On Friday the 3rd August Anti-Wall and Anti Occupation demonstrations will be taking place in Artas and Walaja. Both these villages in the South Bethlehem region are subject to having significant amounts of their land confiscated by the illegal construction of the Aparthaid Wall. The construction of the Aparthaid Wall is illegal under international law. This grotesque land theft serves to economically and culturally impoverish the local communities by destroying their means of income and their historical connection to the land.
In solidarity with the local popular committees of Walaja and Artas, we invite you to participate in both demonstrations and add your voice to the growing number of people opposing the Israeli Occupation and its means of oppressing the Palestinian people.
Artas, South Bethlehem: 10am and then moving to Walaja for the demonstration at 12:30.
For additional information please contact Lui 059 955 1837
update:
The Goliath real Estate Company Heftsiba who is the company (together with Canadian company Green Park) that was building the settlement of Matityahu Mizrah as well as the settlement of Beitar elite and settlements in occupied East Jerusalem has started showing signs of bankruptcy. The Haredi population who have bought apartments from the company broke into the unfinished apartments in various building sights including Matityahu East. Heftsiba has existed since 1968 and executes 10% of Israel’s real estate. In Israeli channel’s 2 news a financial expert explained that the reason for the companies downfall was the stop work order and the inability to sell more of the apartments in Matityahu east. He called it “Modiin Elite next to Bilin”. It is still not clear how this will effect the continuation of the building of the settlement, the ban on Building, or the courts decision. But in the struggle of who would outlast the other between Heftsiba and the Bil’in villagers. Bil’in’s resistance has endured!.
Setters break Supreme Court ban on populating Matityahu Mizrah
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Last night, hundreds of Israeli settlers occupied buildings illegally erected on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil’in, despite an order from the Israeli Supreme Court forbidding them to do so. The takeover came amidst rumors relating to the imminent bankruptcy of real estate giant Heftsiba.
Earlier today, Mohammad Khatib, a member of Bil’in’s popular committee against the wall and settlements stated that: “The settlers are above the law. The organized takeover of the Matityahu Mizrah settlement is in defiance of the Supreme Court’s ban, it is a continuation of the Modi’in Elite local council’s policy to work illegally and create facts on the ground. This time Modi’in Elite’s local council are taking advantage of Heftsiba’s rumoured bankruptcy to commit yet another crime intended to pressure the Israeli Supreme Court.”
In January 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a temporary order in one appeal case (143/06), freezing the building and population of the Matityahu East settlement after the illegal building of 42 residential buildings. Twenty of the buildings were built with no permit and 22 others with permits illegally issued by the Modiin Elite council.
Khatib reports that Yaacov Gutterman, head of the Modi’in Elite local council and the man who, according to the civil administration, is responsible for “large scale illegal building” in the Matityahu East settlement is on site distributing food to the invading settlers. According to a report in today’s Ha’aretz Metityahu Mizrah is the largest West Bank settlement project that is illegal under Israeli law.
Joint call by Israeli, Palestinian and European human rights organizations:
The Rafah border crossing must be opened;
The residents are not pawns in the struggle for control of the Gaza Strip
Israeli, Palestinian and European human rights organizations today issued a joint declaration calling on Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union, and Egypt to immediately open Gaza’s borders to passenger traffic, irrespective of their political agenda concerning Hamas. The organizations jointly stated that residents of Gaza must not be used as pawns in the struggle for control of the area. The continuous closure of the border crossing for more than six weeks is causing severe harm to hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents who cannot leave Gaza or return to it, impairing their ability to earn a living, receive medical treatment, or pursue education abroad. Various reports indicate that more than 20 people have already died while waiting to return to Gaza from Egypt.
A Gaza resident, aged 25, who is stuck on the Egyptian side of Rafah with his wife and infant son, told Gisha’s researcher: “Our situation is a nightmare, it’s hell. We came for 15 days to get treatment for the baby, and now we have been here for 65 days. My money has run out. There are many sick people here who traveled to Egypt for medical treatment and got stuck here… I have another son in Gaza and we cannot go back to him.” Another man, who is waiting at the El-Arish airport, said: “More than ninety people are stuck here… There are seriously ill people among us who went to Egypt for treatment and are now trapped here.”
The call by the organizations was directed at the four parties involved in operating the Rafah border crossing. According to the call, Israel’s duty to act to open the border between Gaza and Egypt is based on its responsibility as the occupying power to ensure the well-being of Palestinian residents of Gaza. It is important to implement emergency solutions to reduce the suffering of those stranded in Egypt, said the organisations. However, such ad hoc measures cannot replace the orderly functioning of the Rafah crossing, and a solution must be found to overcome the operational difficulties.
The organizations called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to ensure the welfare of Gaza residents and to demand that Israel open Rafah crossing. The groups also said that it is incumbent upon the Hamas leadership in Gaza – which controls the security forces in Gaza – to allow for the safe opening of the crossing from the Gaza side, as part of its duty to safeguard the welfare and rights of Gaza’s residents.
The coalition of organizations called on Egypt to play its part by opening the border crossing from its side, and in the meanwhile to attend to the needs of the thousands of Gaza residents waiting, some in intolerable conditions, on the Egyptian side. The organizations also called upon the European Union to issue an unequivocal statement that the Rafah border crossing must be opened immediately, and to demand that the parties permit the European observers to return to the crossing, since their presence is essential for its operation.
Participating organizations: Al-Haq; Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights; Addameer; B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement; Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual; The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights; The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network; Physicians for Human Rights-Israel; The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel; Rabbis for Human Rights; Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights.
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For more details, and complete testimonies: B’Tselem Spokesperson Sarit Michaeli, +972-(0)50-5387230, saritm@btselem.org; Gisha Spokesperson Noga Eitan, +972-(0)54 753 3644, noga@gisha.org.
July 25th, 2007. Palestinians, International Human Rights Workers and Israelis recently went to the village of Wadi Rahul, which is near Bethlehem, to document a number of Israeli settlers that intended to initiate a new illegal settlement on a hill beyond the Efrata Settlement on Palestinian land.
It is understood that this was their second attempt and on this occasion they have sought to assemble a large number of people through the internet, inviting people throughout Israel and the settlements. We received information of the hour and the place of where they would leave, on foot since the police organized numerous “check-points” to intercept them. However the Settlers had sufficient information to avoid these meaningless preventative measures and were able to access the land.
Towards 16:30 we divided into two groups to be able to observe from two farmers homes which hill the Settlers wished to occupy. It is understood that one of the farmers had been notified by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) not to leave his property after 5pm.
During the previous evening, the army and the police had implemented a gate along the road the Settlers wished to take. During the day this particular road had been filled with police and military vehicles, the number of which increased significantly during the build up to the event.
Towards five in the afternoon, it was possible to see hundreds of Settlers begin marching towards the land they wished to occupy. They obviously hadn’t been dissuaded by the checkpoints or gates and had found suitable alternative routes to enable them to get to their chosen site.
Shortly after, they appeared in a cultivated field, still walking. They formed a row and passed across a field in the direction of the hill they wished to occupy. They appeared to be walking in the middle of the fields to avoid interception by the police or the army.
In the other location where activists were based to help protect Palestinians, it was also reported that Settlers had thrown rocks at the property and there had been an attempt to detain someone, however they were later released without harm.
Originally we maintained our observation of events from the roof of the Palestinian home, however we moved to the outside of the house close to where the Settlers were passing to ensure they didn’t act unnecessarily aggressive.
Whilst the Settlers trespassed onto Palestinian land, a few Settlers attempted to converse with the Palestinians however this was very much limited to stating that the Palestinains should leave as, “it is not their land”. A further Settler claimed that the land had been given to the Jews by God.
The march continued toward the hill, where the police and the army were expecting them. At this point the Settlers scattered in many directions and the security forces were incapable of preventing the Settlers from passing around them to continue their march. It is worth noting that the soldiers made little effort to use the “crowd control” devices they tend to employ at Bil’in, on their own people. ie. sound grenades or tear gas.
Among the participants there were people with backpacks and what appeared to be camping equipment, indicating the Settlers were likely to remain in place. It’s difficult to determine the exact number of Settlers that participated in this event due to the numbers being so dispersed across the hills, however it is estimated there were approximately 600 Settlers.
The police managed to stop the march from passing before it arrived at the second hill which was on slightly higher ground. When an activist approached to see what was happening, it could be seen that many of the Settlers were beginning to return and had begun to leave the area.
A number of buses appeared to remove the demonstrators from the land however many chose to leave on foot.
Later HRWs returned to the house with the Palestinians, and we remained there to be able to cover possible aggressions later that evening by any remaining Settlers.
Until well into the night, until at least 1am, many bus trips were made to remove the remaining Settlers from the area. There was a large military presence maintained and a significant attempt to remove determined Settlers who wished to stay on the Palestinian land.
There were many groups of people patrolling the area through the night, causing great anxiety among the Palestinians (in the house we were in, all the family watched from the balcony, and they only felt comfortable enough to sleep when three more internationals arrived.)
Throughout the night, soldiers, Settlers and Police continued to move throughout the surrounding fields, sometimes using flares to determine positions of each other and settlers.
Even in the morning it was still possible to see Settlers remaining in the fields from the previous day.
The Friendship and Solidarity Summer Camp that has taken place in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron is unfortunately coming to a close. To celebrate what has been an amazing two weeks of fun and laughter, the participants would like to invite friends, activists and internationals to a final party.
The party will be held at Qurdoba School on Shuhada Street, Tel Rumeida at 5pm. We hope that you all can come along and join in the celebrations for what has been a fantastic time for all involved.
For more information or any questions, please contact either Issa: 050 630 2333 or Fawaz: 059 9672529
