birds, and the trees here at that time. But in 1967 the Israelis started to attack us, and ten years later they built a military outpost. Five years after that the settlers started buiding their homes on our land. Today they even tried to tear down our camp,” says Salim, a 60 year-old man from Umm al Kher-al Faqir.

A military road around the Karmel settlement, built on stolen land, is under construction, and was planned to go through the village demolishing some houses. The demolition order of the Bedouin camp outside Hebron was due at four o’clock on Sunday, 26 April 2009, but did not take place.

When the bulldozer started work on the land early in the morning, people from the camp attempted to prevent the demolition by sitting down in front of the bulldozer. After about three hours of applying pressure, the families of the village managed to re-route the construction of the road, so now it appears that less tents will be affected by the construction of the settler road.

Umm al Kher-al Faqir is a Bedouin camp in the South Hebron hills with 12 families and about 150 inhabitants. The people of the camp became refugees in 1948, after the beginning of the Israeli occupation. In 1981, Carmel settlement was established in the area. At that time, 40 dunams of land owned by the Palestinian residents were confiscated and given to the settlement, and residents of the camp consequently lost their farming plots. In early 2008, the Carmel settlement was expanded to include a new neighborhood occupying 50 more dunams of land from Umm al-Kheir. Since the establishment of the new neighborhood, settlers have regularly attacked the residents of Umm al-Kheir, with the intention of driving them out of their land.

Israeli soldiers arrest journalist, close village of Um al Kheir

Christian Peacemaker Team

24 April 2009

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

On 23 April Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian journalist in the village of Um al Kheir and declared the village a closed military zone after settlers from the nearby settlement of Karmel resumed construction of a road on Palestinian land. The proposed road passes within a few meters of Palestinian homes, animal enclosures and gardens. Due to a pending legal action in Israeli court filed by Um al Kheir villagers, settlers had previously suspended construction but resumed the work Thursday afternoon.

When he observed internationals filming the road construction, the Karmel settlement security guard called the Israeli military. Soldiers arrived
quickly, and when internationals asked for an explanation, they were told to wait for police. Police arrived shortly and stated that the bulldozer
was being used for “military work.” At 12:00pm, an officer arrived in a second military jeep and declared the area a closed military zone for 24 hours. Soldiers forced the journalists and internationals to leave, and arrested a journalist who did not leave immediately.

Villagers from Um al Kheir reported on Friday that work on the road had been suspended, but stated that they feared it would resume in a few days time. A legal complaint filed by the village states that the proposed road is an expansion of the settlement of Karmel and is therefore illegal. Um al Kheir residents have witnessed substantial expansion of Karmel settlement in recent months. The contested road is planned to surround
the existing settlement, effectively expanding its borders.

The Palestinian villagers of Um al Kheir bought the land on which the village now lies fifty years ago, when the state of Israel was created. At that time they were forced to flee their homes in the area south of Arad.

The village of Um al Kheir has also experienced recent settler violence and harassment. On 10 April four male settlers attacked three women from the village as the women grazed sheep near the village. One of the women, who is eight months pregnant, required hospitalization for a serious injury to her arm. The women have filed a legal complaint against the four settlers.

The residents of Um al Kheir remain committed to nonviolent resistance to settler harassment and settlement expansion.

Jerusalem’s mayor defends demolition of houses in Arab area

Rory McCarthy | The Guardian

23 April 2009

Israel’s mayor of Jerusalem defended the demolition of houses in the Arab east of the city today and insisted Jerusalem could not be a future capital of a Palestinian state.

Nir Barkat, a secular businessman elected as mayor five months ago, rejected international criticism of demolitions and planning policy in east Jerusalem as “misinformation” and “Palestinian spin”.

There is growing international concern about Israeli house demolitions and settlement growth in East Jerusalem, an area captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by most of the international community. Critics of Israeli policy point out that planning permits are rarely given to Palestinians in East Jerusalem and that space allowed in the east for building is heavily restricted.

Last month the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, described demolitions as “unhelpful” and an internal EU diplomatic report, obtained last month by the Guardian, described them as “illegal under international law” and said they “fuel bitterness and extremism”.

But Barkat told reporters: “There is no politics. It’s just maintaining law and order in the city.” Since January, he said, there had been 35 demolitions, of which 20 were in the east. Asked about the international concern, he said: “The world is basing their evidence on the wrong facts … The world has to learn and I am sure people will change their minds.”

But others on the council disagree. Meir Margalit, an elected councillor from the leftwing Meretz party, said while the demolitions in the east were of Palestinian apartments and houses, in the west of the city they were nearly all small structures added on to buildings, including shopfronts.

Margalit said fewer than 7% of planning applications submitted by Palestinians in East Jerusalem had been successful so far this year, against 14% from the west, while 41% of Palestinian East Jerusalem planning applications had been rejected, against 20% from the west. He said this followed a pattern established over many years, before Barkat’s election.

“The discrimination here is more than ideological,” Margalit said. “It is part of a cultural structure that is the norm in the municipality.” He also produced research showing the municipality spent less than 12% of its budget in the east, where roads are often potholed and services are poor.

Barkat said he wanted to improve the life of all the city’s residents, Jewish and Arab, but that he was committed to maintaining a Jewish majority. Jews make up around two-thirds of the city’s population.

He said he could not accept East Jerusalem becoming the capital of a future Palestinian state. “Jerusalem, both ideologically and practically, has to be managed as a united city, as the Israeli capital, and must not be divided,” he said.

Barkat said he wanted the Israeli government to build a Jewish settlement in an area of the occupied West Bank east of Jerusalem known as E1, a project the US has opposed. He said E1 was part of the “holy land of Israel” and could serve to allow the city’s Jewish population to expand outwards. “I see no reason in the world why the Israelis must freeze expansion and the Palestinians can build illegally,” he said. Under the US “road map”, which remains the basis of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel is committed to freezing all settlement building. Settlements in occupied land are widely regarded as illegal under international law.

Freedom Summer 2009: Defend the Land and Jerusalem

The International Solidarity Movement is issuing a call-out for internationals to volunteer as field activists and office workers in the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied East Jerusalem this summer.

Whether you can come for only few weeks or several months, your presence is needed to support Palestinian communities who are nonviolently resisting the Israeli occupation. Freedom Summer 2009, which will run from June 6th until August 15th, aims to challenge the continued theft of Palestinian land for the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and their infrastructure in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Volunteer training sessions will be held every week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Visit our “Join Us in Palestine” section to read more information about volunteering.

Below are some of the actions ISM volunteers can anticipate this summer:

  1. ISM volunteers will stand in solidarity with the Palestinian families of occupied East Jerusalem who face dispossession.
    International activists will join families in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Shu’fat, and other neighborhoods whose residences are threatened, in resisting evictions and demolitions with non-violent, direct actions methods. ISM volunteers will also participate in demonstrations against discriminatory Israeli policies and support ongoing organization of Palestinian heritage and cultural events.
  2. In the West Bank, volunteers will join Palestinian villagers in nonviolent demonstrations against the Wall, and other apartheid infrastructure of the occupation such as checkpoint, settlements, and Israeli-only roads. Activists will be working in communities such as Ni’lin, Bil’in, Jayyous, Husan and Tulkarem to support direct actions under Palestinian popular leadership. Recently Israeli military violence during nonviolent demonstrations has escalated, making it more important that international solidarity activists are present to help deter and document the repression from Israeli forces. Additionally, volunteers will accompany farmers and shepherds to deter violence from the Israeli military and settlers. In the South Hebron hills, the army’s designation of large areas as military closed zones will be challenged.
  3. The ISM volunteers in the Gaza Strip will continue to accompany Palestinian farmers who frequently face live fire from the army as they work their land in the buffer zone. Volunteers will stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza against the crippling siege and sporadic attacks on the region. Several ISM activists will be joining the Free Gaza Movement’s Hope Fleet that will sail into Gaza’s port at the end of May. International activists will mass on the Egyptian border with Gaza between the 22nd of May and the 14th of June, in an attempt to challenging the ongoing closure and isolation of the people of Gaza. Individuals interested in volunteering with ISM Gaza must have previous experience with ISM in the West Bank.

Come to Palestine to support the Palestinian people in their struggle against occupation. Become an eyewitness to the Palestinian struggle for freedom! ISM volunteers have become better advocates for the freedom and self-determination of the Palestinian people in their home communities.

This summer, support and participate in the Palestinian non-violent resistance to the Occupation by using direct action methods to defend the land of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.