Category: Press Releases

Action Alert! Jamaeen Non-Violent Demonstration to Protest Settler Arson

For Immediate Release

October 30, 2007

Last week, settlers from Kfah Tappuah settlement near the West Bank village of Jamaeen trespassed on the Palestinian villagers’ land 2km from Jamaeen village, burning approximately 30 dunums of vital agricultural land hosting olive trees.

The village of Jamaeen lies just south of Nablus and, like the many other villages in the Nablus and Salfit region, depends on olive production. Thus, the loss of trees was a substantial blow to the local villagers.

Palestinians and international supporters will gather Wednesday, October 31st at 8 am to visit villagers’ land and document the arson attack. The peaceful demonstration, led by Jamaeen villagers, will welcome internationals and Palestinians to partake in a show of solidarity and steadfastness, to proclaim that the villagers do want, need, and use this land and are not willing to be harassed away from it by settlers.

Villagers and supporters will meet at Jamaeen municipality at 8 am Wednesday morning.

For more information, contact:

ISM Media Office, 0599-943-157, 02 2971824

Another Voice: RAISE YOUR VOICE PALESTINE!

ANOTHER VOICE
October 28, 2007
For Immediate Release

*** C O N C E R T ***

RAISE YOUR VOICE PALESTINE!

[RAMALLAH] Palestinian grassroots activists and organizations will hold a free outdoor concert on Wednesday, October 31, calling for a just peace based on respect for human rights and international law. The concert will bring Palestinian folklore together with rap, and poetry together with politics, as Palestinians raise their voices for freedom, justice and unity. Artists who are contributing their talents to this event include Reem Talhami, Jamil Al-Sayeh, DAM, Boikutt (Ramallah Underground), the Al Awda Dabkeh Troupe, Yalalan and more. In addition, words from the Bishop Attallah Hanna, the Refugee Right to Return Coalition, the Bil’in Popular Committee, and the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment Campaign.

Two weeks ago the U.S.-based group OneVoice was forced to cancel planned simultaneous concerts in Jericho and Tel Aviv after a widespread Palestinian campaign to boycott the event because of the group’s problematic pillars and deceptive operations. Since they were forced to cancel, OneVoice has been attempting to discredit Palestinian voices, labeling as “extremists” those who criticize OneVoice’s platform for negotiations, a platform that equates the occupier with the occupied and completely neglects the framework of international law.

On Wednesday, October 31, Palestinian voices will come together to declare that our basic rights will not be compromised. We will not accept normalization while Israel continues to arrest our sons and daughters, steal our land and water resources, build settlements, construct the wall, demolish our homes, and push us into smaller and smaller cantons. Any negotiations and peace efforts must be premised on equality, respect for human rights, and the implementation of international law. Peace, not Apartheid!

The concert will start at 5:00 p.m. at the Orthodox Club

For more information, please contact:

Huwaida Arraf: +972-547-473-308 / +970-599-130-426
Natasha Aruri: +970-599-794-761
http://www.anothervoice-palestine.org
info@anothervoice-palestine.org

13 Palestinians arrested in Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya

** Update **
On October 31st, the Israeli army invaded Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya and arrested eight more people. It seems they are to be charged with exactly the same crimes the three British women formerly imprisoned were charged with. Those allegations proved to be false and the women released. More information will come as it is known.

October 27th 2007

Last night between 1am and 3am the Israeli army raided the West bank towns of Abu Shukheidim and Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya arresting 13 Palestinians on allegations of criminal damage and being at an illegal demonstration, they are now in Binyamin police station. In what is clearly collective punishment, the arrested include the head of the Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya council, a village council member and three minors. The raids follow a demonstration on Friday against the illegal annexation of agricultural lands by settlers.

The villages are surrounded by a group of settlements collectively known as Talmund B, who have illegally confiscated 14,000 dunums of Palestinian land for agricultural purposes, including 500 dunums in the last three months. Despite local Palestinians contesting the confiscation in court, the settlers have been planting grape trees in a bid to claim the land through facts on the ground.

An armed settler disturbed a protest against the land confiscation in August and settler harassment continued at Friday’s protest. Live ammunition was used by settlers against the non-violent demonstration. Two nights ago 30 to 40 adult settlers threw rocks at the village for about an hour, breaking a solar panel in the process. Last night’s arrests show how the army has chosen to ignore settler violence while collectively punishing local Palestinians for exercising their right to protest the confiscation of their property.

The arrests come the day after the release of three female British peace activists, aged 45, 60 and 62, who were held by the Israeli police on false charges of criminal damage after being present at the demonstrations on Friday . Israeli police attempted to deport them, and sent all three to the Ministry of the Interior where their case was thrown out.

While the three British women were released due to the false nature of the allegations, it is feared the prejudice inherent in the Israeli court system will ensure the Palestinians face jail time and fines, even if the allegations prove to be false.

Brighton-Tubas Fellowship: Three British nationals go to trial after non-violent demonstration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brighton-Tubas Fellowship:

For more info contact Tom Hayes on 00447846506710 or Ann on 0522354477

***Update, after being sent to the Ministry of the Interior to begin the process of deportation, the three women were released.

Three British women, Kate Harrison, Caroline Bailey and Sarah Cobham representing the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity group, were arrested during a non-violent protest at Al Mazra’a al Qibilya in the West Bank on Friday 26th October and will appear at 7pm this evening in the Jerusalem Peace Court, located in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem.

The women, aged 45, 60 and 62, who are facing deportation, are being charged this evening with “participating in an illegal demonstration“, “damaging a barbed wire fence” belonging to settlers erected on Palestinian land and uprooting settler owned grape vines planted illegally on Palestinian land.

The women, two of whom are members of Amnesty International, did not actively participate in the demonstration but intended to act as observers. They were arrested as the protesters retreated under live fire.

Members of a ten person delegation to Palestine organised by the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group joined a demonstration in Al Mazra’a al Qibliya in the occupied West Bank today. Al Mazra’a is surrounded by seven illegal Israel settlements known collectively as Talmund B.

The settlements have been steadily expanding. In the last few years they have expropriated 14,000 dunums of Palestinian land (4 dunums= 1 acre) and uprooted Palestinian olive trees.

The settlement also monopolises water resources in the area. Settlements like Talmund B are illegal under international law. However, the Israeli state encourages the growth of settlements by subsidising colonisers who move to the occupied territories.

Three months ago a further 500 dunums were confiscated from the village and were planted with grape vines.

The Brighton group joined the villagers in marching to the confiscated land. They reached the area where a barbed wire fence marked the boundary of the stolen land. Approximately 50 people crossed the fence and started to remove the grape vines from the land. Also the pipes that take the stolen water were partially destroyed.

As the demonstrators entered the land settlers fired live ammunition at them. Soldiers also fired live ammunition. No warning was given. The group included old people and many young children.

The villagers told the remaining members of the Brighton group that it was because of their presence that no-one was killed.

PCHR: Heart attack patient dies after being sent back from Erez crossing twice

Left on the Ground for Nearly an Hour, a Patient in a Serious Condition Dies Due to Restrictions at Erez Crossing

PCHR strongly condemns the unjustified complicated procedures adopted by Israeli occupation authorities at Erez crossing, which have led to the death of an old patient from the Gaza Strip, who was suffering from diabetes and hypertension, although they had already agreed to allow him to receive medical treatment at an Israeli hospital. PCHR calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, World Health Organization and the ICRC to exert pressure on Israeli occupation authorities to allow access of patients from the Gaza Strip to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.

According to information available to PCHR , Nemer Mohammed Salim Shuhaiber, 77, from al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, was admitted into the ICU at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on 21 October 2007 as he was suffering from an acute heart attack. Since he was in a serious condition, the Palestinian Ministry of Health decided to transfer him to an Israeli hospital. On Monday, 22 October 2007, the liaison officer at the Ministry was able to coordinate with Israeli occupation authorities his passage through Erez crossing. The patient’s sons, Nahidh and ‘Adnan, also obtained permits to accompany him to the Israeli hospital. According to Nahidh, 42, he accompanied his father to Erez crossing. The ambulance driver was permitted by Israeli occupation authorities to pass through the crossing. When the ambulance moved forward, Israeli occupation troops fired at it, so the driver was forced to drive back and the patient was not able to travel to the Israeli hospital on that day although he was in a serious condition.

Also according to Nahidh, he and his brother ‘Adnan accompanied their father in a Palestinian ambulance, which transported them to Erez crossing at approximately 09:30 on Tuesday, 23 October 2007, as the Palestinian Ministry of Health coordinated their passage again with Israeli occupation forces. However, they were forced to wait for nearly 3 hours. Israeli occupation authorities then allowed the ambulance to pass towards the Israeli side of the crossing. The patient needed additional oxygen, which was brought by the ambulance driver from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israeli occupation troops forced them to wait for two additional hours to conduct security checking on the ambulance. During the checking, Israeli troops placed the patient on the ground under the sun for nearly an hour, although his health condition was deteriorating. At the end of the security checking, Israeli troops ordered taking the patient back to Shifa Hospital, but he died soon.

Israeli occupation authorities have continued to close Erez crossing, banning free and safe passage of the Palestinian civilian population, including patients. The obstruction of the passage of patients through Erez crossing has caused 5 deaths in the past 6 months. For instance, on 3 August 2007, Wa’el Hasan Khalil Abu Warda, 27, from Jabalya village, died from a kidney failure when he was on his way to Ichilov Hospital in Israel. On 23 May 2007, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim Mansour, 23, died as Israeli occupation forces obstructed for 3 hours his passage into Israel to receive medical treatment. Mansour had been seriously wounded by several gunshots during internal fighting on 15 May 2007.

In a few examples, Israeli occupation authorities have allowed patients to pass through Erez crossing, but under unjustifiable complicated security procedures endangering the lives of such patients, especially as the majorities of cases transferred to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel are critical or serious. Such patients need advanced medical treatment, which is not available in the Gaza Strip. The closure of Rafah International Crossing Point has also precluded the transfer of patients to Egyptian Hospitals. Such restrictions imposed on the passage of patients are part of measures of collective punishment adopted by Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian civilian population, in violation of international law.

PCHR calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, World Health Organization and the ICRC to exert pressure on Israeli occupation authorities to allow access of patients from the Gaza Strip to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel, and the entry of medicines and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip.