Abdallah Abu Rahmah protects a young girl in Bilin
27 August 2010
The West Bank village of Bil’in has become a symbol of the wider popular resistance movement in Palestine. Abdallah Abu Rahmah, head of Bi’in’s Popular Committee, is one of many key organizers of peaceful resistance that Israel has used legal means to persecute. He was convicted on Tuesday of two out of four charges in an Israeli military court and faces up to ten years in jail. The facts of his case – and what you can do to help put pressure on Israel – are set out below.
Name: Abdallah Abu Rahma Age: 39 years old Incarcerated: Ofer military prison Job: Abdallah worked as a high school teacher at the Latin Patriarchate school in Birzeit near Ramallah until he was jailed. He also owned a chicken farm.
Family: Abdallah is married to Majida and they have three children — seven year-old Luma, five year-old Lian and eight month-old baby Laith.
Why is he imprisoned?
As coordinator of Bili’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, Abdallah is seen as a threat by Israel because of his prominent role in the nonviolent struggle which has attracted international support. He is being legally persecuted because of the successes of the grassroots nonviolent resistance movement which has been growing steadily for the last 5 years.
EU representatives attended all court hearings over the last 8 months and they did not fail to notice the politically motivated nature of the prosecution. Catherine Ashton, European Union High Representative, said yesterday that the EU views Abdallah as “a human rights defender committed to non-violent protest” and that the EU was “deeply concerned that the possible imprisonment of Mr Abu Rahmah is intended to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest”.
How and when was he arrested?
At 2am on Thursday 10th December 2009 (International Human Rights Day and exactly one year after receiving the Carl Von Ossietzky Medal from the International League for Human Rights) Abdallah was arrested by Israeli forces.
Several military jeeps surrounded his home the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israeli soldiers broke the door down, extracted Abdallah from his bed, blindfolded him and took him away.
Abdallah Abu Rahmah arrested by the Israeli military
What crime does Israel say he has committed?
Abdallah faced 4 charges. He was kept in prison for 8 months during the trial. On August 24th he was found not guilty of stone-throwing and possession of arms (the latter absurd charge brought by the military prosecution, was based on a collection of spent munitions fired at peaceful protesters by the Israeli army, and displaying by Abdallah to demonstrate the disproportionate violence used to disperse demonstrations in Bil’in.).
But he was convicted of organizing “illegal” demonstrations and of “incitement”.
Abdallah was convicted based only on the forced testimonies of minors who were arrested from their beds at the middle of the night and denied their right to legal counsel – not a single piece of material evidence was presented during the entire trial, despite the fact that the military film every demonstration.
The trial
Under military law, incitement is defined as “The attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order” (section 7(a) of the Order Concerning Prohibition of Activities of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda (no.101), 1967), and carries a 10 years maximal sentence.
Abu Rahmah’s case was the first time the prosecution had used the organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations since the first Intifada. Military law defines illegal assembly in a much stricter way than Israeli law does, and in practice forbids any assembly of more than 10 people without receiving a permit from the military commander.
Diplomats from France, Malta, Germany, Spain and the UK, as well as a representative of the European Union were in attendance to observe the trial. The EU have criticized the conviction. The complete verdict of the Israeli military court can be read online. Click here to read it in Hebrew. It is currently being translated into English and will be available online soon.
Abdallah is likely to be sentenced in the next few weeks – he faces up to ten years in jail. The prosecution is expected to call for a jail term exceeding two years.
Abdallah’s outrageous conviction will be followed by a sentence in the coming weeks. The amount of pressure we will be able to generate in this time could influence Abdallah’s sentence, but will also make clear to Israeli authorities that the repression of the popular struggle does have a political price.
Please use the below template letters prepared by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee to ask your Minister of Foreign Affairs to send an official inquiry to the Israeli government about Abdallah. Demand that your country apply pressure on Israeli officials to release Abdallah Abu Rahmah and stop targeting popular struggle.
Abdallah’s history of organizing
Abdallah has been a member of the Bil’in Popular Committee since its conception in 2004. As coordinator, Abu Rahmah not only regularly organized and attended the weekly Friday demonstrations but also did the media work for the Bil’in struggle.
Abdallah Abu Rahmah (right) with Ela Bhatt, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Fernando H Cardoso, Mary Robinson and Gro Brundtland of the Elders during a visit to Bil'in in August 2009
Abdallah represented the village in engagements around the world to further Bil’in’s cause. He traveled to Montreal in June 2009 to participate in a speaking tour and for the village’s legal case against two Canadian companies building settlements on Bil’in’s land. In December 2008, he participated in a speaking tour in France and traveled to Germany to accept the the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for outstanding service in the realization of basic and human rights, awarded by the board of trustees of the International League for Human Rights on behalf of Bil’in.
In August 2009 he met with internationally renowned human rights defenders like Nobel Peace prize winner Desmond Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter, as part of a visit by The Elders to Bil’in village.
Treatment in prison
A previous raid targeting Abu Rahmah, on 15th September 2009, was executed with such exceptional violence that a soldier was subsequently indicted for assault.
Abdallah has written that the Ofer prison consists of a collection of tents enclosed by razor wire and an electrical fence, with 22 prisoners in each tent. In winter, he says, wind and rain comes in through cracks in the tent and prisoners are not provided with sufficient blankets, clothes, or other basic necessities. They are also not given enough food, he states.
Abdallah was arrested in his slippers in the middle of the night on 10th December 2009, and wrote on 17th February 2010 that he had still not been provided with proper shoes, nor were his family given permission to supply him with shoes. After repeated requests, he writes, his watch was returned.
The Israeli authorities allow family visits extremely infrequently. The families of prisoners are viewed as security threats. For more on the treatment of prisoners see Adameer, Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association.
Abdallah Abu Rahmah
Abdallah’s words:
The afternoon before his arrest on 10th December 2009, Abdallah prepared a speech to be delivered on his behalf at the World Association for Human Rights awards ceremony in Berlin. In his speech, Abdallah wrote:
“Unlike Israel, we have no nuclear weapons, and no army, but we do not want or need those things, because of the justice of our cause, we have your support and with it we know that ultimately we will bring down Israel’s Apartheid Wall.”
“The price I and many others pay in freedom does not deter us. I wish that my two young daughters and baby son would not have to pay this price together with me. But for my son and daughters, for their future, we must continue our struggle for freedom…”
Also, read “A Letter from My Holding Cell”, written by Abdallah from Ofer Military Detention Camp and detailing the conditions in prison and stating:
“From the confines of my imprisonment it becomes so clear that our struggle is far bigger than justice for only Bil’in or even Palestine. We are engaged in an international fight against oppression. I know this to be true when I remember all of you from around the world who have joined the movement to stop the wall and settlements. Ordinary people enraged by the occupation have made our struggle their own, and joined us in solidarity. We will surely join together to struggle for justice in other places when Palestine is finally free.”
Bil’in’s struggle
Perhaps the greatest irony of Abdallah’s case is that he has been found guilty of organizing supposedly “illegal” protests against Israel’s separation wall which itself has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice and even by Israel’s own High Court in the case of the route it takes through the village of Bil’in.
The West Bank village of Bil’in is located 12 kilometers west of Ramallah and 4 km east of the Green Line. It is an agricultural village, around 4,000 dunams (988 acres) in size, and populated by approximately 1,800 residents.
Starting in the early 1980’s, and more significantly in 1991, approximately 56% of Bil’in’s agricultural land was declared ‘State Land’ for the construction of the settlement bloc, Modi’in Illit.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Wall in its entirety is illegal under international law, particularly under International Humanitarian Law. The Court went on to rule that Israel’s settlements are illegal under the same laws, noting that the Wall’s route is intimately connected to the settlements adjacent to the Green Line, further annexing 16% of the West Bank to Israel.
Despite the advisory opinion, early in 2005, Israel began constructing the separation Wall on Bil’in’s land, cutting the village in half in order to place Modi’in Illit and its future growth on the “Israeli side” of the Wall.
Bilin organizes regular demonstrations against the occupation. Photo: HAMDI / RANI BRONATIn March 2005, Bil’in residents began to organize almost daily direct actions and demonstrations against the theft of their lands. Gaining the attention of the international community with their creativity and perseverance, Bil’in has become a symbol for popular resistance. Almost five years later, Bil’in continues to have weekly Friday protests.
Bil’in has held annual conferences on popular resistance since 2006, providing a forum for activists, intellectuals, and leaders to discuss strategies for the non-violent struggle against the Occupation.
Israeli forces have used sound and shock grenades, water cannons, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas grenades, tear gas canisters and 0.22 caliber live ammunition against protesters.
On 17 April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahma was shot with a high-velocity tear gas projectile in the chest by Israeli forces and subsequently died from his wounds at a Ramallah hospital.
Out of the 75 residents who have been arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall, 27 were arrested since the beginning of a night raid campaign on 23 June 2009. Israeli armed forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
Norway divests from companies illegally building Israeli settlements.
New York, NY – In a major victory for the international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, the Norwegian government announced today that it has divested from Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel Investments and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus due to their construction of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The move followed a campaign of more than a year by affected Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Jayyous and by Norwegian, Palestinian, Israeli, and international activist groups, including Adalah-NY, calling on the Norwegian government to divest from Africa Israel.
The companies of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev have been the target of a boycott campaign that led UNICEF and Oxfam to renounce donations from Leviev, the British government to sever business ties with Leviev, celebrities to seek distance from him, and divestment by other major investment firms.
We’ve achieved another major victory in our struggle of protests and boycotts against Israeli apartheid. On April 21st, 2009 we wrote the government of Norway calling for them to divest from Africa Israel because it is one company that built the settlement of Mattityahu East on Bil’in’s land, and they responded that they were investigating. It is victories like this that demonstrate our commitment to continue our struggle for justice, despite Israel’s efforts to crush it through a campaign of arrests and intimidation, targeting activists like Abdallah Abu Rahmah from Bil’in who will be sentenced tomorrow for being an organizer.
Palestinian protest and boycott organizers like Abu Rahmah, Khatib, Mohammad Othman from Jayyous and Jamal Juma’ have all been arrested recently by Israel for their nonviolent activities, and Israel’s Knesset is reviewing a bill to criminalize pro-boycott activities by Israeli citizens.
In addition to divesting from Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus, the Norwegian Government announced divestment from the Malaysian Company Samling Global over its forestry operations. The Norwegian government had previously divested from the Israeli company Elbit Systems, due to its role in building Israel’s wall in the Occupied West Bank in violation of international law. The Norwegian government is maintaining its holdings in another Africa Israel subsidiary, Africa Israel Properties, saying it is not directly involved in settlement construction.
Riham Barghouti from Adalah-NY explained,
I met with a senior advisor from Norway’s Council on Ethics at their Oslo offices in May, 2010 to encourage them to divest from Africa Israel. So I’m glad to see that the Norwegian government has upheld its commitment to international law, and we encourage them to continue reviewing and divesting from other companies in their portfolio that are complicit in Israeli apartheid, including Africa Israel Properties.
Jamal Juma’, the Coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign and a member of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, noted,
We appreciate the Norwegian Finance Ministry’s commitment to upholding international law through continuing to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. It is a significant milestone in the Palestinian-led BDS movement aimed at holding Israel accountable for its violations of international and humanitarian law. We hope that the Norwegian Pension fund will fully divest from Israeli crimes through severing links with all Israeli companies and international companies complicit with Israeli violations of international law, and hope that other governments follow the lead of Norway until Israel ends its oppression and occupation of the Palestinian people.
On April 21, 2009, Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements sent a letter to Norway’s Council on Ethics calling for Norway to divest from Africa Israel. The West Bank village of Jayyous where a different Leviev company, Leader Management and Development, is building the Zufim settlement, followed with a May 4th letter calling on Norway to divest. On May 11, 2009, eleven organizations from Norway, Europe, Palestine, Israel and the US sent a letter to Norway’s Council on Ethics supporting the letters from Bil’in and Jayyous.
Sharif Omar of Jayyous’ Land Defence Committee added,
We welcome this decision by the Norwegian government to divest from some of Leviev’s companies. But another Leviev company, Leader Management and Development, continues today to build settlements on Jayyous’ land. We call for additional international action to pressure these companies and the Israeli government to end construction and return our stolen farmland.
On Tuesday morning a demonstration in Gaza by Palestinian activists from Local Initiative Beit Hanoun, with four International Solidarity Movement volunteers and other international activists and journalists was met with live ammunition fired by the Israeli army.
Soldiers opened fire on protestors in the buffer zone in Beit Hanoun, near to the Erez crossing but the demonstration succeeded in moving a section of the barbed wire fence dividing land on the Gazan side of the border.
Saber Al Za’anin lead the chanting against the occupation, siege and attacks on Palestinian farmers in Beit Hanoun, accompanied by about thirty Palestinians, nine international activists and a press team. The crowd marched towards the wall around the Erez crossing and one of the watch towers was open, evidently monitoring as the group approached the wall at about 100 metres. The barren waste land all around was a result of forced neglect – the place has rendered out-of-bounds to Palestinian farmers due to the threat of Israeli snipers and shelling.
The buffer-zone is 300 metres wide and stretches along the entire border fence on the frontier with Israel. Violent attacks by the Israeli military on anyone in the area have recurred consistently – and frequently live ammunition has been used against peaceful demonstrators and even farmers harvesting crops. According to the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) the violence of the ‘buffer zone’ enforcement means that over 30% of Gaza’s most useful arable land “cannot be worked without severe personal risk, causing the loss of livelihoods.”.
“This was the first time anyone has entered this area of Palestinian land since the beginning of the siege. Farmers had long ago given up working on it because of the dangers”, Saber told us. Ssoon after an attempt was made to remove the twisted barbed wire fence positioned by the Israel army to divide two Palestinian fields.
A sniper was stood on top of one of the checkpoint towers and once protestors started to move the fence, live bullets were fired within 5 – 10 metres of the demonstrators. Two further attempts were made to move the fence and the firing increased, dust clouds rising from the ground where bullets bounced around people’s feet. The men and women on the demonstration returned for cover, fortunately without casualties except for some minor scratches from dragging the fence.
History of Attacks
In recent years the land around the Erez border has seen frequent attacks.
Kamel Iswalim’s family and brothers’ families lived just 500 metres from the border, right next to where the demonstration began. There had always been regular incursions and every six month the families were corralled by the IDF and shut into one room for hours. In 2006, his brother’s small two-room house was demolished by bulldozers. In 2007, the whole area was shot at by tanks, and Kamel was hit in the leg. On 5th January 2009 during the bombardment and ground assault on Gaza that left over 1400 Palestinians dead, Kamel’s house was targeted.
Soldiers came to the front of the house at night, yelling in Hebrew that the family must leave the house within five minutes. They got shot at while coming out of their house, and they had no time to grab their belongings. Then they watched it being bulldozed, together with their five water wells and all of their trees. “Go to Gaza City and never come back again”, they were told by the soldiers. Kamel’s family lost everything they had and shortly after his father died from a heart attack from the ordeal. In total, there were ten houses destroyed in that area along with Gaza’s sole agricultural college. They are unable to farm any of the 13 dunums of land they lost – they cannot even enter it anymore, let alone rebuild their house despite it being further than 300 metres from the Israeli border.
“I have five sons and five daughters”, Kamel said. “I can’t offer them anything. I have two sons in college, and don’t know where to get the money from to enable them to finish their studies.” The whole family is now living in a hut on land which is one kilometer from the border, and it doesn’t belong to them. But farming this land gives them a salary of 50 dollars per month – 50 dollars for a family of twelve. “When we were last shot at?” Kamel laughs sadly. “We are shot at pretty much every day, even here, one kilometer from the border.” His neighbour Ab Dir Kadel Rahmed tried his luck and spent four years rebuilding his house, after it was destroyed in 2006. It lasted six months before the Israeli military demolished it again.
“I call the western governments to stand up and stop what’s going on here. It’s enough”, Kamel says. “Enough lives were destroyed, enough people were killed. It’s just enough.”
15 August 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
On Saturday Palestinians were joined by internationals and Israelis in their weekly demonstration, asking for the opening of Shuhada Street and responding to the closure of three shops in the old city earlier in the week. The Israeli army, represented by soldiers and border police, entered from the gate leading to Shuhada Street, and pushed the protesters back up the street they came from. Several people were pushed violently to the ground without any warning or for any reason. Five innocent protesters were arrested with extreme force; one Australian, two British and two Israeli citizens, and taken away by border police and soldiers. All faced trumped up charges, including, ironically, of supposedly assaulting soldier.
In response to the closure of the three shops located in the old city, protesters were carrying banners asking: “Is the Old City becoming the new ghost town?”, referring to Shuhada Street that has been closed off for more than a decade. Some posters were also showing pictures of Shuhada Street in 1997 and 2007, showing how the street has become like a ghost town since all the shops were closed down. Although it’s Ramadan, about 60 people gathered for the demonstration.
The protesters went down to Bab al Balladyeh, and were faced by about 50 soldiers and border police. Police were also present. People were playing drums, singing slogans calling for a free Palestine and the opening of Shuhada Street, when the commander announced that it was an illegal demonstration. The border police who had lined up preventing people from moving on, started to push people back, and even though none of the protesters resisted, more and more force was used, causing many people to fall. The border police targeted one international activist, and while pushing everybody else away, they took him by the neck and pulled him violently down the street. Minutes later the same procedure was carried out on another activist, without any provocation from him. He fell to the ground and was dragged away by soldiers. Later in the demonstration two Israeli activists were targeted in the same way, though no physical contact with the soldiers whatsoever had occurred beforehand. Then another international activist, an elderly man, was grabbed and forcibly taken away.
The remaining group of protesters were then forced back along the street. People were asking the soldiers to stop pushing, which they didn’t respond to. This went on several times, and in the end the protesters walked back up the hill. The protest lasted for about an hour. Again the Israeli army proved that they don’t hesitate to use violence against peaceful protesters in Hebron.
None of the arrestees had so much as touched any of the soldiers – indeed they were in fact subjected to violence themselves – yet one British man was yesterday charged with assaulting a soldier. Rhys Samuel stood trial in the ‘Peace Court’ in Jerusalem, with the soldiers’ false testimony the only evidence presented against him. He was not given a translator. He was told he was banned from attending “illegal demonstrations”. Meanwhile, another British man was only released on the condition that he does not return to Hebron in the next 15 days. These court rulings, and the case of Swedish activist Marcus Regnander shows that the Israeli courts do not view the absence of evidence as an obstacle to imposing punitive conditions – but also that challenges within the legal system to unjust rulings can succeed as well. For fighting such increasingly frequent court cases designed to deter international peace activists, ISM has this week put out an appeal for funds to cover the hefty legal costs involved.
Meanwhile the violence used to arrest one of the Palestinians was so great that he lost consciousness during the and yet soldiers dragged him unconscious for 20 meters before handcuffing him. The care he was provided with following the arrest was extremely inadequate – police refused to take him to the hospital despite multiple requests made to the paramedic for the pains in his head to be treated.
As well as the injuries incurred during the action, violence towards the Palestinians continued in Kiryat Arba Police Station when an officer named Avi lifted a Palestinian up by his neck, took him outside and began to beat him with no pretext given. This ill treatment of detainees continued with police refusing to grant access to the toilet, providing only frozen bread for food, personally insulting the prisoners, taunting them, and making racist comments. While the British and Israeli detainees were released, the Palestinians prisoners were moved to a Military base in Gush Etzion settlement. They are currently awaiting a court date.
Bedouin village of Al Araqib demolished for the third time
10 August 2010
Al Araqib, NEGEV
The Bedouin village of Al Araqib in Southern Israel was destroyed for the third time in two weeks this morning, Tuesday August 10th, by Israeli civil administration forces.
At approximately 5.45 this morning around 50 Israeli police and 15 border police arrived in jeeps to guard 3 caterpillar bulldozers who razed the Palestinian Bedouin village near Beersheva, Negev to the ground in just over one hour.
Six or seven makeshift houses which had been rebuilt by the families (following the two previous demolitions on July 27th and August 4th) were bulldozed, leaving the families, including women and children, homeless again on the eve of Ramadan.
Two ISM activists and about 20 Israeli activists witnessed the demolitions, having arrived at 3 in the morning. Villagers had called for support, after they began to suspect the impending return of the bulldozers, following the arrival of Israeli officials the day before who surveyed the rebuilt structures and seemed to be taking count.
One man, helped by Israeli and international activists, can be seen in the video below trying to dismantle his own house before the bulldozers got to it – in order to save the materials from destruction – but was prevented from doing so by Israeli police.
Police were aggressive and violent to both the Bedouin and the demonstrators. They arrested one Israeli activist, Gadi Algazi, for participating in nonviolent resistance to the demolitions. They also stole the water tank, which – combined with the fact that fasting will take place during Ramadan, will make re-establishing the village even harder.
Despite this, the families, helped by activists, began to rebuild shelters for themselves with what materials they could salvage, as soon as Israeli forces departed. The state of Israel calls the village ‘unrecognized’ and says the houses were illegal.
Contact:
ISM Media office: 054-618-0056
Aida, ISM activist witness: 059-738-2292
PHOTOS: International Solidarity Movement
“This was the first time anyone has entered this area of Palestinian land since the beginning of the siege. Farmers had long ago given up working on it because of the dangers”, Saber told us. Ssoon after an attempt was made to remove the twisted barbed wire fence positioned by the Israel army to divide two Palestinian fields.
Soldiers came to the front of the house at night, yelling in Hebrew that the family must leave the house within five minutes. They got shot at while coming out of their house, and they had no time to grab their belongings. Then they watched it being bulldozed, together with their five water wells and all of their trees. “Go to Gaza City and never come back again”, they were told by the soldiers. Kamel’s family lost everything they had and shortly after his father died from a heart attack from the ordeal. In total, there were ten houses destroyed in that area along with Gaza’s sole agricultural college. They are unable to farm any of the 13 dunums of land they lost – they cannot even enter it anymore, let alone rebuild their house despite it being further than 300 metres from the Israeli border.
On Saturday Palestinians were joined by internationals and Israelis in their weekly demonstration, asking for the opening of Shuhada Street and responding to 
