15th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Bir Nabala and Rafat, Occupied Palestine
This morning, November 15, 2013, 25 years after Yasser Arafat declared independence of the Palestinian state, a group of Palestinian activists undertook a direct action against the annexation wall and fence, supported by both Israeli and international activists.
At approximately 6:30 am groups of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists traveled to a section of the annexation wall in Bir Nabala. Sledgehammers and other tools were donated by local popular committees and these were used to begin to smash through the wall.
The action continued for approximately 20 minutes.
Israeli soldiers did not arrive and activists were able to leave the area without confrontation from Israeli forces, moving on to the second action in Rafat.
Activists used donated wire cutters and bolt cutters to damage the annexation fence north west of Jerusalem.
Again, activists were able to successfully complete the action without intervention from Israeli forces.
The apartheid wall and fence was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, yet it continues to be used as a mechanism to contain and oppress Palestinians who live within its boundaries. The action today can be seen as a symbol of the resistance within Palestine especially as today marks the anniversary of the Palestinian declaration of independence. Although this statement was written and signed 25-years-ago, Palestine remains under control by Israeli forces, the annexation wall a constant reminder of this occupation.
14th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbit Tabib, Occupied Palestine
Several years ago the village of Izbit Tabib, east of Qalqiliya was served with demolition orders by the Israeli Army. The orders would mean destruction of 33 houses (73% of the village) and the village school.
Two houses have already been demolished and the school which has 52 students is vital to the village and its future.
The villagers have been striving to get the order quashed in the Israeli courts, but the threat remains and hangs over the village like a black cloud.
Yesterday the villagers organised a demonstration against the threat and were supported by representatives of the Palestinian Authority, groups of international activists, Israeli activists and a TV camera team. The school children joined the protest and made several speeches.
Trees were planted at the site of a proposed new school and the demonstrators then marched into the village with banners flying and heard speeches condemning the Israeli army’s intended action.
11th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
On Monday morning, many relatives of Palestinian detainees, political representatives and solidarity activists attended the weekly rally at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City.
In the first part of the sit-in, families of Fateh prisoners commemorated the ninth anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death. Some of them held portraits of Arafat, waved Palestinian flags, and chanted slogans in homage to Arafat.
During the second part, women from Hamas rallied outside the Red Cross building.
Speakers praised the steadfastness of prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities and denounced the suffering from torture, medical negligence and human rights violations in Israeli jails. On 5 November, detainee Hasan Abdul-Halim Toraby, 22 years old, died at the Al-‘Affoula Israeli Hospital, after being denied necessary medical treatment. He suffered from leukemia, and was not provided the specialized treatment he urgently needed.
Like every Monday, mothers, wives, sisters, sons and daughters showed the pictures of their relatives, some of whom they hadn’t seen for years. “Mohammed has been in prison for six years,” said Rawda al-Najjar, mother of Mohammed Ismail al-Najjar, as she held his picture. “I have only seen him twice.”
Despite current negotiations and the recent release of some prisoners, Israeli forces are still kidnapping and arresting Palestinians, included children, and using administrative detention. On 10 November, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organized a protest in solidarity with Palestinian academic and administrative detainee Ahmad Qatamesh and all administrative detainees in occupation prisons.
Palestinian families in Gaza will continue demanding the release of all prisoners, especially sick ones and administrative detainees.
5th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
What could be a more appropriate theme for this Monday demonstration for prisoners than those recently released by Israel? Would it have been possible to have a different one? Possible, but hardly appropriate. On the street outside the Red Cross, a temporary stage with a lectern had been erected and draped with banners. Loudspeakers were deployed on it, as if for a rock concert, and together with rows of plastic chairs, it effectively blocked the street from traffic.
Speeches were made, the media were in place, and more groups joined with their banners, even some that had no representative among the newly freed prisoners. The released detainees themselves had to give speeches, which were applauded by the audience, and finally, placards were handed out.
During one of the speeches, I was asked if I was interested in coming along to the Erez crossing, or the Beit Hanoun crossing as it is called here, to witness another release, which I accepted. But I doubted I had understood correctly. It was difficult to hear anything at all because of the volume of the speakers, and it was not yet time for the next group of 26 prisoners to be released as part of the agreement for the resumption of peace negotiations.
Anyway, I stepped into a hired bus as placards were distributed for the five, who had given 20 years or more of their lives in the struggle against the occupation, and for a second time in a week ended up at the northern crossing. And though I have been there recently, everything was very different except the crowds and banners.
Now, during the day, I could even see the wall that cuts off the landscape, that according to the Israeli dialectic is not a wall but a barrier. But while we waited, a growing number of taxis or private cars, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and even an open truck, overcrowded with people waving flags of yellow, the Fatah color, appeared. The only noticeable difference was the absence of the press. As the only westerner, and with a camera too, I could not help but notice my position was unique.
Suddenly the murmur raised to a cheer as the crowd rushed through the open gates to meet 51-year-old Mohammed Abu Amsha, married with eight children, who had just been released after seven years in prison. It was his third prison term, and he has been denied adequate medical care for his heart and lung problems. But now he was a free man, and soon he was sitting in a car followed by us, among the narrow streets in the nearby village of Beit Hanoun, while children and adults alike curiously lined the walls and hung out of windows.
Women ululated as a tuk-tuk drove forward with big, booming speakers. A large celebration tent had been raised outside Abu Amsha’s family home. Those who had not found a place in any of all the plastic chairs patiently huddled in anticipation of getting in to express their congratulations, kiss Abu Amsha and be photographed with him.
I could not melt in. I was too different, and I’m afraid I stole some of the attention when children flocked around me, curious and smiling, and asked in faltering English how I felt, my name, and where I was from. Nothing could make them as happy and proud as when I agreed to their request to photograph them. But then someone took my hand and dragged me past the line of people waiting to get into the house, up the stairs and into the reception room.
Smiling people took turns hugging and touching Abu Amsha, a man who, after so many years in prison, is forced to wait another few days before he gets to be alone with his family. For it is a great day, not only for him, but for all those who see him as a hero in the struggle against the occupation. The focus of next Monday’s demonstration outside the Red Cross is already a given.