The European Union is actively supporting Apartheid Israel with its current trade agreements. Enough is enough; keep the pressure up, 2013 is the time for justice in Palestine.
As more and more of us become aware of the systematic denial of Palestinians human rights by Israel military occupation, it is time to make our elected representatives aware of the growing and unstoppable pressure for peace and justice.
The EU should be playing a leading role in implementing policies to ensure that Israel ends its illegal occupation, uphold international law and respect Palestinian human rights.
Instead, they are supporting Israel’s occupation by:
allowing illegal settlement products to be traded across Europe
by using EU tax-payers money to fund Israeli military companies that are responsible for killing civilians and supporting Israel’s military occupation
As recommended by European Union consuls general in East Jerusalem and Ramallah in a recent report, the European Union must divest from settlements and economic sanctions should be put on bodies and companies involved in settlement industry. A report submitted to the UN´s Human Rights Council by an independent fact-finding mission, has also called on all relevant international actors, private or state-connected to take “all necessary steps” to ensure that they were respecting human rights, “including by terminating their business interests in the settlements”.
This is a step forward but not enough; keep the pressure on EU representatives to suspend trade agreements with Israel until they fully and completely abide by international law.
It is time for actions, not words. Tell the EU to act now.
23 February 2013| International Solidarity Movement, Qusra, Occupied Palestine
UPDATE : After being unconscious for 9 days, Helme who was recently shot close to his heart by an ISraeli settler , awoke on the tenth day to find a Shabak agent in his ICU unit who proceeded to interrogate him and accuse him of throwing stones. He then told Helme that he had “got what he deserved.” Helme needed to have 66% of his liver removed and still has 13 pieces of shrapnel in his body rendering him partly handicapped. On the 23rd of February Helme came out of work to find between 15 and 20 settlers around him armed with metal bars, pistols and M-16 assault rifles. A settler who was hiding behind a rock shot Helme on sight. On the orders of Netanyahu , Helme was transferred from Rafida hospital to Hadassa hospital in Israel.
Following a violent incursion by Israeli fundamentalist settlers into Qusra, two people have been hospitalized with serious injuries. Around 15 settlers from Esh Kodesh (Holy Fire) and Shilo entered Qusra, the clashes that ensued left many people injured, including a sixteen year-old boy who is currently in surgery and may lose his left eye as well as a 26 year-old man fighting for his life after being shot in the chest, by an Israeli settler. Another, 14 year-old Mustafa Hilal was shot in the foot.
At around 11am this morning settlers began attacking the village of Qusra. Armed with rifles, they attacked homes on the outskirts of Qusra, throwing stones they broke windows. The youths of the village attempted to defend their homes. In the clashes that ensued Helmi Abdul Azeez Hassan was shot by a settler, the bullet narrowly missed his heart.
Soldiers arrived on the scene and, as usual, protected the invading settlers. Clashes then continued for the remainder of the day with the Israeli military firing rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas directly at local residents. A sixteen year old boy, Osama Rami Hassan, was shot with a rubber coated steel bullet in the forehead that narrowly missed his eye. He is currently undergoing surgery at Rafidia hospital in the attempt to save it, however the prognosis is not good.
Helmi’s situation is critical; he is currently at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus fighting for his life. Doctors hope he will stabilize through the night so he can be transferred to an Israeli hospital where he can receive a higher quality of care.
A local resident explained to ISM volunteers that he cannot remember a week in which Qusra had not been attacked over the last two years. He went on to say that recently things have been getting progressively worse. Today’s assault is the culmination of events which have been evolving all week. There have been incursions in three out of the last four days. The village expects more in the week to come.
24 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Palestinians protesting last night’s death of Arafat Jaradat while in Israeli administrative detention clashed with Israeli Occupation Forces throughout today in Hebron. Israeli officials claim that Jaradat died in an interrogation centre of a heart attack despite having no health conditions prior to his detention. In a recent court appearance, Jaradat told his lawyer, that “he had serious pains in his back and other parts of his body because he was being beaten up and hanged for many long hours while he was being investigated”. Jaradat was father to a 4 year-old daughter and 2 year-old son and worked as a petrol station attendant; his widow, Dalal, is currently pregnant.
Teenager shot in the thigh with live ammunition and now in critical condition
Centered around the Bab al-Zawiyeh area of central Hebron, soldiers primarily fired rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades at around 1500 demonstrators. Skunk water and teargas was also used excessively at times. An alarm to disperse crowds was played at high volume followed by a warning from the ‘American Technology Corporation’. Dozens were injured (including journalists and one ISM volunteer) with ambulances driving back and forth amongst the crowds.
At least three were injured by live ammunition, including one teenager who was shot in the thigh with a live bullet, which were fired at demonstrators throughout the day. He was taken to Ramallah hospital, but was swiftly moved elsewhere as his condition became critical.
Around an hour ago the soldiers announced that they were about to fire live ammunition into the crowds.
The army was clearly expecting a backlash for the death of Jaradat, with soldiers stationed on the rooftops throughout the old city since the early hours of the morning. Less than 500 meters away on Shuhada Street, around two hundred settlers wore fancy dress, drank alcohol and danced on the street in celebration of the Jewish holiday Purim .
Soldiers fired teargas and rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstratorsA journalist being treated for teargas inhalationSoldiers mixed their use of rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas and live roundsSkunk water was sprayed to disperse demonstrators
We are very excited to announce the upcoming 4th annual Open Shuhada Street Campaign from 22-25 February 2013.
The Open Shuhada Street Campaign (OSC) is a Palestinian initiative, aiming to organize an International day of solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Hebron. It was started in 2010 in Hebron and international solidarity actions took place in numerous cities around the world. In 2012 more than 35 different activities were organized.
The Israeli state has imposed on the Palestinian residents of the city a regime of forced evictions, curfews, market closures, street closures, military checkpoints, subjection to military law including frequent random searches and detention without charge, and lack of protection from rampant settler violence, which has pressured approximately 15,000 Palestinian civilians to flee their homes in the Hebron city center, turning it into a virtual ghost town.
The Israeli occupation forces closed Shuhada Street to Palestinian vehicles in 1994, after the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, and then Prevented Palestinian residents to walk there in 2000, in order to provide security for the 600 Israeli settlers occupying the center of Hebron.
More than 500 stores were closed by military order in the center of Hebron, and more than a thousand store owners were forced to close their shops due to checkpoints and closures. At the same time, illegal settlers enjoy freedom of movement in the closed streets and are protected by occupation forces.
The activities of the occupation and its settlers in the city of Hebron have turned the lives of 200,000 Palestinians in Hebron into a living hell and expelled thousands from their homes.
On 25 February 2013 activists and organizations from around the world will join together in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Hebron/ al Khaleel, through local protests and actions that demand for the opening of Shuhada Street to Palestinians and an End to the Israeli Occupation!
Shuhada Street used to be the principal street for Palestinians residents, businesses and a very active market place in the Palestinian city of Hebron/ al Khaleel. Today, because Shuhada Street runs through the Jewish settlement of Hebron, the street is closed to Palestinian movement and looks like a virtual ghost street which only Israelis and tourists are allowed to access. Hate graffiti has been sprayed across the closed Palestinian shops and Palestinians living on the street have to enter and exit their houses through their back doors or, even sometimes by climbing over neighbor’s roofs.
In 1994, following the massacre of 29 Muslims at prayer by America-Israeli settler Dr. Baruch Goldstein, shops on Shuhada Street were closed and vehicular traffic prohibited on the street. Despite a court case and an admission by the Israeli government that it is illegal, the street is still closed to Palestinians 16 years later. We are focusing on Shuhada Street as a symbol of the settlement issue, the policy of separation in Hebron/al Khaleel and the entire West Bank, the lack of freedom of movement, and the occupation at large.
If you would like to organize and be part of OPEN SHUHADA STREET CAMPAIGN 2013 in your city or your University campus please get in touch with us at media.yas@gmail.com. Also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
OSC offers ordinary people around the world an opportunity to partake in something truly global. If you would like to get involved and organize your own OSC event or action let us know so that we can share with you the OSC Basis of Unity and organizing principles. Here are some ways that you can actively get involved:
Demonstrations, Marches, Vigils, Flashmobs
Organize a film screening about Hebron
Arrange a lecture, workshop,Presentation
Organize a BDS action
Join us online
Photo Exhibitions concerning Apartheid in Hebron
Twitter: Use this hashtag #OpenShuhadaSt to spread the word and educate the masses about Hebron
Video Message: Create and send video messages to community forums, media, and social media outlets urging the international community to use diplomatic pressure to re-open Shuhada Street
Letter-writing and Petitions to the Israeli Ambassador and elected officials in your country asking them to intervene
Write letters to the Palestinian Families in Hebron to show solidarity
Close roads to show the public the effects of closing the main road in Hebron.
Visit Hebron to gain an understanding of the situation and the daily suffering of the people living there.
Any other non-violent activity you feel supports the cause, be as creative as possible!!
For more information please visit our website WWW.HYAS.PS
The European Union is actively supporting Israel with its current trade agreements. Enough is enough; keep the pressure up, 2013 is the time for justice in Palestine.
As more and more of us become aware of the systematic denial of Palestinians human rights by Israel military occupation, it is time to make our elected representatives aware of the growing and unstoppable pressure for peace and justice.
The EU should be playing a leading role in implementing policies to ensure that Israel ends its illegal occupation, uphold international law and respect Palestinian human rights.
Instead, they are supporting Israel’s occupation by:
allowing illegal settlement products to be traded across Europe
by using EU tax-payers money to fund Israeli military companies that are responsible for killing civilians and supporting Israel’s military occupation
As recommended by European Union consuls general in East Jerusalem and Ramallah in a recent report, the European Union must divest from settlements and economic sanctions should be put on bodies and companies involved in settlement industry. A report submitted to the UN´s Human Rights Council by an independent fact-finding mission, has also called on all relevant international actors, private or state-connected to take “all necessary steps” to ensure that they were respecting human rights, “including by terminating their business interests in the settlements”.
This is a step forward but not enough; keep the pressure on EU representatives to suspend trade agreements with Israel until they fully and completely abide by international law.
It is time for actions, not words. Tell the EU to act now.
