Category: Press Releases

*Two Videos* Soldiers “moon” activists, fire on shepherds, CPT in the south Hebron hills

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Israeli Soldiers Bare All In South Hebron Hills

01-19-08

Video: For a video of Israeli soldiers “mooning” Palestinian shepherds and international volunteers:

Raw footage is available by request

Israeli Soldiers Bare All In South Hebron Hills: Soldiers Expose themselves to Palestinian Shepherds as Part of Ongoing Harassment

Friday, January 12, soldiers from the Israeli Army displayed their buttocks in an exhibition known colloquially as “mooning” to a Palestinian shepherd and two international volunteers from Christian Peacemaker Teams. The incident was insult to injury as it occurred immediately after settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, pushed the shepherd and his flock off the land.

A shepherd from the Palestinian village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills was grazing his flock in fields several hundred meters south of Havat Ma’on, an illegal Israeli outpost, when settlers from the outpost approached in a white car. Settlers from the outpost are well known in the area for their attacks on both local Palestinian shepherds and farmers and on Palestinian children walking to school. More settlers arrived, along with a jeep of Israeli soldiers, causing the shepherd to move back to a safer location. The soldiers informed the international volunteers accompanying the shepherd that the shepherd was not permitted to graze on the land, despite the fact that the outpost is illegal and the Israeli Army itself had previously issued a demolition order for Havat Ma’on. That order has never been carried out.

Despite the fact that the shepherd moved farther down the valley, the soldiers and a settler security guard followed him. Not content at having pushed the shepherd back, before leaving, two soldiers dropped their pants and displayed their buttocks to the shepherd and the international volunteers in a lewd, insulting manner.

The incident was part of ongoing harassment in the area of Palestinian shepherds by Israeli settlers and security forces. The following day, settlers from the outpost fired six shots at the shepherds. (see shooting release) The police did not respond to that incident. The day after the shooting, Sunday January 14, settlers armed with clubs came at the shepherds to once again push them off the land. On Monday January 15, Israeli soldiers threatened shepherds with arrest. Their efforts are part of an ongoing process of illegal settlement expansion in the area.

For more information, contact CPT-Tuwani at 0542531323

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Christian Peacemaker Teams Releases Video of Settlers Firing on Palestinian Shepherds in South Hebron Hills

01-13-08

Raw footage for editing available from Christian Peacemaker Teams/Operation Dove by request only

Christian Peacemaker Teams Releases Video of Settlers Firing on Palestinian Shepherds in South Hebron Hills

Late Saturday morning, settlers from the illegal Havat Ma’on outpost fired six shots at shepherds grazing their sheep in a nearby valley. There were no injuries as the shepherds and international volunteers with them quickly moved to lower ground.

The incident was part of ongoing problems in the area as shepherds from the nearby villages of Tuba and Maghaer al Abeed have attempted to graze their sheep in valleys to the south of the outpost. The recent problems began on Friday, when settlers called soldiers to force the shepherds off of land to the south of the outpost that they hope to take control of. The outpost is undergoing consistent expansion. Soldiers arrived and told international volunteers from Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove that the shepherds must stay off the land.

Saturday morning, the shepherds returned to the land to graze, despite the previous day’s intimidation. Five settlers were seen walking through the nearby village of Mufagara on their way to Khoruba valley, south of the Havat Ma’on outpost. The five settlers were joined by another settler from the outpost at which time they pointed towards the shepherds in the valley, accompanied by international volunteers, as well as to internationals nearby monitoring. At that point, they fired on the shepherds in the valley and ran back into the outpost. In all, six shots were fired.

Police were called by the volunteers accompanying the shepherds. They briefly came to the outpost, immediately turning around. They were called again and replied that they, “had better things to do.” For more information about ongoing harassment in the South Hebron Hills, contact Christian Peacemaker Teams/Operation Dove at 0542531323.

Israel’s “Relief”:

Fuel Cuts of Up to 81%
New Electricity Cuts Beginning
February 7

Monday, January 28, 2008: After more than a week of near-total ban on fuel supplies, Israel said yesterday that it would resume permitting Gaza residents to purchase fuel – but would limit the amount they could buy by as much as 81% and would cut the electricity supplied directly to Gaza beginning February 7.

The state made the announcement in advance of yesterday’s hearing in Israel’s Supreme Court, as part of its response to a court petition filed by 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups challenging punitive cuts in fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza residents. The court has yet to issue a decision.

After almost totally blocking fuel supply last week, Israel through the State Attorney’s Office told the court it would resume permitting Gaza residents to purchase diesel, petrol (gasoline) and industrial diesel but would only allow them a small percentage of what they need. The State Attorney’s office also told the court that it would reduce the electricity that Israel’s Electric Company sells directly to Gaza by 5% on three lines (a total of 1.5 MW), beginning February 7.

At the hearing, the human rights groups, represented by Gisha and Adalah, asked for an order preventing the state from restricting supply. The rights groups claim that the fuel and electricity cuts constitute illegal collective punishment.

The shortage of industrial diesel has crippled the functioning of Gaza’s power plant, whose reserves ran out on Jan. 5. Since then, the plant reduced production and even shut down for two days. Currently, the power plant is producing 45 MW electricity – instead of the 80 MW it could produce, were it allowed enough industrial diesel.

Gaza currently has an electricity deficit of 24%, and rolling blackouts across the Strip are as long as 12 hours per day in some areas. The electricity shortage has increased the dependence on diesel-powered generators – just as Israel cut diesel supplies. Without electricity and without diesel for back-up generators, Gaza’s sewage treatment pumps and treatment plants are pumping as much as 40 million liters untreated sewage into the sea each day, and clean water supply has fallen by 30%. Hospitals have reduced services and denied care to non-urgent cases, as the power outages continue, and their fuel supplies run dangerously low.

According to Gisha’s Director, Sari Bashi: “Israel’s ‘relief’ is just further punishment. Israel continues to deny Gaza residents the fuel and electricity they need to power hospitals, pump sewage, access clean water, and heat their homes. Israel has a right to defend itself against Qassam rocket fire targeting its civilians. But further cuts to Gaza’s electricity, as Israel plans, will only make more innocent people suffer.”

Facts about Israel’s fuel cuts to Gaza:

Israel began instituting fuel cuts to Gaza on October 28, 2007, as part of a governmental decision calling for punitive measures against Gaza’s 1.5 million residents. The new levels of fuel announced yesterday are significantly lower than the quantities being purchased by Gaza residents prior to the Oct. 28, 2007 cuts – and significantly lower than what they need now.

Before the cuts, Gaza residents were ordering approximately 1.4 million liters ordinary diesel per week – yesterday the state announced it would allow only 800,000 liters/week – a reduction of 43%. This is particularly detrimental, because the rolling power outages have increased dependency on diesel-powered generators.

Before the cuts, Gaza residents were ordering approximately 350,000-400,000 liters petrol (gasoline) per week – yesterday Israel announced it would allow only 75,400 liters per week – a reduction of 78%-81%.

Israel also announced it would allow Gaza residents to purchase 2.2 million liters industrial diesel/week, needed for Gaza’s power plant, but the plant now needs 3.5 million liters/week plus at least 2 million additional liters to replenish reserves.

Gaza needs 240 MW electricity in the current peak winter season. Israel supplies (before the planned cut) 120 MW, Egypt supplies 17 MW, and Gaza’s power plant is currently producing only 45 MW – meaning that there is a deficit of 58 MW, or 24% – even before the February 7 cuts are scheduled to take place.

The organizations who have petitioned the court are:
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Al –Haq
Mezan Center for Human Rights

Student murdered by Israeli army, Palestinian activist Mousa Abu Maria wounded

On January 25th, an 18 year old youth was shot and killed in the village of Beit Ummar in retaliation for the recent attack on settlers in Kfar Etzion.

The army entered the village around 11:30am, a day after two men from the village were killed after stabbing three settlers in Kfar Etzion. The army served demolition orders to the homes of the dead men but the houses were not destroyed. The army shot off tear gas, sound grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live bullets at villagers. People responded by throwing stones at the heavily armored jeeps.

The army fired tear gas inside the homes of one of the dead men, and ordered the women of the houses to leave, physically assaulting some of them, and using them as human shields in front of their jeeps. Some of the women were consequently wounded by stones. At least three people were arrested, and five injured, one person was hit in the neck with live ammunition.

The army left around noon and came back around one, they entered the homes of the dead men again and shot live and rubber-coated steel ammunition as well as tear gas and sound grenades at groups of villagers. Israeli army snipers were moving between the houses and around 1:30pm an 18 year old youth was killed.

Mahmoud Awwad was a student in his final year of High School when he was shot in the torso with a live bullet and taken by the Palestinian Red Crescent to Al Ahli hospital in Hebron. An hour later the hospital confirmed he had died.

Residents of the village took the dead man to the cemetery around 4:30pm. The funeral march had around 4-5000 attendants, and blocked highway 60 on its return. The army fired on the mourners to disperse the funeral procession, continuing afterwards to shoot tear gas inside the village. One car of settlers hit two of the mourners during the procession, one of them is still in serious condition.

At the end of the day a man laid dead, at least 10 people were injured, some in critical condition. One of the injured was Palestinian activist Mousa Abu Maria, co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project.

There is a demonstration planned in Beit Ummar tomorrow,
for more information contact:
Yousef (arabic): 0522307672
Yonatan (Hebrew, english): 0543338046

The Arab American News: New York activists take on Israeli settlement builder

New York activists take on Israeli settlement builder

By Will Youmans
The Arab American News
Saturday, 01.19.2008, 02:49am

http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=USA&article=538

A network of pro-Palestinian organizations in New York is working hard to expose Israeli businessman Lev Leviev’s sponsorship of Israeli settlement construction. The groups have engaged in creative protests and organized boycotts and pressured those linked with Leviev. Their boycott campaign is gaining strong momentum.

Leviev is a real estate magnate and diamond dealer. He is building strategic settlements in the occupied West Bank. These settlements violate international law, including U.N. resolutions and the Geneva Conventions.

Many are joining the movement against Leviev because his real estate projects in New York expel local, low-income residents from their communities, violate laws, and exploit underpaid laborers.

Leviev, who is one of Israel’s wealthiest businessmen, is building the Mattityahu East settlement on the lands of the village of Bil’in, and the Zufim settlement on the lands of the village of Jayyous. He is also involved in construction on the West Bank settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim around Jerusalem. The settlements are designed to divide the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank, and encircle and disconnect Jerusalem.

Notably, the people of Bil’in, Jayyous and the surrounding areas are mounting intense nonviolent protest campaigns against the settlement construction. Last Friday, villagers of Bil’in were joined by around 70 Israeli, international, and other Palestinian human rights activists in a protest against the Apartheid Wall.

The demonstration began as a march towards the gate in the Wall, where soldiers were standing with guns drawn. At the front of the march was the banner, “Leviev turns these rocks of apartheid into diamonds.” The soldiers opened fire with rubber-coated bullets and shot tear gas at the unarmed protestors, injuring several of the protestors badly.

These encroachments come at a time when Palestinian statehood is being held out as a possibility. Leviev’s activities undermine these prospects.

Leviev’s diamond trade topped Israel’s 30 Leading Exporters list in 2007, with net exports of $522 million. He deals in diamonds mined in Africa, has them polished in Israel, and uses the profits to help finance the illegal settlement construction.

Leviev’s diamonds are cleared through the Kimberley process, in which NGOs and the United Nations certify diamonds as “conflict-free.” However, New York activists allege his company benefits the repressive Angolan government and has been tied with the military junta in Burma. Funding clear violations of international law in Israel and Palestine is enough for them to protest.

When Leviev opened a jewelry store on Madison Avenue in New York, activists mobilized. They protested during a cocktail party in November, chanting “you’re glitz, you’re glam, you’re building on Palestinian land,” and, “occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag.” They wrote and performed political Christmas carols, and have held five protests in front of the store.

The Jewish Voice for Peace group called out movie star Susan Sarandon after she crossed its picket line to attend the cocktail party. The group asked her to “publicly sever ties” with the jeweler. Sarandon, a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, denies being connected with Leviev.

Recently, media reports surfaced claiming that Leviev was a financial supporter of Oxfam, a major “group of non-governmental organizations from three continents working worldwide to fight poverty and injustice.” It was claimed on the website of a Jewish community group group Leviev heads.

The coalition group Adalah-NY heard from Oxfam that “Leviev has not been a donor to Oxfam.” Oxfam explained that it does not “knowingly accept funds from any business involved in any illegal activity, or operating in any illegally occupied territory, including settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Adalah-NY spokesperson Ethan Heitner commented, “We are unable to explain why articles praising Leviev and touting his charitable contributions, including an article on the news site of an organization he heads, claimed a link with Oxfam which Oxfam has now verified doesn’t exist. We are gratified that Oxfam has reiterated its longstanding opposition to Israeli settlement construction and refusal to accept donations from businesses like Leviev’s that are involved in violations of international law.”

Adalah-NY is a leading force behind the boycott campaign. Adalah-NY is joined by the U.S. organization Jewish Voice for Peace, Israel’s Coalition of Women for Peace, and leading Palestinian civil society organizations.

The group formed as a response to the escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip at the end of June, 2006.

For more information on Adalah-NY visit www.mideastjustice.org.

Adalah-NY: Film screened in front of Leviev New York about Palestinian village protesting Leviev’s settlements

Adalah-NY contact: justiceme@gmail.com

New York, NY, Jan 21, 2008 – Twenty-five New York protesters and dozens of Madison Avenue passers-by braved sub-freezing temperatures Monday evening to watch the award winning documentary “Bil’in My Love” on the sidewalk 20 feet from the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev. Leviev’s company Danya Cebus has been building the Israeli settlement of Mattityahu East on the land of the West Bank village of Bil’in, threatening the village’s survival. The film, by Israeli director Shai Pollak, documents the first two years of Bil’in’s three year creative, nonviolent struggle to save its land from Israel’s wall and Leviev’s settlements.

Adalah-NY spokesperson Ethan Heitner explained, “The screening tonight brought images of the impacts of Leviev’s violations of international law in Palestine and the courageous resistance of his victims to his Manhattan doorstep, in one of wealthiest neighborhoods in the world.” The protest, organized by the New York activist group Adalah-NY and calling for a boycott of Leviev, was the sixth held at LEVIEV New York since the store opened in November.

“Bil’in My Love,” won Best Documentary at the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival, and a special award at the 2006 Rotterdam film festival. On the US holiday honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds of passers-by received flyers with photos juxtaposing the Palestinian struggle for freedom with the struggle against Apartheid South Africa and the US civil rights struggle of African-Americans.

The Israeli military has injured over 800 Israeli, Palestinian and international protesters in more than 200 demonstrations in Bil’in over three years. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders, have been arrested. Some spent months in prison. The flyer quoted Mohammed Khatib from Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and Sharif Omar of Jayyous’ Land Defense Committee explaining that, “We are engaged in a struggle for justice, for our freedom – indeed, for our very lives . . . . Leviev is destroying the olive groves and farms that have sustained our villages for centuries, and is profiting from human rights abuses.”

In addition to Mattityahu East, Leviev’s company Danya Cebus is building homes in the illegal settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim, surrounding East Jerusalem. Leviev’s company Leader is building the settlement of Zufim on the land of the village of Jayyous, the site of another long Palestinian nonviolent campaign. Leviev has been a major donor to the Land Redemption Fund, an Israeli organization that uses dubious means to secure Palestinian land to expand settlements. All Israeli settlements are widely deemed illegal under international law.

Dor Energy, a company which is 26% owned by Leviev’s company Africa Israel and is the monopoly fuel supplier to the Gaza Strip, has plunged Gaza City into darkness by participating in a cut of the fuel supply to Gaza with the Israeli government. In Angola, where Leviev mines many of his diamonds, a security firm he employs has been accused of brutal human rights abuses against Angolans. In New York City, Leviev, along with his former New York business partner Shaya Boymelgreen, was the target of a campaign by the ACORN and the Laborers Union in Brooklyn for their use of underpaid non-union labor to carry out sub-standard development projects.

Leviev has recently been caught up in a controversy—covered by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ma’ariv and The Chronicle of Philanthropy—over media reports that he supports the charity Oxfam. Oxfam has reviewed its records and denies these claims, noting that Oxfam refuses donations from businesses that violate international law.

Issa Mikel of Adalah-NY noted that, “We’ll be back at LEVIEV New York with a bigger protest on Saturday, February 9 to tell New York shoppers that buying Leviev’s jewelry for Valentine’s Day supports the abuse of marginalized communities in Palestine, Angola, and right here in New York City.”

Jan. 21 photos: http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=73

Jan. 21 Video: http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=72