Two very different trials will take place this week that releate to non violence resistance to the Apartheid Wall.
On Tues, January 10th, at 8:30 Judge Alexander In the “Peace Court” in the Russian Compound, will begin hearing witnesses in the case of Mohammed Mansour, a non violent organiser against the wall from Biddu.
Mohammed was initially arrested in June 2004 at a nonviolent demonstration against the Wall in Al Ram. Undercover Israeli agents stormed the crowd and many, including Mohammed and a Palestinian photographer for “Yediot Ahronot, were severely beaten. He was hospitalised and then held for a week before his release on bail together with another three Palestinians. Five Israeli peace activists, also arrested at the demonstration, were released a few hours following their arrest.
Mohammed being tortured during his arrest
Mohammed, a father of five, is being charged with assaulting a police officer, throwing stones and presiding illegally in an “Israeli area.”
The prosecution offered to close the case if Mohammed would agree to stop participating in demonstrations for the next two years and pay a 3,500 shekel fine. “I would prefer to go to jail than pay one shekel to the Occupation. “It is not I, but those that build the wall that are the criminals” said Mohammed.
This Thursday, January 12, at 9:00 am, the Supreme Court will hold a hearing on the request for a temporary injunction against building in the Matityahu East neighborhood in the settlement Modi’in Illit. This neighborhood is being built on the lands of Bil’in west of the barrier, and is the reason for the route of the wall there. The hearing will be held before Judge Ayala Prokachya, hall A.
Girl from Bil’in and Metityahu Mizrah settlement outpost
Last Wednesday, attorney Michael Sfard filed, on behalf of Peace Now, a petition against construction in this new neighborhood. On Friday, the Court issued a temporary injunction forbidding in effect building in the compound and bringing new residents therein.
This Trial is taking place as a result of an ongoing nonviolent campaign led by the villagers of Bil’in. Meanwhile, fifteen nonviolent activists from the village of Bil’in are currently in jail in an attempt to deter the villagers from protesting against the theft of more than half of their land by the wall.
The International Solidarity Movement condemns the Israeli legal system defence of war crimes committed by the Israeli military and settlers and its criminalization of nonviolent protest against the Occupation and Apartheid wall.
For more information call:
The ISM Media Office 02-2971824 Mohammed Mansour 0545851893
Attorney Michael Sfard 0544-713030
I’ve been here for 4 days, and I’ve already been through 2 of the newly opened terminals” that have replaced the “checkpoints” at the entrances to Bethlehem and Ramallah. I don’t know what language to use for these. They seem more like prisons to me than anything else. I asked my host father in Dheisheh camp (Bethlehem) if he’s seen it and he said, “Get me a permit, then I’ll go see it.” Because of course, no matter how badly people are treated at these terminal-prisons, the people who are there are mostly the lucky ones who have permits to go through, or Jerusalem ID cards.
I know it’s clichéd to say that the Wall is turning Palestine into even more of a prison, but this was the first time I’d seen the Wall completely closed around the entrance to Bethlehem. There’s an enormous metal door that can be opened and closed at the whim of the Israeli army, with a huge sign next to it saying in English, Hebrew, and finally Arabic, “Go in peace.” Underneath is written “Israeli Ministry of Tourism.” This is in an area separating Palestinian area from Palestinian area. West Bank on both sides. Entirely controlled by Israel.
And it’s the same at Qalandiya. Palestinian areas on either side, entirely controlled by Israel. I don’t know which sign is more offensive, the Bethlehem one or the one at Qalandiya that says in three languages “The hope of us all.” Next to this is a drawing of a tree, with the word “security” written in Arabic on the trunk, and each of the branches saying (in Arabic) things like “education,” “culture,”and “prosperity.” “Israeli Ministry of Tourism” was missing from this one, probably because Ramallah does not receive as many tourists as Bethlehem, especially at this time of year.
Qalandiya Checkpoint. (Photo: Machsom Watch)
Passing back through Qalandiya from Ramallah to Jerusalem last night was one of the most disturbing checkpoint experiences I’ve had. It was certainly the worst I’ve ever been treated personally. From entering to exiting the “terminal,” you are enclosed between metal doors, turnstyles, and windows, so at each moment you are essentially trapped in a different part until a soldier decides to let you through. Everything is done electronically.
The soldiers sit behind bulletproof glass and bark orders through loudspeakers. No face to face human interaction anymore. The girl (and yes, these soldiers look like girls and boys) barking orders at people last night was particularly unkind, When it came time for me, I placed my things on the newly installed conveyor belt and walked through the metal detector, like I saw the people before me doing. I held up my passport and the soldier ignored me and started yelling at me in Arabic. I couldn’t understand everything she said and I told her that (or tried to, although there seemed to be no mechanism for people to speak to her, only the other way around), and finally she yelled in English, “Put all your things on the belt!” I did so, then walked through, held my passport up, picked up my stuff, and got ready to leave. She said nothing to me, but began to yell at a man in front of me who was holding a small baby. She yelled at him in Hebrew to come back, and then he called me over and said it was because I hadn’t given her my passport, which she hadn’t told me to do.
There are times when I ignore soldiers’ authority because I believe they should have none, but this was not one of those times. I had never been through this contraption before and did not want to hold up the people behind me, but I really didn’t know what I was supposed to do. She began screaming at me in Hebrew when I went back, I told her I didn’t understand, and then she said in Hebrew, “Fine, I’ll speak in English! Give me your passport!” I put the passport down in the tiny hole, she took it, and the man with the baby told me she was saying “Fuck you” and other nice things to me in Hebrew. I got my passport back and she began to bark orders at others again, pressing the magic button to open the next turnstyle for me to exit. I walked out disgusted, with the man and his family watching to make sure I was okay.
I wanted to throw up. Or any number of other things I shouldn’t write here. I don’t know why I keep being surprised. Or maybe that’s not quite it. Maybe it’s just completely disgusted. And angry. I’ve been working in Palestine for just over 2 years, and I’ve seen the street next to Qalandiya go from a street to the Wall to the terminal. I was here 5 months ago and it looked so different. And meanwhile I’m working for long-term change and leading groups around the West Bank for American Jewish people to learn about the situation and maybe change some of their understanding and maybe tell some others about that and… what about the here and now? As always, time is on Israel’s side. Palestinians cannot afford to wait. And yet what can they do? I watched all the young Palestinian men joking around inside the terminal as they waited to be yelled at in Hebrew and maybe let through, and I wondered, as I often do here, where all the anger goes.
I hope I never get so used to this that it doesn’t enrage me.
Happy new year to those for whom this is a new year – let’s hope it brings more justice than the last one.
The Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction to stop Building illegal outpost on Bil’in land
Another Victory for Palestinian Non violence!
Wednesday January 6th 2006, Attorney Michael Sfard appealed to the Israeli High Court of Justice, on Behalf of “Peace Now” demanding to stop the building in the Matityahu East neighborhood in the settlement Modi’in Illit.
Two days ago, following an extensive coverage in Ha’aretz, the building in Matityahu East was stopped, but yesterday construction there was renewed.
As a result of the petition on January 6th, the High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction banning any further building without permits, in the Matityahu East neighborhood, in Modi’in Illit. None of the buildings under construction in this outpost have legal permits. The warrant also bans bringing more residents, i.e. settlers, to live in the houses in the neighborhood. The Court decided that on 12 January, a hearing on the request for temporary injunctions will take place, but until then, the above mentioned orders will remain in force.
In the petition (number 143/06) the Court is also asked to order that the houses built illegally in the neighborhood be demolished; and also to cancel the construction plan number 210/8/1, according to which the building in Matityahu East have been going on.
The new petition is based on the material discovered following the petition of the people of Bil’in against the wall (HCJ 8414/05). Both petitions were filed by attorney Michael Sfard. Both became possible only thanks to the continued, high-profile popular struggle in the village Bil’in.
The petition was filed against ten bodies party to the illegal construction off the settlement:
Five of them are state authorities that had knowledge of the illegal construction but either aided or did nothing to prevent it, they are:
The Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz,
the military commander of operations in the west Bank,
the Civil Administration High Committee of planning in “Judea and Samaria”,
the commander of the Israeli police in the area
and the Modi’in Elite local council.
In addition to the companies who claim to have bought land, but have yet to provide any proof of ownership:
Green park inc.
and Green Mount inc. two Real estate companies registered in Canada.,
And the Israeli real estate companies:
The fund for liberating land planning and development of settlements inc.
and the “Ein Amy” development company inc.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law but outposts like Metiyahu Mizrah are considered illegal even by the Israeli authoraties. The petition asks that the above bodies explain both why the illegal building has occurred with their knowledge and why despite this, nothing has been done to stop the outpost’s illegal construction.
Bil’in has become a symbol of Palestinian nonviolent resistance and of cooperation between Palestinian, Israeli and International activists in a joint struggle for human rights.
The petition refers to a non violent direct action staged by Bil’in residents On December 25th. The villagers employed the tactics used by Israeli settlers for the theft of Palestinian land in a bid to hold onto their land that Israel is attempting to annex via the so called “security” Barrier for Mod’in Elite’s expansion . They established a Palestinian outpost dubbed “Bil’in West” on their own land only hundreds of meters away from the Metityahu Mizrah outpost.
The Palestinian outpost consisted of two trailers and a one room brick structure. Both trailers were removed by The Military within 24 hours of arriving on the land and the brick structure was issued an immediate stop work order by the civil administration.
The petition points out the Israeli authority’s selective law enforcement and that the efforts to remove the Palestinian outpost contrast starkly with the lack of action against the criminal acts being committed in Metityahu Mizrah just across the hill.
Approximately half of Bil’in’s lands are being isolated from the village by the Barrier. The Israeli government argues that the route of the wall in Bil’in was determined purely for security reasons. However, a brief visit to the village shows this to be false.
For more information call
Mohammed Khatib 0545-851893
Abdullah Abu Rahme 0547258210
ISM Media Office 02-297-1824
Today, at 12: oo AM farmers of the Tubas region will hold their third march to the Bardalla checkpoint. This checkpoint has served as the only venue where Palestinian farmers could sell their produce to Israeli traders for distribution. The fertile agricultural land of the Tubas region has served as the villager’s only source of income for many generations. For the last two months the checkpoint has been closed to the farmers produce and the region faces an agricultural and economic catastrophe.
Ahmed Sawaft Director of PARC (Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees) in Tubas warns: “If this closure continues entire villages and their traditional way of life will be devastated. With no hope of distributing their goods the farmers of Tubas region have not planted their fields for the next season.”
The villages of Bardalla, Ein Al Beda, Cardalla and Wade Al Malachi are in an enclave in the Jordan Valley. The only entry and exit point to this enclave is the Tayaseer checkpoint. In recent months anyone who is not registered on their Israeli-issued I.D. card as from these villages or has a limited-time permit is forbidden to enter by the Israeli military.
For more information:
Ismael: 059 924 0247 (Arabic and English)
ISM media office: 02 297 1824
Last night in the village of Bil’in, Military vehicles distributed leaflets warning villagers not to participate in today’s non-violent demonstration against the annexation of their land by Israel’s illegal apartheid wall. The leaflets, which were left in the village during the night, call on people not to demonstrate and warn residents:
-don’t follow the inciters
-security forces won’t let anyone hurt the wall
-don’t do things that will hurt your daily routine
The people of Bil’in are not deterred by these threats, and plan to protest against the unequal treatment of Israelis and Palestinians under Israeli law. Examples of these racist policies have been particularly blatant in Bil’in recently where Israeli Occupation Forces used violent means to remove two legal dwellings in West Bil’in, while refusing to react to the town-house style condominiums that are being illegally built on Bil’in land.
The caravans received permits from the Bil’in village council and were in place for less than a week before being removed; comparatively, the illegal Israeli outposts have been under construction for close to a year.
For more information call
ISM Media Office 02-297-1824
ISM Media Mobile 057-5720754
Mohammed Khatib 0545-851893
Abdullah 0547258210
