Author: Yara

Israeli military forces attack the freedom of theatre

13 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp has faced targeted repression by the Israeli Army in recent weeks.  At 3pm on August 6th, 2011, Israeli Occupation Forces arrested a Freedom Theatre actor at the Shave Shomeron checkpoint on his way from Ramallah to Jenin.  Rami Awni Hwayel, a 20 year old acting student, was returning to Jenin from Ramallah to visit with family over the weekend during Ramadan.  Rami’s acting colleagues and friends describe his arrest as “devastating” as Rami plays a main role in “Waiting for Godot” which is scheduled to perform in New York in early September.  Rami has so far been denied his right to see a lawyer, and his loved ones still have not been informed of where he is. Israel is citing ‘security’ concerns for their refusal to release his whereabouts or any other information concerning his arrest.

A member of the Jenin Freedom Theatre points to the location where Israeli armed military threw bricks at the theatre, vandalizing it.

Rami is the third member of the Freedom Theatre to be abducted by Israeli Occupation Forces in recent weeks.  In the early morning hours of July 27th, 2011, Head Technician Adnan Naghnaghiye and Chairperson Bilal Saadi were arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces.  The soldiers also caused damage to the theatre, smashing windows with bricks and destroying what they could from their position out in front of the building.  Night guard and technician student Ahmad Nasser Matahen was forced to remove his pants by IOF after being ordered out of the theatre.  The general manager of the theatre, British citizen Jacob Gough, and the co-founder, Jonathan Stanczak from Sweden, arrived to the theatre and attempted to call the Civil Administration to inform them that the army was attacking a cultural venue.  The person in charge hung up on their phone call.

The Freedom Theatre is a cultural centre which has operated in the north of the Occupied Palestinian West Bank since 2006.  The theatre aims to assist the youth of Jenin in coping with the stresses they face living under continued brutal Israeli military occupation.  It serves to provide a safe space where youth can express their emotions through the arts with the aim of constructing a free and healthy community.  The Freedom Theatre offers a drama workshop space, acting school, filmmaking and photography studio, library, talent campus, and various performances.

 

Windows smashed by bricks thrown by the Israeli military makes for just some of the damages caused.

The targeting by Israeli Occupation Forces of the Jenin Freedom Theatre and its community members is one of many instances clearly demonstrates the campaign of intimidation Israel has embarked on in the minds of Palestinians and international observers. Israel continues to repress with ruthless violence those who nonviolently oppose the illegitimate occupation of Palestine.

For more information on the Freedom Theatre, and to express your solidarity and support with the Freedom Theatre Community, please contact:

Jacob Gough, acting General manager at +972 (0)595348391, jacob@thefreedomtheatre.org

Jonatan Stanczak, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre at +46 (0)707908296 jonatan@thefreedomtheatre.org

They try to steal our history, not just our land

9 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The demonstrations in Nabi Saleh started the 21 of November 2009, after the illegal settlement of Halamish expanded, costing locals in land and their source of water for home and agricultural use, a spring declared holy by the settlers.

Since the beginning of the demonstrations the village faced outstanding repression from the army and the Israeli government, who declared 10 house demolition orders. The Israeli army tried to negotiate  with or blackmail members of the village, promising to withhold the demolition orders if they stop the demonstrations.

More then 220 people have been injured since the beginning of their peaceful resistance to illegal Israeli occupation of their land. Some of the injured include an 11 year old boy who was shot with a rubber coated steel bullet in his head and is still paralyzed. Another example is man who was hit by a high velocity tear gas canister, illegal because unlike usual tear-gas canisters, it is made to be capable of breaking through walls, can fly long distances without sound, does not emit a smoke tail, and has a propeller to accelerate the weapon mid-air.

At the moment there are around 90 Nabi Saleh locals still held in Israeli jails.

We met Manal Tamimi, one of the most active women in the village, who made the point that their resistance is not just for her children in Nabi Saleh, but it is a resistance that involves all Palestine.

In this featured interview with ISM, Tamimi stated, “You can plan things for maximum 10 minutes, I’m not able to decide in which school to send my kids, you can’t decide anything about the future. Children shouldn’t live in fear, they shouldn’t pay this price.”

 

Nabi Saleh consumed with raids while fasting

9 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Following the unusually short demonstration on the first Friday of Ramadan, the Israeli army raided the village of Nabi Saleh just before Iftar, the Muslim time for breaking fast during Ramadan, resulting in the detaining of a 14 year old boy for approximately two hours and an excessive amount of tear gas in the village.

These raids continued to happen on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, again 45 minutes before Iftar, while locals prepared to break their day long fasts. On the Sunday invasion 3 jeeps with a group of soldiers started shooting teargas without discretion, even reaching within the homes through open windows.

Manal Tamimi’s child was sleeping in the living room alone where he inhaled a large amount of tear gas for half an hour resulting in him vomiting for over an hour while the army was still in the village. Tamimi states in an interview with ISM that she was scared of the thought that she may have been outside of her home, visiting her mother, and no one would have heard the scream of her child.

Without her presence at home, she says, this invasion may have ended with a fatality within her family.

At the same time her brother, Rami Tamimi, was standing under an olive tree while the soldiers started shooting multiple rounds of rubber coated steel bullets, resulting in a broken finger and a broken arm. According to the villagers of Nabi Saleh, on Monday a large number of Israeli soldiers invaded the village firing tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets randomly at the houses.

The Popular Committee  of the village states that in any case their struggle for justice and human rights will not be stopped by the repression of an army which has violently tried to suppress any form of public advocacy and peaceful resistance.

Jewish settlers storm the Aqsa Mosque

8 August 2011 | The Palestine Information Center

Tension is running high in the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem after Jewish settlers stormed and roamed the plazas of the holy site at the early morning hours on Monday.

The Aqsa guards said that Israeli occupation police escorted the groups of settlers who were roaming the mosque in provocative tours.

They said that the policemen were barricading the settlers in face of the angry Muslim worshipers, who were preparing to confront the settlers.

Israeli policemen and special forces broke into the holy site on Sunday night and forced out worshipers for the third straight night.

Ni’lin continues with strong will despite Israeli raids

8 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank  and Ni’lin Sons Group

On the 7th of August at 2:30am, 13 military jeeps entered the village of Ni’lin, took control of its southern region, and proceeded towards the nearby village of Qibya to arrest a Palestinian following an aggressive raid the previous night. Locals curious about the raid  have yet to ascertain why the man was arrested.

This comes following an incitement to escalate tension by the Israeli military in a raid the previous night at 11:20 pm, when two military jeeps raided the town of Ni’lin from the opposite side of the illegal Israeli separation wall through the adjacent fields, and began firing loud flares into the air, resulting in brush fires across these fields.

“The two military jeeps continued their commute until they reached our houses, and raided the house of Ilayan Mousa and started searching the house in an investigation of Mousa. They left the house after half an hour and no one was arrested. They moved from Mousa’s home to the rest of the village, raiding it and stopping in the middle to shoot tear gas grenades at the people and surrounding homes in the streets,” said one local, Saeed, who lives near the Israeli separation barrier that has been the focus of Ni’lin and other village advocacy campaigns and forms of peaceful resistance.

“The wall encloses Palestinians to limit travel, usurps Palestinian land, is a tool for illegal, Israeli occupation, and is a demeaning symbolic and physical injustice to the definition of freedom,” said an international observer from the United States.

One man was hit in the leg with a tear gas bomb and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation.

The military jeeps left the town yet a group of approximately 45 Israeli soldier raided the fields near the houses and started shooting tear gas bombs and flare bombs, and stayed there until 02:00 am.

According to locals Israel has raided the village of Ni’lin at least four times a month in the past six months. Locals claim the purpose of the military invasions is clear, harassment with various weaponry and constant investigations and interrogations are two of many variables to incite fear in the villages that peaceful resist illegal Israeli occupation . But the ploy of fear tactics is futile, according to Saeed.

“We never get scared or stop protesting. We are continuing our struggle with a strong will and determination.”