Category: Journals - Page 124 - International Solidarity Movement

Does Santa get through the checkpoint?

Huwarra checkpoint is the main checkpoint to the south of Nablus, and probably one of the worst ones that I have experienced in Palestine.

Every time I pass through, people are being humiliated in many ways: screamed at, beaten, detained, forced to wait for no reason, arrested, you name it. Some days it is open, some days closed. Some days women can get out, some days not and if you are from one of the refugee camps, you might as well forget about being able to get through Huwarra, even on a good day.

So approaching the checkpoint sometime around 4pm, we saw just what I feared; the checkpoint was crammed with people, all of them crushed in a mass trying not to get wet in what was a day of constant rain and bitter cold weather, as well as suffering the beatings and abuse of the soldiers manning the checkpoint. Having been stuck there before in a similar yet less intense version of this situation for at least an hour (but in good weather), I decided that we should just use our privilege as foreigners and just walk through the checkpoint. I had never done this at Huwarra, or any checkpoint, for that matter, but with the weather nasty and the checkpoint even nastier, I just had to do it. So we walked confidently (and inside quite guiltily) past the hundreds of Palestinians, who had been waiting there for hours, and flashed our passports to the soldiers there. They waved us on, but then changed their minds and said to check in with the officer at the end of the checkpoint. We went to him and he asked us the usual stupid questions;

Q: Did you get special permission to be in Nablus?

A: Sir, we were let through the checkpoint when we arrived.

Q: Where did you stay? A hotel?

A: Yes, at the Yasmeen hotel.

Q: Is it a five star hotel?

A: Sir, I have no idea how many stars it has, it is a good hotel.

And more like that; stupid questions asked by young boys with guns that have a slightly hard time mustering up the kind of racism and nastiness that comes easily when questioning Palestinians. After a very poor search of our bags, we passed through Huwarra. Just before leaving, I stopped when I saw that 3 or 4 young male Palestinians were being detained in a small area of the checkpoint. I turned around and asked the soldier that had just let us pass “How long have those boys been there? Why are they there?” The soldier said to me “They hit a soldier,” and made a motion like a slap.

This just made me so angry inside I can’t tell you. Myself and every other person I know that went through that checkpoint that day saw soldiers hitting and beating Palestinians. Of course, I’ve seen it many other times as well; activist friends of mine have been arrested for allegedly beating a police officer, which are just plain lies told by the police (even the Israeli judge in one case stated that he was “outraged” by the behavior of the police). It seems a logical axiom that if one is charged by the Israeli military for beating a soldier, that means a soldier assaulted you.

“They hit a soldier,” he said. So, in response to the officer, I mustered as much sarcasm as I could manage without screaming, and said “Well, that’s too bad,” and walked away (for more descriptions of what checkpoints are like, I highly recommend an article by Gideon Levy, Theater of the Absurd).

And so I left, angry, guilty, just plain revolted at the injustice and brutality of it all. If this was my daily life, what would I do with all these emotions? How would I survive?

Next was to arrange a ride to Ramallah, the next large city before crossing into Jerusalem. What followed was a crazed and dysfunctional process of getting either a taxi for the two of us or waiting until enough people trickle through the checkpoint to fill up a shared taxi.

While we were haggling over prices, we had a surprise; who shows up, but our friend who left hours before us! He had arrived at Huwarra at 1pm, and did not pass through until 4pm!! Even he had tried to use his passport to get ahead of the line, but to no avail; they told him to wait his turn, and that he did. Needless to say, he was happy to see us, and I could not imagine what I would be like mentally after 4 hours of being crushed in a sea of people, in that weather, while watching soldiers beat and abuse people the whole time.

He joined us in the shared taxi, but our travels had not ended yet! Off we went from Huwarra in the pouring rain and thick fog, which did slow traffic from its usual somewhat too fast driving pace, but as a lovely Christmas present to Palestine, the IOF had a few more hurdles to get past. Usually, the next manned checkpoint is at Zaatara, not too far down the road from Huwarra. But on this day, there was an impromptu “flying” checkpoint, as they are called, both before and after the Zaatara checkpoint. It usually consists of an army jeep/truck blocking the road with soldiers out waving people to stop or keep going.

Sometimes taxis alert each other ahead of time and they can be avoided, sometimes not. So, before getting to Ramallah we had to show our IDs and be assessed by soldiers at checkpoints three times. Each time is much like the other, the humiliating experience of being treated like possible criminal just for traveling in Palestine. And as awful as all these experiences were for me yesterday, it is nothing compared to what a Palestinian has to go through. My time here has given me the barest, most basic taste of what it is like, but I would never claim to ‘know’; in the end, I am a foreigner, and eventually, I will leave Palestine with my all powerful passport and white male privilege intact.

And then to Ramallah we arrived. After a walk in the rain, we got our things organized for the next leg of the journey, the crossing at Qalandia checkpoint into the ‘Greater’ Jerusalem area which the Apartheid Wall is annexing to Israel as we speak. Qalandia Checkpoint has always been another one of those nasty, abusive and in the past, makeshift checkpoints, and with the construction of the Apartheid Wall, Qalandia is out of control; blocks of cement, railing, piles of gravel and dirt, fencing, razor wire, sniper towers, and plenty of subversive graffiti, of course. Right next to this is the most surreal thing; where there was once a hill, the hill is no more, and a brand spanking new, shiny and gleaming terminal-like building has been constructed, along with a parking lot and a large sign with a picture of a flower, next to which is written in three languages “The Hope of Us All.” Myself and other activists who have seen this feel that it is only a matter of time until: “Arbeit Macht Frei” or “Despair all ye who enter here” are spray-painted in its place.

This is the new (improved�) Qalandia terminal, paid for by US tax dollars, of course, and it is a cruel joke. I don’t know which is worse, walking through a random assortment of concrete and steel while soldiers point guns treat you like dirt, or a spotless post-post-modern cross between an airport terminal and a sanatorium, with soldiers sitting behind bullet proof glass and yelling commands through a machine while they sit comfortably, as if you are some infected microbe that they dare not be in the same room with. The walls are complete with screens that say “welcome” and other signs saying “please keep the terminal clean,” and “enjoy your stay.” Who was it that designed such a cruel joke? This checkpoint is miles past the 1967 green line, well into Palestinian land, and no one has any possibility of ‘enjoying their stay’ while they are being humiliated, whether up front or by remote control.

So, do you think that that is it? Nope, one more checkpoint, a quick stop while taking a bus to Jerusalem. Everyone on the bus has the process down: lifts up their IDs, the border policeman comes in, looks at them, and then waves us on (on a good day of course). It was close to 9pm when we got to the hostel, a journey of 60 kilometers took about 5 hours (for Aaron, 9 hours) and we had to pass through 6 checkpoints in the process.

And people ask, when will peace come to the Holy Land? God only knows, when people are forced to live like this.

I resist so I exist

by Saif

After filling out papers at the Jordanian border with Palestine, the bus started moving towards the side that is controlled by the Israeli occupation authorities. As much as I missed Palestine, thinking about the process that Israel imposes on Palestinians traveling through the border and the time that I have to spend waiting for permission from the occupation authorities to enter to my land made me feel at home again.

You never know how it will be.

We arrived at the border. Every thing seemed normal. People lined up to register their bags; the electronic screening machine was still there. For the first time I passed these two procedures without any problem. I gave my passport to the checking desk. Less than one minute later I was approached by two Israeli border policemen. Back to the electronic screening machine.

I spent around one hour between being searched and waiting. Then they brought my dad who was crossing the border with me. After they searched him, we were taken to a place to wait. We were there waiting for four hours. Then I was asked to go the *Mokhabarat* (the Israeli secret service) office. I had to wait another hour outside the office. I was taken for 10 minutes of interrogation. They asked about Spain; what am I doing there? How many countries have I traveled to? What kinds of activities does my organization have? What is my role in the organization? I also was asked how can I enjoy my time in Spain while resistance activists are starving in Palestine?

It is really confusing. If we resist they don’t like it. If we stay at home they don’t like it. If we leave Palestine they also don’t like it. After that I was given a notification paper to go for an interview with the Israeli secret service at Huwara military base on the 19th of this month, which was this morning.

I arrived at Huwara at 11 am for the interview. I passed through a very strict search procedure. This time it took two hours to finish the
interrogation. I was asked again about Spain and my work there. I was asked about the work of my parents. “Do you go to parties?” “Do you go out with girls?” “Do you have a girl friend?” “What are your address and phone numbers here and in Spain?” These things cannot threaten Israeli security. I mean, what is the relation between me going out to parties and the security of the Israeli state?!

The questioning moved to a new level this time. I will try to describe the second part of the questioning in this dialogue:

Officer: So you don’t know why you have been asked for this interview.

Me: Not really.

Officer: It is about your previous activities.

Me: What kind of activities. Can you explain please?

Officer: ISM.

Me: What about ISM?

Officer: Before leaving the country you were very active with ISM. I have to say that we consider you one of the extremists in ISM.

Me: What do you mean by saying “extremist”?

Officer: I understand that all of you in ISM are against violence but we consider you one of the extremists in ISM in terms of non-violent confrontational actions. So how many activities have you organized?

Me: I was arrested once.

Officer: So you measure the number of activities with how many times you
get arrested?

Me: I thought this is your way of measuring activities.

Officer: Are you planning to meet them?

Me: They are my friends. Don’t you talk to your friends? I do.

Officer: Are you coming back to Nablus?

Me: I live with my parents in Ramallah.

Officer: Who is the new coordinator in Nablus?

Me: I don’t know. Someone new.

Officer: Did you meet with any Israelis?

Me: Yossi.

Officer: Did he come to visit you?

Me: Yes.

Officer: Are you planning to participate or organize activities?

Me: Not yet.

Officer: So its possible that you will be part of activities.

Me: Everything is possible. If my daily life keeps being so difficult, I will protest against that. And I will resist it.

Officer: I don’t really understand why, but you didn’t tell me the whole truth.

Me: What did I miss?

Officer: You know. And you know that we know everything, so I don’t understand why you don’t tell me everything.

Me: I did answer all your questions. Are you married?

Officer: Yes.

Me: How many kids do you have?

Officer: Three.

Me: It’s a big family, looks like an Arab family.

Officer: Three is not that big. Listen, I want to give you some advice.

Me: Ok, but I have a question.

Officer: What?

Me: Why do you keep hassling me at the border? Every time I pass the border I get stopped.

Officer: It’s nothing personal. We try to check every body. We don’t know what’s going on in the head of each person and so we try to check everybody.

Me: So am I going to be stopped more times? I mean we just talked and so everything should be ok.

Officer: That’s not my work, people on border decide what to do.

Me: So am I going to face more problems? Can you give me a paper that I was at the interview so I can show it at the border?

Officer: You don’t need any papers. And every one is responsible for what they do. So simply leaving the country depends on you. Its your decision. If your name gets registered again in the police or you participate in activities you won’t be able to leave the country.

Me: I see.

Officer: Let me give you some advice: keep away from everything. Spend the days that you have here with your family and friends, away from ISM and all these kinds of activities. Its better for you. And you will have no problems to leave the country. I want to tell you that you are watched and we will know everything you will do.

Me: Did you bug my phones?

Officer: No, we don’t do that. We have people who will tell us what you do and where you go. And so those people will tell us everything about you in the coming days.

Me: So you didn’t bug my phone.

Officer: No we didn’t. So as I said, take care, enjoy your time and remember that we will watch you, so try not to get arrested, you tell the people how to do it in training, stay behind or second line but better not to get arrested. Take care again. Bye.

Me: Bye.

And that was it. I went back to Ramallah. But all the way I kept asking myself about the situation, the significance of our work and our existence as Palestinians. It was very clear for me that besides all that Palestinians fight for in terms of freedom, land, rights and life, we also fight for the recognition of our existence as humans and as Palestinians. And so I understood something very clearly: I resist so I exist.

While Our Friends Are Kidnapped in Iraq, Palestinian Non-violent Resistance Continutes

1. The Power of Aboud
2. Resistance Continues in Aboud, Despite Israeli Violence
3. A brief list of numbers from today’s demo in Aboud
4. Human Rights Worker Refuses Deportation, Put in Solitary Confinement in Tzohar Detention Center, Israel
5. Scotish TV: “Scottish activist to be deported from Israel”
6. Scotish Press: “Israel Ready to Deport Peace Activist Scot for Second Time”
7. Narrative Of a Typical Settler Holiday in Tel Rumeida
8. Kiriat Arba Police arrest one Human Rights Worker; IDF assault Human Rights Workers and steal cameras and passport in Tel Rumeida, Hebron
9. Non-Violent Demonstration in Bil’in Attacked by Israeli Military Once Again

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1. The Power of Aboud

by Mansour

The villagers of Aboud have taken up a campaign of nonviolent resistance against the Israeli Aphartied wall which will steal agricultural land, olive trees and water resources. On the second demonstration there, we touched the core of Palestinian popular resistance. The whole village decided that the popular movements that lead the first Palestinian Intifada, they will express their resistance through the power of the people. They decided to fight for their freedom without weapons, to resist armed only with their faith and spirit.

When the demo began, I wondered how we would even begin to approach the bulldozers, I was answered by the entire group walking through the Israeli soldier’s lines without stopping.

After crossing four more Israeli military barriers, the farmers of Aboud stood on their land and started singing. They said simply: “Today we prove that soldiers, weapons, walls, fences, and brutality won’t be able to stop our struggle for justice.” When the demo ended, the farmers thanked their Israeli and International supporters and promised to continue their nonviolent resistance until they tear the wall down!

With happiness at their achievement apparent on these great simple farmers’ faces, they told us: “We need you here with us, we need you to help us continue to uncover the Israeli government’s violence against our peaceful resistance. We need more of you to share in our struggle and our joy when we stop the bulldozers. We need more of you to share our struggle and our joy when we stop bulldozers and save olive trees and hope from being uprooted.”

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2. Resistance Continues in Aboud, Despite Israeli Violence

Accompanied by dozens of internationals, between 150 and 200 Palestinian demonstrators arrived at the construction site of the annexation barrier in Aboud which will illegally claim much of the village’s land. This is the third such demonstration against the illegal barrier in this Christian-Muslim village where the people have heroically resisted the theft of their land.

The demonstrators arrived at noon and went immediately to the construction site where they’ve been protesting the construction for the last two weeks. This time the occupation forces did not try to stop the demonstrators as they approached the razor wire barrier that had been set up across the road. The demonstrators were aware that there would be considerable violence on the part of the occupation forces in comparison to the previous two weeks.

There were roughly 60 soldiers as well as a number of border police and special police forces (Yasim) surrounding the razor wire barricade that blocked the road to the construction site. The demonstrators peacefully approached the wire that separated them from the soldiers without provoking any violence.

Almost all the soldiers were armed with batons and one of the officers in charge had 4 sound bombs prominently displayed on his chest.

At the demonstration was the Knesset member Abdulmalik Dehamshe, who sharply criticized the Wall during an introductory speech and was shoved by the Israeli Police during the demonstration.

Without provocation, the soldiers began using their batons, beating some of the Israeli activists who were in the front lines of the demonstration. As in the past, non-violent resistance was met with violence by the occupation forces.

Within 10 minutes the occupation forces had begun assaulting the peaceful demonstration with sound bombs (aproximately 8 within 3 minutes) while the police forces rushed the crowd and grabbing and beating some demonstrators.

Rubber-coated metal bullets were fired into the crowd from extremely close range causing multiple injuries. An ISMer that was being treated by a medic after being injuried by a police baton witnessed two Palestinian men who had been shot multiple times by rubber-coated metal bullets at close range.

During the attack by the occupation forces, two Israeli demonstrators were detained and arrested, and others were injured in the process. After the initial assault by the police many demonstrators dispersed from the immediate area, but many of them were able to maintain their presence and did not leave the area until about 2pm. Shortly before the demonstrators departed, a Palestinian woman suffered a twisted ankle during a scuffle and was evacuated by the Palestinian Red Crescent who were present for the demonstration.

ISM pictures:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/02/resistance-continues-in-aboud-despite-israeli-violence/

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3. A brief list of numbers from today’s demo in Aboud

by David

Inspired by my friend Chris – whose blog can be seen at http://standardlinedelivery.blogspot.com – I offer this brief list of numbers from today’s demonstration in Aboud.

62: number of soldiers I counted (not including police and special police)

150: my estimate of number of demonstrators present

2: number of israelis arrested

0: number of stones thrown by palestinian youth during the protest

0: number of tear gas grenades thrown/shot by israeli police/soldiers during the protest

8: approximate number of sound bombs thrown in a period of two or three minutes by israeli soldiers and police

3: number of foreigners I personally saw beaten with wooden clubs by special police

2: number of journalists I saw complaining about wounds they suffered at the hands of soldiers/police

1: number of arms my friend henry had in a sling due to beating by special police

2: number of people I heard afterwards describing the protest as generally “peaceful”

1: number of minutes of silence witnessed in memory of palestinians killed by israel

25.5: number of hours I have been away from tel rumeida so far

3: number of hours until I estimate I will return in tel rumeida

ISM picture:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/02/a-brief-list-of-numbers-from-todays-demonstration-in-abud/

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4. Human Rights Worker Refuses Deportation, Put in Solitary Confinement in Tzohar Detention Center, Israel

December 5th, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Andrew Macdonald, a Human Rights Worker from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), is still being held in solitary confinement at the Tzohar Detention Center in Israel. Even though he has been threatened by the Prison Commander, he maintains that “deporting people from Palestine is a matter for Palestinians to decide, not for Israelis.”

“You are making me nervous – I have not been nervous for 3 years. But I can make you nervous too. You are playing games with me, but I can play games with you to.” These were the words of the Prison Commander Yuvral just before he threatened to take Andrews cell phone away from him. This is not the first time Andrew has been threatened; the Israeli Authorities have repeatedly used intimidation to try to pressure him to leave the country. Previously, a police officer from the Special Operations Unit threatened to drug him if he did not comply.

Before his arrest, Andrew worked in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, where ISM and the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence to support the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from Hebron’s violent settler community. During the last 3 months, The IDF and the Police in the area have repeatedly been trying to get the Human Rights Workers out of Tel Rumeida, by arresting them without reason, issuing false Closed Military Zone Orders and trying to break in to their apartment without a warrant.

Andrew Macdonald has been in custody for 10 days since his arrest on 24th of November 2005, and in solitary confinement for 3 days since his arrival to Tzohar Detention Center this Thursday at 21:30. He is kept in a 2×2 meter cell and is not allowed to see other prisoners. Last night the prison staff kept the light in his cell on until 2 AM, depriving him of his sleep.

Tel Rumeida Project: www.telrumeidaproject.org

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5. Scotish TV: “Scottish activist to be deported from Israel”

Scotland Today’s video about Scottish activist Andrew McDonald currently in Israeli detention awaiting deportation is worth watching. Their internet article, on the other hand erroneously refers to “Israel’s West Bank” and states that “The involvement of foreigners trying to help the Israelis and Palestinians live together is welcomed by officials in Tel Aviv.”

http://scotlandtoday.scottishtv.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=9810

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6. Scotish Press: “Israel Ready to Deport Peace Activist Scot for Second Time”

by Billy Briggs
Originally published in The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/51950.html

A Scottish peace activist is facing deportation from Israel for the second time.

Andrew MacDonald, 31, from Spean Bridge, Lochaber, near Fort William, is currently being held in a detention centre near the Gaza Strip, but is resisting his removal.

He was arrested by Israeli police in Hebron in the West Bank on November 24.

His father, John Muncie, said yesterday that Israeli police had threatened that Mr MacDonald could be drugged and put on a plane back to the UK.

Mr Muncie said: “His refusal is a protest against the state of Israel’s policy of deporting human rights workers from the occupied territories of Palestine. Andrew was in Palestine for 15 weeks before his arrest.

“He spent most of his time in Tel Rumeida, an area of Hebron where the Palestinians live in virtual hell. They suffer from the daily abuse of the 500 or so Israeli settlers who established an illegal enclave there a few years ago. Countless instances of daily brutality to the dwindling Palestinian population were recorded and photographed by Andrew and his colleagues, who lived in an apartment in Tel Rumeida.

“They daily escorted Palestinian children to and from school to try to protect them from the assaults of settlers.”

In August 2003, Mr MacDonald, a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was deported after trying to stop soldiers blowing up and bulldozing the house of a Palestinian family where he was staying in Nablus.

He subsequently changed his surname from Muncie to MacDonald so he could obtain a new passport and return to Israel.

His father said the family fully supported his decision to go back.

“He had gone out in 2003 to try to support the ordinary Palestinians. The attempt had been cut short. He was still of a mind to help them.

“Andrew MacDonald was the name on his new passport. As Andrew Muncie, he would have been stopped at Tel Aviv airport. This in spite of the fact that Andrew Muncie had committed no crime or offence when he had last been there,” Mr Muncie said.

During his latest stay, Mr MacDonald attended peaceful demonstrations against the controversial wall which the Israeli government is constructing in the West Bank.

No-one was available for comment yesterday at the Israeli Embassy in London.

The ISM is a Palestinian-led non-political movement which helps to organise non-violent protests against terror and illegal occupation.

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7. Narrative Of a Typical Settler Holiday in Tel Rumeida

By an ISM-activist

On November 26th, Israeli colonies in the Palestinian city of Hebron held religious gatherings to commemorate the day that Abraham buried Sarah in the Jewish tradition. They were joined by about three thousand settlers and other Israelis from outside Hebron to show their support for the “pioneers of Hebron”, as they say in the local idiom. By mid-afternoon a couple hundred settler fanatics staged a riot in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida that quickly developed into an all-out siege with Palestinians locked inside their houses. Israeli settlers, many of them with automatic weapons and side-arms, had taken over two sections of a street in the Arab neighborhood. They assaulted Palestinians and their property with hundreds of stones, shouted racist slurs and called explicitly for the death of all the Arabs.

The confrontation began with a stand off between Palestinian and Israeli girls when the former was walking home from school. They shouted at each other and one of the settler girls charged at the Palestinians. An international woman got in the way and was knocked over. Israeli children and teenagers began to throw stones at Palestinian boys walking home from school. An international man was escorting them home and witnessed as witnessed settler adults laughing and applauding the stone-throwers and an Israeli soldier standing by passively. A group of settlers positioned themselves next to the checkpoint that separates Tel Rumeida from the rest of Hebron and shouted obscenities at the Palestinians passing through. Settlers started to collect into groups on Tel Rumeida street and walked around trying to provoke Palestinians and international volunteers, shouting “I hope god burns all the Arabs in hell” and “they [the Arabs] are not men, they are dogs”.

Around 2:00 the settler harassment escalated into a mob scene when a couple hundred settlers took over the top of Tel Rumeida street. The police detained one settler man who ran down the street and a group of settlers came down and started chanting “death to Arabs”. A group of some forty settlers surrounded an international man who was preventing them from going up the stairs leading to Palestinian homes. The settlers threw stones at the international and threatened to kill him if he took a picture. The mob eventually regrouped back on the top of Tel Rumeida Street and threw stones at Palestinians on the ground and on the rooftops. They shouted at them to go inside, “you do not belong here” one settler screamed, “this is a Jewish place”. The Israeli authorities had a relatively soft reaction to the settler violence. Police were called to show up over eight times. One international actually held on to a police jeep as it drove off, begging it to stay.

Armed members of the settler militia cornered a young Palestinian man, called him a dog and made obscene comments about his mother. Three internationals escorted this Palestinian student through the mob and they were kicked, shoved and pushed multiple times and given death threats. Settlers also ran around the Tel Rumeida settlement and threw stones at the Palestinian homes. At the same time – internationals were stuck outside the door of the international apartment because of a broken doorhandle. The settlers noticed this and surrounded them outside the door. They were threatened in French, “we hate the Arabs, we will kill them and afterwards we will come to live in your house”. Eventually a neighbor noticed this and let the internationals in. A group of French settlers said that they would wait for them to come out and they would kill them. These particular settlers threw stones at the internationals when they were observing and taking pictures from the rooftop. At this point most of the residents of Tel Rumeida were besieged inside their own houses. Settlers wandered around, banging on the doors of Palestinian homes and shouting racial slurs. Most of the settlers had dispersed around ten in the evening.

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8. Kiriat Arba Police arrest one Human Rights Worker; IDF assault Human Rights Workers and steal cameras and passport in Tel Rumeida, Hebron

December 5th, 2005

UPDATE: This morning (6th December), the Tel Rumeida Project HRW was released from Kiriat Arba police station without conditions. He was never brought to Jerusalem as the police had threatened.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One Human Rights Worker from The Tel Rumeida Project was arrested in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, at 17:10 earlier today. He had been asking soldiers from the Israeli military why they had blocked a Palestinian pathway with barbed wire – a pathway that has been opened by an Israeli court order 4 months ago.

The soldier responded by physically assaulting the HRWs, taking their passports, and confiscating two video cameras that were legally being used by the HRWs to document Israeli military’s violation of the previous court order. Soldiers were holding one of the HRWs in a headlock as they ripped the camera away from him. The HRWs called the Hebron Police, who immediately arrested one of the HRWs and took him to the Kiriat Arba Police Station. They did not inform him of any accusations against him.

After having deleted the contents of the tape, the soldiers later returned one of the cameras and two of the passports, but kept one video camera and one passport. The HRW without a passport was informed by the police to come and collect her passport and the camera at the Kiriat Arba Police Station. When she got to the police station, the police would not let her in, telling her that the Israeli soldiers had her passport.

At 19:40, soldiers returned the passport and the second video camera to the HRWs in Tel Rumeida, after having deleted that tape as well. The Israeli military specifically deleted the evidence that incriminated the soldiers, the documentation of the assault and the theft. Other recordings were left intact.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence to support the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from Hebron’s violent settler community. During the last 3 months, The Israeli military and the Police in the area have repeatedly been trying to get the Human Rights Workers out of Tel Rumeida, by arresting them without reason, issuing false Closed Military Zone Orders and trying to break in to their apartment without a warrant.

Another one of the HRWs who was arrested a few weeks ago, and later released without charge, was threatened with deportation by a Police Officer. He said: “We were there last week when you were arrested. That was strike one. This would be strike two. Strike three and you’re going back to your home country.” Threats with deportation are a common part of the daily harassment that HRWs have to endure in Tel Rumeida from the Hebron Police and the IDF.

Tel Rumeida Project: www.telrumeidaproject.org

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9. Non-Violent Demonstration in Bil’in Attacked by Israeli Military Once Again

by Jesse and Asa

Today the villagers of Bil’in confronted the theft of their land in yet another creative action against the annexation barrier. The villagers carried plastic and styrofoam models of settlement houses which bore the names of various settlements, and took them to the site of the demonstration. When we got to the site of fence, for some reason, the soldiers themselves demolished the main model. Some Palestinian children responded to this by symbolically stomping on its remains.

It was apparent to all that the soldiers were itching to unleash violence on us and hurt someone. As in the past the non-violence of the Palestinians was met with violence as the soldiers attacked us physically by pushing and shoving us over the rocky terrain as well as using their batons to beat and shove Palestinian, Israeli and international activists alike. After a while they used tear gas and sound bombs to try to disperse the demonstration.

The protesters held their ground and refused to be herded away and there was a kind of tug of war for the road leading up to the construction site. The soldiers would push and beat us down the road and then try to go back to their position, telling us to stay back while they continued to fire tear gas at us. But since they are on Bil’in land they had no right to be telling the villagers where to go. None the less they actually pushed us physically up the road and into the edge of the village and continued shooting into the village proper: tear gas (some of which was shot into villager’s homes) and rubber coated bullets at children some of whom replied by throwing stones to defend their homes.

The occupation forces arrested two Israeli activists and a Palestinian from the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements. One of the tactics used by the occupation forces is that they will kidnap one of the demonstrators and use them as a hostage to blackmail the villagers into returning to their homes. The demonstrators kept up the pressure until the Palestinian hostage was released, at which point the demonstrators made their way back to the village.

There was a lot of photographers there, some of whom had actually brought gas masks to wear so they would not be overwhelmed by the chemical weapons being used against the non-violent demonstration. Overall it was a very effective statement against the theft of the land that is occurring there in the name of “security” for the illegal Israeli settlements that are built within the West Bank, although it was met with high levels of violence from the Israeli occupation forces.

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The Power of Aboud

by Mansour

When the demo began, I wondered how we would even begin to approach the bulldozers, I was answered by the entire group walking through the Israeli soldier’s lines without stopping.

From Strength to Strength; Bil’in to Abud

In the past week I have been to two impressive and inspiring demonstrations, one in the village of Bil’in, and the other in the village of Abud. Both are located to the west of Ramallah, are inhabited by roughly 2500 people each, and are being affected by the construction of the Wall. The Wall in Bil’in has confiscated 60% of it’s agricultural land, and the village of Abud (at which construction has just begun) they will lose a similar percent as well as access to water.

Many people I talk with assume that being against the wall is somehow taking a position for suicide bombing, an assumption that has been reinforced by the constant framing of the Wall in a security/suicide bombing context, much like the Iraq war was sold by the constant refrain of 9/11 and WMDS. In both cases, the thing being sold has little or nothing to do with such things, and everything to do with demonizing the opposition and taking attention from the real reasons. All one needs to do to understand the Wall is to take a look at the map; look at its route in regards to settlements and Palestinian villages, come here and see for yourself the destruction of land, the destruction of homes, and the increased infrastructure of control over Palestinian lives and resources. Checkpoints at Qalandia, Bethlehem and Jbarra(among many others) have been joined to the wall and metamorphosed into nightmarish prison-like structures which can cut off access of people to whole sections of the West Bank at a moments notice. The kind of control and oppression that has long been associated with Gaza has been begun in the West Bank, and I can only wonder when, if ever, it will be finished and how much of Palestine is left when that happens.

The protest at Bil’in was one of many that have been going on for months now in reaction to the wall which has cut into the village. The resistance has been largely non-violent, with the occasional stone-throwing young boys (shabab), and the predictable Israeli response and/or provocation of tear gas, sound bombs, rubber-coated metal bullets, and of course, lots of physical violence. My first experience at Bil’in was actually rather calm; the Palestinians did not throw any stones, and the soldiers did not do anything more than some shoving and grabbing. They have been invading the village at night however, and arresting boys that take part in protests, some as young as 14; there are now about 13 people from the village still in Israeli jails.

The last friday (Nov, 11) however, was not so calm. The Palestinian, Israeli and International activists were able to outwit the soldiers and reach the wall work site, and even stop work on the wall for some time. After the initial scuffle and violence from the soldiers, we were able to chant and talk and stage a great protest for the next hour while the work on the wall stopped, but alas, good things just cant last. With no provocation from the protesters, the IOF threw tear gas into the crowd, which included old and young Israeli, Palestinian, and Internationals. During this demo, I was able to dodge the gas grenades, as well as the rocky landscape, but was soon to find myself with about 20 other activists stuck in no-man’s land between rock throwing shabab and soldiers firing rubber-coated metal bullets, as well as what appeared to be live rounds of ammunition. Once we were able to get out of that situation, we were able to continue the demo and get close to the soldiers (much safer that way, really!), but a 14 year old boy did suffer injury from the “rubber” bullets. I found the behavior of soldiers disturbing, many of them seemed to really get into it, really enjoy the violence. One minute they would be standing there, but when they felt like it/were given the order, that was it, the switch was turned and they would do it all; kick grab, scratch, hit, throw, no matter what you were doing.

Abud held its first wall demo yesterday the 18th, and it was just amazing. This is a small village which is half Muslim and half Christian, so they began the demo with a prayer service by the Imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as an appearance by the head priest of the Orthodox Church. After that, I wasn’t sure just what was going to happen, as we were separated from the soldiers by an earth mound roadblock. Then the Palestinians just went for broke, and before you knew it, we were pushing past the soldiers and advancing down the road, right past them. I have never seen Israeli soldiers at a demo look so visibly confused, frightened and disorganized, but that they were. It is actually quite interesting to try and guess what is going through their heads in such situations, and at checkpoints, etc. Sometimes they seem to get into the power trip, and look at people and talk to them like they were dirt; sometimes, they keep a cool facade, and sometimes they look scared as hell! With Arabs so thoroughly identified as terrorists, as suicide bombers, it takes a lot to get past such ideas, and that rarely happens when you are in uniform and hold the power of life and death over other people. That said, I’m sure Palestinians have such stereotyped views of Israelis, but Palestinians still seek work in Israel, whereas Israelis tend to have their first experience of Palestine while in the army. You talk to Palestinians over the age of 16-17 and many know some to quite good hebrew, having worked there and with Israelis before; the younger ones however have been shut out of such opportunity by Oslo and the intifada, replaced by imported and desperate Thai, Romanian, and Philipino workers. Now the only Israelis they know are soldiers that kill their friends and/or family and arrest them in the middle of the night, and the only Palestinians that Israelis know are people they label as “potential suicide bombers.”

But back to Abud, which as I said was just amazing. The Palestinians, accompanied by Israelis and Internationals (including Jonathan Pollack, back just the day before from a US speaking tour along with Ayed Morrar, Palestinian activist from the West Bank village of Budrus) pushed the army back about a kilometer, during which time all they could do was hit, push and shove us to no avail. They also made frequent use of sound bombs, which are kind of like small explosive charges that make a lot of noise, some smoke, and depending on how close you are, can be a bit disorienting. They must have thrown 20 of them, but they didn’t stop anyone; that is, until they let out the tear gas! Once all the soldiers had caught up and got in front of us, then they threw it and shot it from rifles as well, and I caught a whiff of it. This was my first time being tear gassed, and I must say it was quite unpleasant; not only do you tear up and shut your eyes, but you literally feel like you can’t breathe. Of course you can, but your brain and autonomic systems get confused, so you think you cant, so it is important to keep calm, and try and let yourself breathe. It is also great to have an onion with you, as the smell of it tends to kick your system into action and remind you that you can breathe. My face was also quite stung, as I had made the mistake of putting on sunscreen, to which the gas can adhere.

So, I ran, and that was quite hard; I couldn’t breathe, I could barely see, I ripped my pants in the process, but when I finally collapsed a Palestinian medic from the UPMRC had an onion under my nose and I was able to slowly regain my non-gassed state. Then, after regrouping with a few other internationals that were in the same shape, we went back to the protest, which then had turned into a stand off with the soldiers. After some more chanting, and no stone throwing, thankfully, we left, with the Internationals and Israelis forming a barrier between the two groups and preventing the use of rubber bullets, or some other form of escalation.

Two years ago, I attended one of the first protests held by the village of Budrus, not far from Abud and next to Qibiya, the site of Ariel Sharon’s first recorded massacre of about 60 Palestinians in 1953. They have held probably close to 100 protests of the wall and despite some loss of land and trees, have saved much of their land and changed the route of the wall. Many other villages, like Abud, have taken up this struggle, and many more will. The price is high, in the form of arrests, beatings, injury, and even deaths (5 people in Biddu were murdered by the military during demonstrations One young man was murdered in a demonstration in Betunya and three children were murdered in Beit Likya). But when you stand among the Palestinians, and you see their strength, which is not the strength of having weapons, an army, rifles and tear gas, but strength in truth, plain and simple. Who could just sit and watch their land, their homes, their lives, their families and their futures be torn apart and ‘confiscated’ simply because some people in the Israeli Knesset say so?

Just before I was gassed, I saw a Palestinian man do something quite ordinary, but still incredible. I had just noticed that the tear gas grenade had been thrown and there was already a huge cloud billowing right next to me. But out of nowhere, this man shows up and just throws the canister back at the soldiers. I can still see it in slow motion, and when he ran up to it, he was thoroughly engulfed in the gas; his eyes were already tearing up, and it must have taken a huge effort to keep them open long enough to see where to throw it. Then he did this amazing spinning move, like he was an olympic discus thrower or something, and that thing went flying! I seriously could not have done that, even if I wasn’t already affected by gas! I’m sure he suffered from that, and probably took longer to recover than I did, but for him the suffering was worth it. Right now, the army is most likely making plans to break the resistance of Abud village, and I’m sure the Palestinians of that village are planning on yet another demo to show their strength and resolve.