Category: Features - Page 198 - International Solidarity Movement

Israel to close West Bank for Yom Kippur

The Israeli military announced a closure of the West Bank beginning at midnight on Saturday, lasting until midnight on Monday, which is the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur.

Under ordinary circumstances, most Palestinians from the West Bank are barred from entering Jerusalem or crossing into Israel. The closure means that even those with special permits to work or study in Jerusalem or the interior of Israel will be confined to the West Bank.

The Israeli army said that during the closure Palestinians will be allowed to leave only in exceptional medical and humanitarian cases.

Observant Jews fast for 24 hours on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Iraq Burin to demonstrate against the theft of their lands

24 September 2009

The village of Iraq Burin in the the southern region of Nablus will re-commence its weekly demonstrations this Friday, the 25th of September after a hiatus to observe the holy month of Ramadan. Over 100 dunums (100,000 sq metres) of farmers’ land has been annexed by the illegal settlement of Bracha and the village is subject to constant attacks from settlers and soldiers alike. Demonstrators will meet at 12:30 after the midday prayer, when international activists will march with residents to the edge of the village for a public prayer on the contested land.

West Bank villages such as Bil’in and Nil’in have proved what success peaceful protest can achieve to capture both public and media interest and draw attention to the detrimental effects of the Israeli occupation on rural life in Palestine. Iraq Burin is determined to follow their example and hopes its demonstrations can continue to host a growing presence of international activists.

Iraq Burin held three demonstrations in August, despite attacks from armed settlers and heavy-handed “crowd dispersal” techniques by the Israeli army: the ubiquitous use of sound bombs, tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. A journalist from Al-Jazeera was beaten by a settler and a local man sustained stomach injuries when hit by a tear gas canister. Over the month of Ramadan, the village has been holding workshops in place of protests, exploring philosophies and methods of non-violent resistance in history.

Come and give your support to the villagers of Iraq Burin, and show them they are not alone in their struggle!

Israeli forces continue arrest and intimidation campaign with Bil’in night raids

21 September 2009

Israeli forces invaded Bil’in once again just before 1am. Six jeeps entered the village via the gate in the occupation wall. Two jeeps stopped at the house of Mohammed Ahmed Yasseen (age 21) and searched for him in the ground floor apartment belonging to his mother. Four jeeps stopped at Abdullah Mahmoud Aburahma’s (age 37) house and searched for him there. Two of these jeeps left quickly to search for Yasseen Mohammed Yasseen (age 21) at his home. None of the men were at home and no-one was arrested.

International and Israeli activists accompanied local Palestinians at all three locations to protest against the invasions and to document events. The house searches were relatively short-lived, compared to the numerous previous invasions. The soldiers delivered letters to all three families demanding that the three men go to Ofer prison to meet ‘Captain Fo’ad’ of the shabak. This was the first time such a demand was written in Arabic.

The invading forces were particularly aggressive at Abdullah Mahmoud Aburahma’s house. They fired tear gas and shot live ammunition in the air as they exited the village a little before 2am. No-one was injured or arrested.

There has been speculation that an Israeli lawyer is attempting to show that this long series of night arrests is illegal because no forewarning was given to any of the Palestinians so far seized and detained. These letters may be an attempt by the Israeli army to pre-empt a court order demanding a warning before any arrest.eptember 2009

Israeli forces raid Bil’in, beat Popular Committee member

For Immediate Release:

16 September 2009: Israeli forces raid Bil’in, beat Popular Committee member.

Around 1:30am, the Israeli army invaded Bil’in. Soldiers came to the home of Abdullah Mahmoud Abu Rahme , coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, to arrest him.

Abu Rahme was not at home at the time and soldiers proceeded to destroy belongings in his house.

When another member of the Popular Committee, Mohammad Khatib, arrived to check on Abu Rahme’s wife and 3 small children, Israeli forces severely beat him. Khatib was taken to Ramallah hospital for medical treatment.

International solidarity activists were prevented from entering the home and a Palestinian cameraman trying to film the invasion was pushed around and had his camera broken.

Israeli forces destroy the home of Abdullah Abu Rahme

Afterward, soldiers raided the home of Abdullah’s brother, Khaled Abu Rahme, threatening to continue harassment until Abduallah is arrested. The army also trashed a room in Khaled’s home, stealing banners and flags used during weekly demonstrations.

Video footage available upon request, please email palreports@gmail.com

Background:

The recent raids began concurrently with the opening of a legal trial in Montreal. The village of Bil’in has taken two companies registered in Canada (Green Park International & Green Mount International) to court for participating in war crimes by building settlements on Bil’in’s land under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute (which incorporates both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute into Canadian federal law).

Since the trail began Israeli forces have arrested 30 people (most of which are under 18). Twenty-one residents of Bil’in remain in Israeli detention.

Through Israel’s interrogation and intimidation tactics, some of arrested youth have falsely ‘confessed’ that the Bil’in Popular Committee urges the demonstrators to throw stones. With such ‘confessions’, Israeli forces then proceed to raid the village at night invade homes and arrest leaders of the non-violent struggle in the community.

Two of the three popular committee members who traveled to Montreal to represent the villages case , Mohammad Khatib and Mohammad Abu Rahme were arrested and have since been released on bail. (see B’Tselem report: http://www.btselem.org/english/separation_barrier/20090818_night_arrests_in_bilin.asp).

Another leading Bil’in non-violent activist, Adeeb Abu Rahme, remains in detention since his arrest during a non-violent demonstration on 10 July 2009 (see report & video: https://palsolidarity.org/2009/07/7652. Adib has been charged with “incitement to damage the security of the area.”

On 29 August 2009, two additional Bil’in houses were simultaneously raided by at least 40 soldiers, arresting Ashraf Al-Khatib (age 29) and Hamru Bornat (age 24). A local cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, brother of the arrested Hamru, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. Soldiers declared his home a “closed military zone” but could not produce any military order.

The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more than 50% of their farmlands, confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on the 4 September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented. The struggle of the village to liberate its lands and stop the illegal settlements has been internationally recognized and has earned the popular committee in Bil’in the Carl von Ossietzky Meda award.

Oakland man to sue for injury in Israel protest

Bob Egelko | The San Francisco Chronicle

14 September 2009

An Oakland man who was seriously wounded by a tear gas projectile fired by Israeli police during a West Bank protest will file suit despite a military report concluding that he was engaged in an “act of war,” his lawyers said Sunday.

The case of Tristan Anderson, who remains hospitalized with brain damage and a fractured skull six months after he was injured, may test Israel’s efforts to shield itself from lawsuits for harm it causes during wartime, said attorney Michael Sfard.

Anderson’s lawyers said Israel’s Ministry of Defense has told them the demonstrators threw stones and other objects at police, who acted in self-defense.

The Ministry of Defense, Sfard said in an e-mail message, “is trying to apply the (act of war) doctrine to every (case of) damage caused in the occupied Palestinian territories by Israeli forces.”

Anderson, 38, was among a group of about 400 Palestinian and international demonstrators who gathered March 13 in the town of Naalin, near the wall Israel is building along its border to keep Palestinians out.

The wall cuts off parts of the West Bank, including a portion of Naalin, and is the site of frequent protests.

Anderson was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired from about 65 yards away by a border police officer, according to some fellow demonstrators. He had brain surgery at Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv and is no longer in critical condition, but is blind in his right eye, friends say.

His parents, Nancy and Michael Anderson of Grass Valley (Nevada County), report that he has regained consciousness and they are optimistic about his recovery, said Lea Tsemel, an Israeli civil rights lawyer who represents the family.

However, she said she believes Tristan Anderson will be permanently disabled.

Before going to Israel, Anderson was one of the tree-sitters who until last September occupied a grove next to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium in an unsuccessful bid to stop the university from clearing the trees to make room for an athletic center.

This summer, Anderson’s lawyers received a letter from Israel’s Ministry of Defense saying its preliminary investigation had cleared government forces of wrongdoing.

“The border police force was attacked massively by about 400 demonstrators who threw blocks, stones and gas rockets,” the letter said, according to Tsemel’s translation. “The police sincerely feared that they would be hurt. … In these circumstances, we are talking about an act of war. Accordingly, the state is not responsible for any damages.”

Tsemel said numerous witnesses contradict the ministry’s report.

“He was demonstrating. He didn’t have any weapon. He was a peacenik. … Nothing was endangering the soldiers,” the attorney said in a telephone interview from her home in Israel.

While some demonstrators have thrown stones at soldiers, Tsemel said, there was no evidence of any violent activity by Anderson.

Sfard, who also represents Anderson, said the Ministry of Defense was trying to extend the “act of war” defense from armed conflicts to police responses against civilian demonstrators.

Tsemel said Anderson and his family would file suit shortly in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. In addition to compensation, she said, “we want the army to investigate the event and bring to trial the border police person who shot at him and those who gave him the orders.”