Category: Press Releases

Popular resistance expands in An Nabi Salih

International Solidarity Movement

5 February 2010

For immediate release:

10 people were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas cannisters in today’s demonstration in An-Nabi Salih village, in the north Ramallah region, against the expansion of the illegal Halamish settlement on to village lands.

The storm clouds and cold temperatures did not deter demonstrators, as some 100 locals (approximately a fourth of the village), both male and female, were joined by 20 Israeli and international activists in the village square following the midday prayer. Protesters then marched towards the lands south of the village where stands Halamish settlement, built on the stolen lands of An-Nabi Salih, and where Israeli occupation forces awaited their arrival. Demonstrators chanted songs of protest and carried baby olive trees in the hopes of planting them on the seized land as a peaceful assertion of their rights to be there. These hopes were squashed as the first volleys of tear gas grenades were fired, causing protesters to disperse to the fields either side of the road. A barrage of tear gas, sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets were fired on demonstrators from soldiers positioned to the south and south-east of the village.

Protesters carry baby olive trees to plant on the annexed land.

The demonstration quickly became an exercise in organized community resistance, as demonstrators created makeshift barricades on the roads, pre-empting an invasion of military jeeps to the village. Dumpsters wheeled down the road towards the soldiers served as an effective road block, and doubled as shelter to the volleys of tear gas, .22 caliber bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets whizzing past their heads. Several tires were positioned in the centre of the road and set ablaze, the black smoke it exuded mingling with that of the gas canisters landing amongst the protesters.

10 young local protesters were injured in the attack launched by Israeli occupation forces, including Omar Tamimi, hit 5 times by rubber-coated steel bullets, and Risat Tamimi, hit twice. 8 more were struck by rubber-coated steel or tear-gas grenades, fired from soldiers’ M-16 automatic weapons and causing severe injury when fired directly at people. Those injured were removed from the scene by Red Crescent medics.

Flaming tires lit by demonstrators

Despite the overwhelming use of disproportionate brute force by the Israeli military, the village’s youth showed remarkable courage in what has become the weekly struggle to defend their village from violent occupying forces. Previous demonstrations in An-Nabi Salih have culminated in targeted military attacks on village children, tear gas fired in to homes from short range and violent arrests when Israeli soldiers entered the village. Demonstrators succeeded in keeping military forces at bay today, and preventing the possibility of arrest. The demonstration came to an end around 4pm as the soldiers appeared relinquish their positions near the village and retreat to the road that split Halamish and An Nabi Salih.

The weekly Friday demonstrations in An-Nabi Salih commenced in December 2009, in protest to the uprooting of hundreds of olive trees by settlers from Halamish settlement. Construction of Halamish settlement began on farmland belonging to An-Nabi Salih and neighbouring villages in 1977. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settler’s attempt to re-annex An Nabi Salih land despite the December 2009 Israeli court case that ruled the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Salih residents. Despite the Israeli District Co-ordination Office’s promise to allow the village unrestricted passage to the land, farmers have been barred and violently assaulted when they attempted to access the land in question. An Nabi Salih’s resistance mirrors the ongoing resistance in Bi’lin, Ni’lin and the burgeoning popular struggle in Sheikh Jarrah, Iraq Burin, Burin and Al-Ma’asara.

Press briefing: Case closed on shooting of American citizen Tristan Anderson

Who: Tristan Anderson’s family and attorney, Michael Sfard
What: Press briefing about the status of Tristan’s case and the planned next steps
When: Monday February 1st, 1:00 pm
Where: Alternative Information Center (AIC) – Queen Shlomzion Street 4 – Jerusalem
Why: Case closed on Tristan Anderson’s case with suspicion of negligence of investigation process – indications that police did not visit the scene of the alleged offense and most probably interviewed the wrong group of border policemen.

On Monday, February 1 at 1:00, the family of Tristan Anderson will hold a press conference at the AIC in Jerusalem to expose new information about the case. Anderson’s lawyer, Attorney Michael Sfard will give a comprehensive update about the case, the decision to close it made by the District Attorney’s office and negligence of the police investigation, and discuss the next legal steps.

This week’s disturbing news – that the DA decided to close the case on Tristan and the injury he sustains after being shot in the head at close range with a high-velocity tear gas canister during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Nil’in last March – will have significant impact on Tristan’s future and his family’s. The outcome in this case is not unique, but exemplary of the general lack of accountability of Israeli security forces. It points both to the complete negligence of the police investigation and to the Israeli military’s ability to disregard even the gravest of offenses committed by security forces.

Our last port is freedom: Sending a flotilla to break the siege of Gaza

Free Gaza Movement

30 January 2010

For immediate release:

Yesterday the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH) announced a joint venture, sending 10 boats in the spring of 2010 to the besieged Gaza strip. Organizations from Greece, Ireland and Sweden have also promised to send boats to join the flotilla with the Free Gaza movement and Turkey.

Mr. Bulent Yildirim, chairman of the IHH said, “We sail in the spring to Gaza, and our last port is freedom: freedom for the 1.5 million Palestinians denied the right to rebuild their society. We will never stop sailing until Israel’s siege is lifted.”

Two cargo ships will be part of the flotilla, one donated by the Malaysia-based Perdana Foundation and one from IHH. Both will be laden with building supplies, generators and educational materials that Israel prohibits from entering Gaza since their brutal attack on the civilian population a year ago.

The many passenger boats accompanying the cargo ships will carry members of Parliament from countries around the world as well as high-profile journalists and human rights workers.

According to the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, Huwaida Arraf, “The illegal blockade on Gaza and Israel’s continued intransigence make a mockery of international law. If our governments will not take a stance to stop Israel’s abuse of the Palestinian people, global civil society is showing that we will.”

The Free Gaza movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since then, seven more voyages boarded Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel’s draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza. The last three voyages were illegally stopped by the Israeli navy when, in December, 2008, they rammed the Dignity in international water, turned back the Spirit Of Humanity by threatening to shoot all on board, then hijacking the Spirit on July 1, 2009, kidnapping the passengers and throwing them into prison for a week.

Since 1992, the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH) has provided humanitarian assistance to civilians who have been victims of war or natural disasters all over the world. One of IHH’s main objectives is to take necessary steps to prevent any violations against civilian basic rights and liberties. IHH aims at providing relief help so communities can resume their daily life and stand on their own feet, as well as strengthening leadership and institutions of communities that have been made dependent on aid.

Call for international day of action to re-open Shuhada street to Palestinians

Open Shuhada Street

29 January 2010

On 25 February 2010 activists and organizations from around the world will join together in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Hebron, through local protests, and petitions to the Israeli Government. We will be calling to re-open Shuhada Street to all Palestinians, bring life back into the city of Hebron, and to end the Occupation.

Our demands:
• Open Shuhada Street to Palestinian movement and commerce
• Full civil and human rights for all Israelis and Palestinians
• End the occupation

Shuhada Street used to be the principal street for Palestinians residents, businesses and a very active market place in the Palestinian city of Hebron. Today, because Shuhada Street runs through the Jewish settlement of Hebron, the street is closed to Palestinian movement and looks like a virtual ghost street which only Israelis and tourists are allowed to access. Hate graffiti has been sprayed across the closed Palestinian shops and Palestinians living on the street have to enter and exit their houses through their back doors or, even sometimes by climbing over neighbor’s roofs.

Photo by Issa Amro

Shuhada Street was closed for the first time following the Baruch Goldstein massacre on February 25, 1994, in which a settler from nearby Kiryat Arba settlement murdered 29 Palestinians while praying in a mosque in Hebron. In order to raise awareness about the injustice of the closure of Shuhada Street, we will coordinate a joint solidarity campaign/action all over the world which will take place on February 25, 2010, as an effort to commemorate the Baruch Goldstein massacre which took place 16 years ago on this date.

We are calling on activist groups in cities around the world to participate in this action by gathering their forces together to symbolically shut down a major street in their cities and/or organize a protest/demonstration on February 25 in solidarity with Shuhada Street. We are focusing on Shuhada Street as a symbol of the settlement issue, the policy of separation in Hebron and the entire West Bank, the lack of freedom of movement, and the occupation at large. In addition to raising awareness about these issues, the campaign, if organized well, can be an important sign of the strength of global movement for human rights in Israel.

For more information about the campaign and to find out how to get involved please go to www.openshuhadastreet.org/campaigns, contact openshuhadastreet@gmail.com or join us on Facebook.

Mohammed Khatib, coordinator of West Bank Coordination Committee arrested

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
28 January 2010

Khatib during a speaking his speaking tour in Canada last year. Photo Credit: Tadamon!

At a quarter to two AM tonight, Mohammed Khatib, his wife Lamia and their four young children were woken up by Israeli soldiers storming their home, which was surrounded by a large military force. Once inside the house, the soldiers arrested Khatib, conducted a quick search and left the house.

Roughly half an hour after leaving the house, five military jeeps surrounded the house again, and six soldiers forced their way into the house again, where Khatib’s children sat in terror, and conducted another, very thorough search of the premises, without showing a search warrant. During the search, Khatib’s phone and many documents were seized, including papers from Bil’in’s legal procedures in the Israel High Court.

The soldiers exited an hour and a half later, leaving a note saying that documents suspected as “incitement materials” were seized. International activists who tried to enter the house to be with the family during the search were aggressively denied entry.

Mohammed Khatib was previously arrested during the ongoing wave of arrests and repression on Augst 3rd, 2009 with charges of incitement and stone throwing. After two weeks of detention, a military judge ruled that evidence against him was falsified and ordered his release, after it was proven that Khatib was abroad at the time the army alleged he was photographed throwing stones during a demonstration.

International activist detained during the night raid and arrest of Mohammed Khatib in Bil'lin. Photo Credit: Ma'an News Agency

Khatib’s arrest today is the most severe escalation in a recent wave of repression again the Palestinian popular struggle and its leadership. Khatib is the 35th resident of Bil’in to be arrested on suspicions related to anti-Wall protest since June 23rd, 2009.

The recent wave of arrests is largely an assault on the members of the Popular Committees – the leadership of the popular struggle – who are then charged with incitement when arrested. The charge of incitement, defined under Israeli military law as “an attempt, whether verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order,” is a cynical attempt to punish grassroots organizing with a hefty charge and lengthy imprisonments. Such indictments are part of the army’s strategy of using legal persecution as a means to quash the popular movement.

Similar raids have also been conducted in the village of alMaasara, south of Bethlehem, and in the village of Ni’ilin – where 110 residents have been arrested over the last year and half, as well as in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah and East Jerusalem.

Among those arrested in the recent campaign are three members of the Ni’ilin Popular Committee, Sa’id Yakin of the Palestinian National Committee Against the Wall, and five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee – all suspected of incitement.

Prominent grassroots activists Jamal Jum’a (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigning, have recently been released from detention after being incarcerated for long periods based on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them.