Category: Press Releases

Israeli navy to Gazan fishermen: “When the internationals leave Gaza, you will all be made to pay”

Gazan coastal waters, Gaza, 17:00 Wednesday 10th September 2008 – At high speed an Israeli gunboat rammed a Palestinian fishing vessel. The gunboat smashed through the upper hull, careened over the top of the fishing boat, and landed on the other side.

Extensive damage was caused to the fishing boat. The hull was badly damaged, virtually the entire deck area, all the equipment on it, and the canopy above the deck were severely damaged. Unusually all of the crew happened to be in the cabin and at the fore at the time. Had they been on deck they would have had little chance of survival.

Via a megaphone, the gunboat crew then made the threat that ‘When the internationals leave Gaza, you will all be made to pay.’

Human rights observers from the International Solidarity Movement and from the Free Gaza Movement, have recently been accompanying Gazan Fishermen during their work. The fishermen are constantly harassed, threatened and attacked by the Israelis who in flagrant violation of international law and maritime law, have been attempting to impose a no – go area 6 miles off Gaza’s coast through employment of lethal force. Incidentally and not unusually, this attack happened within the so-called ‘permitted’ area.

The ISM regards the project of accompanying the fishermen as a long term commitment. Some of the human rights observers currently undertaking this work are long term volunteers who will be in Gaza for some time. More long term volunteers are expected to bolster their number within the next few weeks.

Egyptian activists in Ismailia : “Police is still stopping us and we attend to stay there till tomorrow”

Egyptian Committee Against the Gaza Siege: At 8am this morning (10th September), a first group from the Egyptian Committee Against the Gaza Siege, mainly Labor Party’s members, left Cairo in 4 micro-buses with food and medicine to go and try to break the criminal siege of Gaza.

Photos from www.newspalestina.blogspot.com

When they arrived at Ismailia, located at 100 km from Cairo and 30 km from the Suez Canal, the Sinai entrance, the Egyptian police stopped the convoy and took away the driving licences of the drivers, preventing them to go forward

More than 150 people got outside the buses with Palestinian and Egyptian flags and chanting slogans in support of the Palestinians.

A second convoy of 5 buses with around 200 activists left Cairo at 1 pm and has been also stopped at Ismailia.

Many people coming from Alexandria and many other towns have been stopped before reaching Cairo and some of them have been arrested

Police tightened up procedures all along the main road to the border town of Rafah, checking the identity of travelers and asking them the reason for their journey, but many of them driving individual cars managed to reach Al Arish were they are waiting their friends.

Now, the activists who were traveling in the buses are still in Ismailia and demonstrating in front of the checkpoint.

They are chanting slogans asking the lift of the Gaza blockade;

They said they will stay there till Egyptian authorities will allow them to go to Gaza, even if this will happen only tomorrow.

According witnesses, the police seized one of the buses full of food.

Dr Abed Elglil, the Kefaia leader, said in a phone call: “Police is still stopping us and we intend to stay there till tomorrow. Egyptian authorities are worse than Israelis authorities because Israel let get through the 2 Free Gaza Movement’s boats”

Indeed, the Egyptian government contributes to the blockade of Gaza by refusing to open the Rafah crossing point without Israeli approval, as it agreed in a 2005 deal with the Israelis.

Several national forces are participating in this action, including the Committee Against the Gaza Siege, Engineers against Detention, al-Karamah party, Labour Party, Nasserist party, Kifâya, independent lawyers, March 9 Movement, April 6 Movement and Muslim Brotherhood’s members.

B’Tselem Report: Israel increased area of dozens of settlements east of the Separation Barrier by tens of thousands of dunams

To view original press release published by B’Tselem click here

Today (11 September), Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem is publishing a report on Israel’s blocking of Palestinian access to land around settlements lying east of the Separation Barrier. The report reveals that state authorities and settlers have de-facto annexed rings of land amounting to tens of thousands of dunams to these settlements.

Control of these lands is seized by a variety of means, but two modus operandi stand out: 1) settlers, and sometimes members of Israel’s security forces, violently attack and harass Palestinians who venture near settlements; and 2) erecting fences and other physical and electronic devices around the lands, blocking Palestinian access to them. In many cases, the authorities turn a blind eye to unlicensed closure of lands, systemically avoiding their duty to enforce the law on criminal settlers.

The total amount of lands thus attached to settlements can only be roughly estimated, as most of the takeovers were not documented or officially sanctioned in orders. In recent years, however, Israel began to formalize the closing of lands by issuing military orders in the framework of the “Special Security Area” (SSA) plan. As part of this plan, Israel has fenced off 12 settlements east of the Separation Barrier, unofficially annexing 4,558 dunams (4 dunums = 1 acre) and thus increasing the overall area of these settlements by a factor of 2.4. Half of the closed off lands are privately owned by Palestinians.

The closing of lands around settlements primarily harms Palestinian farmers, who face almost impassable bureaucratic obstacles when attempting to access their lands. As a result, many are forced to stop cultivating their land.

Israeli officials seek to justify the closing by citing the security need for a warning space around the settlements, to help protect settlers. Indeed, in 2002-2004, Palestinians killed 31 Israeli civilians in settlements in the West Bank, and wounded many others. However, B’Tselem’s research has demonstrated that the authorities permit settlers to access these purported “warning areas”. B’Tselem has documented settlers living on, and tending to, closed off Palestinian lands. This contradicts the security logic cited by the army and defies the closure orders issued by the military commander.

In the report’s conclusion, B’Tselem provides a number of alternative measures that Israel can take to protect settlers while reducing infringement of Palestinians’ rights. However, the organization emphasizes that, given the illegality of the entire settlement enterprise, Israel is obligated to evacuate all settlements and must not work to perpetuate them. Therefore, the only lawful way to protect the settlers is by evacuating them and returning them to Israel.

ISM re-establish presence in the Gaza Strip

The International Solidarity Movement would like to announce the re-establishment of a presence in the Gaza Strip. International solidarity activists will be based in Rafah in efforts to show support for non-violent direct action against the Israeli occupation.

As activists from the Free Gaza Movement broke the siege on Gaza in their historic and hugely successful attempt to sail to Gaza from Cyprus, the re-establishment of ISM Rafah was made possible. A number of international solidarity activists aboard the boats made the decision to stay on in Gaza and re-activate an international presence in the area. Since 2003 and the Israeli murders of international activists Tom Hurndall and Rachel Corrie, the ability of internationals to travel into Gaza has been severely restricted, representing just one aspect of the open-air prison that the Israeli state has created in Gaza.

While working in Gaza, the ISM will be supporting non-violent direct action aimed at breaking the Israeli siege on the Strip. Planned actions include:

– Accompanying the fishermen at sea as they assert their right to fish beyond the Israeli imposed limits while documenting Israeli aggression towards these boats.

– Supporting farmers’ direct action to reclaim their lands within the buffer-zone along the green line.

– Supporting non-violent demonstrations at border crossings against the denial of freedom of movement.

– Reporting from the Gaza Strip, bringing human stories from people living under Israeli occupation and siege.

B’Tselem to Attorney General: Stop reckless use of rubber-coated steel bullets

To view original press release published by B’Tselem click here

B’Tselem’s data indicate that security forces have adopted a practice of reckless firing of rubber-coated steel bullets in the West Bank, killing two Palestinians and injuring many more since the beginning of the year.


Photo by B’Tselem

Since the intifada began, 21 Palestinians have been killed by rubber-coated steel bullet fire, a measure that is meant to be non-lethal.The organization has requested Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to stop the illegal firing and prosecute both soldiers and police officers who violate the Open-Fire Regulations and commanders who condone the trigger-happy attitude.

Early this morning, ‘Awwad Sadeq Sror, a mentally disabled father of four from Ni’lin, was severely injured when a soldier fired a cylinder containing three rubber-coated steel bullets at him from short range. B’Tselem’s initial investigation indicates that two bullets penetrated his skull and a third struck him in the chest.

The recent wave of similar cases, which led to B’Tselem’s request, raises the grave suspicion that soldiers and Border Police officers systematically breach the Open-Fire Regulations in their use of rubber-coated bullets, often with the knowledge and approval of officers. The request included a list of 19 cases B’Tselem has investigated in which soldiers and police officers fired rubber-coated bullets from potentially lethal short ranges, although the forces were not in a life-threatening situation. The organization also reported cases in which children were shot and in which security forces fired with the intention of wounding and punishing Palestinians.

B’Tselem knows of only one case in which an indictment has been filed against security forces for breaching the Open-Fire Regulations. The failure to prosecute offenders conveys to soldiers, police officers, and commanders that they will not be held accountable for killing or wounding Palestinians, and encourages a trigger-happy attitude among the forces.