Author: Yara

Press Release from the Welcome to Palestine Campaign

by Mazin Qumsiyeh

16 April 2012 | Welcome to Palestine Campaign 2012

We did not have to show our 1500 visitors Israeli racism, arrogance, and human rights violations; the Israeli government showed them and also showed the whole world. Calling itself a democracy, this outlaw state denied the right of people from around the world to come visit us and see for themselves the reality of life under occupation.

We the Palestinian people are 11 million normal human beings, 7 million are refugees or displaced people simply because they are natives to a land that was wanted for a Jewish state. Five million of us are living in increasingly shrinking ghettos on a tiny fraction of our land. We remain here despite an illegal and brutal occupation that includes land confiscation, movement restrictions, home demolitions, illegal imprisonment of thousands (many now on hunger strike), and countless other inhuman conditions. We did not expect from this occupation that daily violates human rights to also allow us as prisoners under its boot to openly and honestly receive visitors. These visitors who wanted to come and see what reality is like here certainly were shocked at the Israeli behavior. And those who wanted to welcome our visitors and were brutally assaulted will remember how the same Israeli police let right wing fanatics sing and disrupt at the airport. The whole world is now seeing Israel for what it is: a police state that fulfills all the requirements of being an apartheid pariah state per the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973).

Countries that once supported Apartheid in South Africa had people who mobilized against it. Now people of conscience mobilize to challenge this apartheid that is now so explicitly expressed. Those airlines and governments that acted as subcontractors for the Israeli apartheid regime are being challenged by their own people. In denying boarding to a passenger by Air France, the airline documented that she cannot board because she is neither Jewish or Israeli! (See in French and in English).

In claiming in writing that we called for disruptions and for challenging “security” of Israel, the Israeli government was exposed as lying. In forcing a Swedish passenger (unrelated to our campaign) to sign that he was not going to meet with any “pro-Palestinian” individuals or groups, the Israeli government was shown to be racist. Imagine if a similar requirement was posted to visitors to any other country about visiting or meeting with “pro-black” individuals or organizations. In sending a letter to that claims activists should worry about Iran and Syria before worrying about this system of apartheid, the Israeli government showed the bankruptcy of its arguments. In denying us the right to visit, the Israeli government showed the world that it has a lot to hide.

For examples of participant profiles of those denied their right to visit us in Palestine, visit this link.

At the end of our press conference in Bethlehem, we passed out Easter colored eggs. We Palestinian Christian and Muslims are grateful to all who act on their conscience, Internationals, Israelis, and Palestinian volunteers. Thousands of us say loud and clear: we will not be silenced, we will continue to organize campaigns until we have freedom and until Israel complies with all relevant International and Humanitarian laws.

Contact email: media@palestinejn.org

Contact phone numbers in languages: Arabic, English. French, Spanish, Hebrew
0599255573 (A, E, F)
0568347074 (A, E, S)
0598939532 ((A, E)
0505633044 (A, E, H)

Welcome to Palestine 2012 Campaign websites
http://bienvenuepalestine.com
 http://palestinianspring.palestinejn.org
http://www.righttoenter.ps
http://welcometopalestine.info
http://bienvenidosapalestina.jimdo.com/
http://bienvenuepalestine.ca/

English: http://palestinianspring.palestinejn.org
Arabic: http://wtp2arabic.palestinejn.org
Spanish: http://wtp2spain.palestinejn.org
French: http://wtp2spain.palestinejn.org
Swedish: http://wtp2sweden.palestinejn.org
Norwegian: http://wtp2norway.palestinejn.org

Increasing Israeli army harassment and violence against activists in Hebron

by Paige

16 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In the past weeks the Israeli army has increased harassment against both Palestinian and ISM activists in Hebron (Al Khalil), a deliberate targeting  of those who oppose Israeli occupation and colonization.   This targeting includes the arrest of six international activists, including five ISM volunteers, and four arrests of Palestinian activists, all within a two week period.  The Israeli army also raided a community event in Tel a Rumeida, detained Youth Against Settlements activist Issa Amro directly after his release from jail, and tied another Youth Against Settlements (YAS) activists to a fence.

On April 1st a Dutch activist and two Palestinians, including prominent YAS activist Issa Amro, were violently arrested during an attempt to reclaim a house belonging to the Hebron municipality.  Palestinians and internationals were dragged, kicked and hit, while another YAS activist was beaten unconscious. Amro and the Dutch activist were held for several days.

On April 8th the Israeli army attacked international activists documenting restrictions of freedom of movement and violence against Palestinians in what is supposed to be P.A. controlled Hebron, arresting one Palestinian American activist.  The next day  two international activists were arrested while simply walking through the old city of Hebron. They were interrogated about the events of April 8th and the names of internationals present on that day, then finally released after signing draconian conditions in Hebrew.

Two days later the army violently attacked Palestinian and International delegates of the Bilin conference, arresting 8 Palestinians and 4 internationals.  Two Italians arrested during the conference now face illegal deportation.  The following day the Israeli army detained Issa Amro immediately following his release from jail and then invaded a community health event in Tel Rumeida organized by the Hebron Defense Committee and the Red Crescent, detaining a Red Crescent volunteer.

About an hour later a YAS activist walking in Tel Rumeida was stopped by soldiers, who tied both of his hands to a fence, for over 20 minutes.  After he was cut free, soldiers attempted to illegally arrest him and take him inside Tel Rumeida settlement.  A Canadian activist who intervened was shoved several times by soldiers, though they stopped there illegal arrest of the Palestinian man.  Eventually the police came and ordered the soldiers to release the man.

The escalation of violence and harassment against activists, international and Palestinian alike, will not deter us.  We will never be silent.

Paige is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Palestinians and internationals attacked during biking trip in Jordan Valley

by Joseph and Emiliano

15 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

For more photos click here

Palestinian and international cyclists were brutally attacked by the Israeli occupation forces on Saturday as they attempted to bike up Route 90, the main North-South highway running through the Jordan Valley. The cyclists were demonstrating against Israeli apartheid policies in the Jordan Valley, which limit Palestinian access to roadways as part of an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Bedouin communities of the Valley.

One Palestinian woman and two international activists from Denmark and Holland were evacuated to the hospital with injuries after being struck in the head with an M-16 rifle, and one international activist was handcuffed and detained for over an hour before being released without charges.

Over one hundred activists from Palestine and around the world participated in the bike protest, organized by Sharek Youth Forum. Participants rode approximately 5 kilometers before being blocked by Israeli occupation soldiers and jeeps at the entrance to Route 90. Soldiers informed the bikers that they would not be allowed to continue “for their own safety.” When activists peacefully attempted to continue on their way, the local commander of the occupation forces swung his rifle at the head of multiple activists, resulting in the hospitalizations of the three activists and the detention of a man from Sweden.

Palestinian drivers on Route 90, the Jordan Valley’s main north-south route, face regular harassment and attacks from Israeli settlers and soldiers. Palestinian drivers and cyclists are frequently pulled over and searched for no reason, and in some places Palestinians are even prevented from turning across the road at places Israelis have free access to.

The Jordan Valley faces a concerted Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing towards the Palestinians living there. Demolitions of homes occur with frequency, and the Israelis are currently stealing the vast majority of the valley’s land and water. The majority of the fruit and vegetables produced on this stolen land are exported to Europe and North America. The bike demonstration was part of a day of demonstrations and festivities that included visits to villages, a youth dubke performance, and speeches. The events aim to send the message to the world and the occupying forces that the people of the Jordan Valley and Palestine refuse to cede their land to the illegal occupation and will continue to resist and remain on their land.

 Joseph and Emiliano are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

The price of intellectual resistance

by Sylvia

14 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

“Our souls are not devastated, we are hanging on”

On the 7th November 2011, founder of the Palestinian Cultural Enlightenment (Tanwer) and lecturer at the An- Najah University, Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, was arrested from his home at two o’clock in the morning. Dr. Yousef is in his 70’s and his health has suffered from mental strain and poor prison conditions. Well known for his calm and peaceful nature, Dr. Yousef’s daughter insists that her father “will always support his people by telling the truth: a lot of people  are living in poverty because they are  under occupation. If my father tells the truth, eventually everyone will understand.”

Administrative detention is legally incompatible with basic international standards of human rights, when Israel holds the accused without charge or trial for long periods of time. The evidence of his or her offense is held in a “secret file,” which cannot be seen by the detainee or defense lawyer. The file is prepared by the Israeli intelligence service, which has gathered “evidence” by illegal means.

This has left Dr. Yousef’s family with no clue as to why he was taken in the middle of the night.

“No one has told us anything” says Yousef’s 21 year old daughter Shayma, a third year student at the An- Najah University. Dr. Yousef is a lecturer in economics and human rights and his co-creation of the Palestinian Enlightenment Project has painted him as a symbol of peaceful and intellectual freedom.

TAKE ACTION: Show your solidarity for Dr. Yousef and all Palestinians 
abducted by Israel and taken to Zionist prisons. 
Click here for more information on how.

Shayma describes the last night she saw her father, the rapping of fists and unfamiliar sound of Hebrew at her door house. She remembers distinctly as he faded into the shadow of the jeeps outside her windows.

Shayma, the daughter of Dr. Yousef, poses next to her father's portrait

“It’s strange” she said, “My father was laughing.  He is as strong as iron or steel. When we talk to him, it is him who encourages us when it should be the other way around.”

On that night, the family assumed he would be interrogated then released and waited from two until six in the morning before reading in the newspaper that he would be kept under administrative detention for four months.

It is this absence of information which makes this experience so agonizing for Palestinian prisoner’s families. Now in the sixth month of his administrative detention, Dr. Yousef’s release is pushed further back from the horizon each time it comes into sight with no explanation or court hearing.

When asked what she thinks will happen, Shayma explains “We hope for something. My mother is depressed, she is worried and she can’t sleep since she has heard of how they torture inmates.”

Though the family has rare permission to visit Ofer prison inside ‘48 territory, Dr. Yousef has advised against it. The journey has been made degrading and lengthy, sometimes waiting for hours in uncomfortable conditions as a further means of adding to the suffering of the Palestinian people. “It will only make it harder for us emotionally,” Shayma explained.

Articles 42 and 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention permits administrative detention only “if the security of the Detaining Power makes it absolutely necessary “or for “imperative reasons of security”. These terms are widely accepted as applicable to the occupied territories of Palestine. The convention articulates that all civilians, weather in occupies territories or not, are fundamentally “entitled, in all circumstances, to respect from their persons, their honor, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices and their manners and customs”. These terms can only cease after the effective end of occupation. Israel ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1951 and is bound by its terms.

That Dr. Yousef’s detention denies a class of young, educated Palestinian’s of human rights lecturer is of no coincidence.  Israel’s use of administrative detention to silence political figureheads is a concern raised by human rights movement Amnesty International, who explained that prisoners of conscious were being held “solely for non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.”

“Our souls are not broken, we are hanging on”, says Shayma. As the struggle for her father’s freedom continues, she recalls her father’s advice, calling for unity and intellectual freedom.

Sylvia is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Israel is paranoid about pro-Palestinian activists

by Gideon Levy

12 April 2012 | Haaretz

Israel will not stand idly by as thousands of activists prepare to arrive on Sunday; it will not miss an opportunity to look ridiculous in the eyes of the world.

And with what shall we frighten the Israeli public in advance of the seventh day of Passover? How will we provide the dose of fear to which it has long since become addicted? After a week of a quiet and safe vacation, we have to find something, after all. The Iranian threat has entered a negotiations freeze, terror is quiet, even the Grad missiles have diminished in number, there is no mass plague on the horizon and even the circumstances of the attack against the Jew in Kiev have not become sufficiently clear.

But Israel has not been abandoned, and the Israeli mind finally hit on something: the pro-Palestinian fly-in “provocation,” as it has already been called. The minister of public security is convening feverish consultations, the airlines have received the “blacklist” prepared in advance by the omniscient security networks, the crime reporter – of course this is about crime, what else? – has already been sent to Ben-Gurion International Airport to greet the looming danger.

Israel is prepared for D-Day this coming Sunday. They say 2,500 activists will land in Israel and sow great fear. Although the crime reporter explained to the nation that the activists do not plan to bear arms or resort to violence, still, when it comes to danger, to terror, to scare-mongering, the forces are already prepared for the big day. The last time, about a year ago, it ended with 127 detainees who were immediately expelled, as they deserved, and the danger was nipped in the bud.

The intentions of the organizers – a visit to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people, a trip directly from Ben-Gurion to Bethlehem without any violent intent – were immediately blurred and replaced with the usual Israeli accusation: terror and delegitimization. As we accuse any peace lover or human rights activist.

Had Israel not inflated the story to such terrifying dimensions, few people would have paid attention to this innocent protest. Had Israel also welcomed them warmly and sent them on their way to Bethlehem, that would have embarrassed them and even undermined their objective. But the State of Israel will not stand by idly. It certainly won’t miss an opportunity to look ridiculous and even more contemptible in the eyes of the world. It will immediately turn them into personae non grata, as it did to Gunter Grass, as well as an airborne threat.

Entry into Israel is permitted only to its declared friends. Not a Spanish clown and not a German writer, certainly not human rights activists. An ignorant, extremist, Christian American right-winger is welcome; an intellectual, conscientious European left-winger is sent to the expulsion cell. Israel 2012.

In the case of flotillas as well as fly-ins, these are activists, most of whom mean well. The Swedish writer Henning Mankell turned to us before the most recent flotilla to Gaza: “For once report the truth. Don’t you see that there is no declaration of war here, but a declaration of peace?” And of course his words fell on deaf ears. Mankell participated in two flotillas to Gaza, was expelled twice from Israel in disgrace, and published his harsh impressions in the world’s leading newspapers.

Had Israel not confiscated his computer and his property and treated him like a terrorist, his impressions would have been different. Had Israel invited him to present its viewpoint, perhaps his criticism would have been less harsh. Mankell and his friends will not give up. Now another flotilla is being organized in Sweden, this time on a sailboat carrying flowers, which we will probably also treat as though it were an aircraft carrier about to attack Israel.

The roots of this paranoia are deep and thought-provoking. Were Israel convinced of the justice of its path, it wouldn’t behave this way. If Israel really thought the occupation is just and legal, it wouldn’t be frightened by every conscientious activist who opposes it. If it had nothing to hide, it would respectfully invite them to visit.

But when the ground is burning beneath our feet, and the fire of doubt and insecurity is consuming everything, the only response is a violent and unrestrained attack. On Sunday, when the farce of arrests and the grotesque expulsion take place once again, the activists will register another significant victory: Once again they will prove that Israel does have something to hide, that in spite of all its propaganda, Israel is well aware that there are skeletons in its closet and anyone who dares come near them will suffer the same fate – expulsion.

For more on the Welcome to Palestine 2012 campaign click here.