At about 10 AM today, Monday, March 31, 2008, the Israeli army invaded the village of Marda, in the Sulfiet region of the West Bank. After invading, the army immediately announced curfew on the entire village, thus prohibiting all residents from leaving their homes, opening their shops, or leaving the village.
Marda lies at the base of the hill on which the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel is built. The village has only two entrances, and just one of those is accessible by car. Fences surround Marda on three sides and the fourth side, the one facing Ariel, there is a wall. Marda is further isolated as it is the only Palestinian village to the north of the main road in that area. Due to its proximity to Ariel and its isolation from other villages, Marda has faced an exceptionally high number of military invasions throughout the years.
Today, the Israeli soldiers confiscated the keys to several cars belonging to Marda residents, at least three of these cars were confiscated near the one entrance to the village through which cars are allowed to pass. Residents also report that two people were arrested: a 15-year old boy and a farmer working in his field during the curfew. Their status is currently unknown.
For the first hour of the curfew at least one home in the village was occupied, with soldiers stationed on the roof. Witnesses also report hearing live ammunition fired several times throughout the day: first about twenty minutes after the curfew was imposed and again in the early evening.
At around 3-4 PM residents of the village were walking in the streets and somewhat able to move around. However, soldiers were still stationed at the main entrance to the village, not allowing anyone to enter or exit. At 8:30 PM there were again Israeli military vehicles driving through the streets of Marda, announcing continued curfew. The village has yet to be given a reason for this invasion or any idea as to how long it may last.
EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE SIEGE OF GAZA: International Action in Solidarity with Gaza
UPDATE: The demonstration was stopped in the Sinai by Egyptian authorities. As protesters attempted to ‘Walk to Gaza’, they were threatened with arrest before eventually turning back to Cairo. There will be a press conference in Cairo tonight (31st March).
Original press release: End the siege of Gaza!
End the world complicity to the Israeli occupation and crimes against the Palestinian people!
A group of international participants decided to act against our countries’ complicity to the inhumane and devastating siege of the Gaza Strip.
A delegation including participants from the Basque country, Austria, Scotland, Norway, Italy, Netherlands, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Palestine, Jordan, America and India intend to reach the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza in order to deliver a truckload of food and medicine and
in protest against the inhuman siege imposed on the people of Gaza, with the complicity of our own governments.
We protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people and condemn the hypocrisy of European and other governments who blatantly violate the democratic will of the Palestinian people and have taken positions in the interest of the Israeli and US agenda of occupation and domination.
We strongly condemn the European Union for backtracking on their responsibility, as stipulated in past agreements, to facilitate and oversee the flow of people through the Rafah border crossing. The European governments are therefore directly complicit in the Israeli-imposed siege of the Palestinian population of Gaza, their confinement to an open air prison and denial of access to the most basic goods and services, resulting in massive suffering and a humanitarian disaster.
Our protest must also be seen in the light of the 60th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba -the massive expulsion and forced flight of the Palestinian people as a result of the Zionist aggression which paved the way for the creation of the state of Israel- as well as the on-going Nakba and Israeli occupation, marked by expansion policies, expropriation and bloodshed.
We emphasize the urgent need to enforce and broaden the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli Apartheid State and its policies of occupation and oppression.
Solidarity with the people of Palestine!!!
We call on everyone wishing to participate to join the delegation to Rafah!!!
On Thursday the city of Tulkarm began the first of its Land Day demonstrations – a national event held on 30th March each year to commemorate the killing of seven Palestinians citizens of Israel by Israeli soldiers in 1976, during protests over land confiscation.
The city began by replanting trees along Al Khadouri street – once a tree-lined avenue, now barren because the trees were destroyed by Israeli bombing during the first and second Intifadas. Organized by a collaboration of local and national institutions, such as PARC, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Farmer’s Union, the local municipality and Palestine Technical University, around one hundred conifer trees were prepared to rehabilitate the street.
Approximately forty children from local primary schools, internationals, Israelis and local Tulkarm identities such as the mayor, all took part in the planting, which extended from the site where the first tree was destroyed, all the way to the Israeli-owned Geshuri chemical factories that cause enormous pollution and health problems for the residents of Tulkarm. Asme, from the Public Relations department of Palestine Technical University, explained that involving the children in the action by getting them to plant trees helped to “explain to the children the importance of the land; to mark the anniversary of Land Day in an active way. When the child plants the tree, and every day he sees the tree, it will be very good. He will watch it growing.”
Once the street was completely re-lined with trees (identical in species to those destroyed), approximately 150 demonstrators marched the length of the street, in the direction of the Geshuri chemical factories, and then along the compound wall of the factories themselves, to protest against the presence of such dangerously polluting factories in Tulkarm.
The Israeli chemical factories, including factories for ammonia, fertilizers, plastics, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, were originally built within Israel, near Tel Aviv, explains local activist and journalist Abdul Karim. They were forced to shutdown in 1984, however, because of the danger of the pollutants they produce. They were relocated to Tulkarm in 1987, onto land confiscated by the Israeli government, a large percentage of which belonged to the agricultural college of An Najar university. The local residents of Tulkarm are not the only ones concerned about the dangerous pollution that purportedly gives Tulkarm one of the highest rates of cancer in the West Bank (some claim in the world) – Abdul Karim reports that Israelis on the other side of the factories (which border on Israel and are in fact surrounded by the separation wall) protested against the factories also. However, because the location is within the West Bank, Israeli authorities apparently claim that it is out of their jurisdiction. The Israeli’s protests did, however, grant one concession: now every year in May, (the one month in the year when the winds blow from East to West, instead of from West to East) the factories are forced to halt their operations, so that nearby Israeli’s do not suffer from the pollution that is blown across Tulkarm for the other eleven months of the year.
Demonstrators gathered at a disused gas station across from the factories – damaged by Israeli army tanks in 2002, and forcibly abandoned along with all of the other shops and restaurants along this once bustling strip, due to persistent army presence and firing from 2001-2003, when the area became a combat zone.
The owner of the abandoned gas station addressed the crowd, explaining that what happened to his building is reflective of what is occurring across the entire West Bank, and called for the chemical factories to be uprooted. Jamal Said, advisor to the governor of Tulkarm, then spoke of the high cancer rates in Tulkarm, and the general negative effects of the chemical factories on the health of those living in all of Tulkarm, but especially those living close to the factories.
These actions marked the first in a week of Land Day activities for Tulkarm, which include two more demonstrations against the separation wall, as well as photo exhibitions and festivals throughout the city.
On Friday, March 28th the villagers of al-Masara will hold a non-violent demonstration to commemorate Land Day and voice their opposition to the annexation wall and settlement expansion. This will be the 60th demonstration held in the village since 2007.
Land Day falls on March 30 and marks the 1976 killings of Palestinian Israelis who were holding non-violent demonstrations against Israeli confiscation of Palestinian land. The Israeli army and Israeli police opened fire on the demonstrators, killing six. Since then, March 30 has been a celebration of Palestinian non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation and continued land theft.
Israel’s most successful land theft tools are the annexation wall and the settlements. Al-Masara is highly affected by both, with much of the village’s land stolen by the wall and the settlement of Efrat very nearby. The villagers will be demonstrating against the wall as well as Israel’s recent approval for Efrat to build 54 new units on the confiscated land of al-Masara.
The people of al-Masara are inviting Palestinian, international, and Israeli activists to join them on Friday at 10:30 AM at the entrance to the village of al-Marasa, near Umm Salamona, in the Hebron district. The demonstrators will march to the wall and hold the demonstration there.
For more information, please contact Mahmoud Jawara at 0522591386 or 0599586004.
The ISM media office can also be contacted at 022 971 824.
Blake Murphy, an American activist from Bedford, MA, working in the West Bank, was beaten and arrested by Israeli army and police forces on Friday 14th March 2008. He has had to face a series of evidently false charges from the Israeli authorities due to his work supporting non-violent resistance to the occupation of Palestine. He was deported to the United States on Friday 21st March after a week in detention. While in custody, Blake has had many of his legal rights abused by the Israeli authorities.
Blake was arrested while attending the weekly demonstration in the village of Bi’lin, where the separation wall annexes much of the Palestinians’ land. Blake was singled out for arrest during the demonstration by the Israeli forces. He was violently assaulted and pepper sprayed before being taken away and subsequently arrested. Blake was then beaten and abused by the soldiers while handcuffed.
Upon arriving at the detention center, after being beaten and sprayed in the eyes with mace, Blake was interrogated while still recovering from the effects of the mace. The police only offered him water to rinse the mace from his eyes, which only makes the effects of the mace worse. There have been days when Blake has been given only bread as a meal.
Injuries inflicted by Israeli solders on Blake Murphy were severe enough that he was taken to the hospital. He appeared in court on the 15th of March, where the judge prolonged his detention until the 18th March. He was told that he would have to reappear in court on the 18th. Blake was woken up on the 18th at 5:00am and taken from the detention center to the court. He was held there for 8 hours, three hours past the time he was told he would appear, locked in a room with only 8 chairs and 15 other people. At the end of this long day, Blake was informed that a mistake had been made and there had never been an appearance scheduled for him on that day. While in custody, Blake has been denied a translator in court, been brought before a judge without his lawyer being informed, and also been made to appear for a trial that was cancelled without him being informed.
Blake Murphy had been working for the last 8 and a half months in the Palestinian Occupied Territories with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). For over 6 months he was working as the full-time media coordinator for the ISM and was therefore highly involved in supporting Palestinian non-violent resistance towards the occupation. It is for this reason that he was targeted by the Israeli authorities and has undergone such inhumane treatment.
