Category: Press Releases - Page 31 - International Solidarity Movement

Call to Action: #SaveSusiya

Susiya Emergency Call To Action

Please send the following 2 letters (below). One to EU trade officials (addresses below the letter) and one for Israeli embassies (please make sure to change the name according to location).
Protests at your local Israeli embassies (you can find your local embassy athttp://embassies.gov.il/Pages/IsraeliMissionsAroundTheWorld.aspx).
LIKE the official #SaveSusiya Facebook page and SHARE it with all of your friendshttps://www.facebook.com/SusiyaForever
Pledge your tweet on our Thunderclap campaign https://goo.gl/xqVOjU and join the Twitter storm on July 19, Sunday, 21:00 GMT (00:00 Palestine, 17:00 NYC).
Share this post.

EMAIL TO EU TRADE OFFICIALS

Dear _________

I am writing to you with an urgent appeal concerning a Palestinian village in the Israeli occupied West Bank. This village is called Susiya and it is had already been displaced once to make room for an Israeli settlement. Now it is under imminent threat of being destroyed again. The Israeli military has just informed the residents of Susiya that they will start demolishing buildings after the end of Ramadan in a few days.
For more on the continued harassment of the people of Susya by Israeli settlers and military see
http://rhr.org.il/eng/save-susya/
http://972mag.com/idf-maps-village-of-susya-as-forced-displacement-looms/106584/

Amongst the beneficiaries of the displacement of the people of Susiya are settlers who have seized the land and use it for agriculture. Some of the grapes grown by settlers in Susiya have been documented going to the Carmel Winery which sells its products in Europe.
http://www.whoprofits.org/content/forbidden-fruit-israeli-wine-industry-and-occupation-0
Other corporations profiting from the theft of Susiya land are listed herehttp://whoprofits.org/s?vid_7=1997

We are asking for two things at this moment.

1) Do not let Israeli settlements gain from plunder and restrict the sale of all Israeli settlement products in Europe. In particular bar the importation of Carmel Wines to Europe.

2) Contact the Israeli embassy and demand that the Israeli government cancel its plans to destroy Susiya for the second time.

Sincerely, ______________

—

Mogherini Federica (EC) Federica.MOGHERINI@ec.europa.eu
Manservisi Stefano (EC) Stefano.Manservisi@ec.europa.eu,stefano.manservisi@eeas.europa.eu
Petrocelli Enrico (EC Enrico.PETROCELLI@ec.europa.eu
Gabrici Leonello (EEAS) Leonello.GABRICI@eeas.europa.eu
Cassiers Jerome (EEAS) Jerome.CASSIERS@eeas.europa.eu
Di Michele Fabrizio (EEAS) Fabrizio.DI-MICHELE@eeas.europa.eu
Skylv Martin (EEAS) Martin.Skylv@eeas.europa.eu
Melil Zohra (EEAS) Zohra.MELIL@eeas.europa.eu
Christoforou Nikolaos (EEAS) Nikolaos.CHRISTOFOROU@eeas.europa.eu
Sabbag Afota Veronica (EEAS) Veronica.SABBAG-AFOTA@eeas.europa.eu
Polin Rocco (EEAS) Rocco.POLIN@eeas.europa.eu
Vazquez Garrido Adriana (EEAS) Adriana.VAZQUEZ@eeas.europa.eu

——————————————————–

EMAIL TO ISRAELI EMBASSY

The Honorable Mr./Ms. ______________,

Ambassador of Israel

I am writing to you with an urgent appeal concerning a Palestinian village in the West Bank. This village is called Susiya and it is had already been displaced once to make room for an Israeli settlement. Now it is under imminent threat of being destroyed again. The Israeli military has just informed the residents of Susiya that they will start demolishing buildings after the end of Ramadan, in a few days.

To forcefully evict an entire village is a cruel and illegal act that is about to be repeated by the Israeli military. One cannot escape the conclusion that this policy is a form of systematic discrimination directed at the Palestinians living under Israeli military control. Such an act is so offensive that it implicated those who take part in it as well as those who only let it happen. We urge you to not let this happen and stop the planned demolition of Susiya.

Sincerely ______________

—
-Africa
Angola Raphael Singer consular@luanda.mfa.gov.il
Cameroon info@yaounde.mfa.gov.il
Ethiopia Belaynesh Zevadia embassy@addisababa.mfa.gov.il
Nigeria Uriel Palti info@abuja.mfa.gov.il
Sengal Eli Ben Tura info@dakar.mfa.gov.il
Pretoria Arthur Lank consular@pretoria.mfa.gov.il
Kenya Yahel Vilan info@nairobi.mfa.gov.il
Ghana Sharon Bor-li
amb-sec@accra.mfa.gov.il

-Asia
-China
• Beijing Matan Vilnai info@beijing.mfa.gov.il
• Shanghai Jackie Eldan consulgen-assist@shanghai.mfa.gov.il
• Hong Kong Sagi Karni info@hongkong.mfa.gov.il
• Guangzhou Yaacov Avrahamy info@guangzhou.mfa.gov.il
-India
New Delhi Daniel Carmon consular2@newdelhi.mfa.gov.il
Mumbai David Akov info@mumbai.mfa.gov.il
Tokyo Ruth Kahanoff information@tokyo.mfa.gov.il
Amman cons-sec@amman.mfa.gov.il
Myanmar Daniel Zohar Zonshine info@yangon.mfa.gov.il
Nepal Yaron Mayer info@kathmandu.mfa.gov.il
Philippines Effie Ben Matityau info@manila.mfa.gov.il
Singapore Yael Rubinstein info@singapore.mfa.gov.il
Seoul Uri Gutman info@seoul.mfa.gov.il
Taipei Simona Halperin press@taipei.org.il
Bangkok Simon Roded info@bangkok.mfa.gov.il
Vietnam Meirav Eilon Shahar info@hanoi.mfa.gov.il

-Central America
Costa Rica Abraham Haddad consular1@sanjose.mfa.gov.il
Dominican Republic Bahij Mansour Info@santodomingo.mfa.gov.il
El Salvador Oren Bar El info@sansalvador.mfa.gov.il
Guatemala Moshe Bachar sec-ambassador@guatemala.mfa.gov.il
Mexico Rodica Radian Gordon info@mexico.mfa.gov.il
Panama Alexander Galilee info@panama.mfa.gov.il

-Euro-Asia
Azerbaijan Rafael Harpaz info@baku.mfa.gov.il
Croatia Zina Kalay Kleitman info@zagreb.mfa.gov.il
Georgia Yuval Fuchs press@tbilisi.mfa.gov.il
Kazakhstan Eliyahu Tasman info@astana.mfa.gov.il
-Russia
Moscow Olga Words info@tehila.gov.il
St. Petersberg Michael Lotem info@spb.mfa.gov.il
Serbia Yossef Levy info@belgrade.mfa.gov.il
Ukraine Eliab Byelotserkovski info@kiev.mfa.gov.il
Uzbekistan Carmela Shamir operator@tashkent.mfa.gov.il

-Europe
Mission to UN, Geneva, Eviatar Manor mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il
Mission to European Union, Brussels David Walzer
Austria Zvi Heifetz info-sec@vienna.mfa.gov.il
Bulgaria Shaul Kamisa Raz info@sofia.mfa.gov.il
Cyprus Maria Hadjigeorgiou ambass-sec@nicosia.mfa.gov.il
Prague Gary Koren info@prague.mfa.gov.il
Copenhagen Barukh Binah info@copenhagen.mfa.gov.il
London Daniel Taub info@london.mfa.gov.il
Finland Dan Ashbel info@helsinki.mfa.gov.il
-France
Paris Yossi Gal consul-sec@paris.mfa.gov.il
Marseille Barnea Hassid consulgeneral-sec@marseille.mfa.gov.il
-Germany
Berlin Yakov Hadas-Handelsman botschaft@israel.de
Munich Dan Shaham consul-sec@munich.mfa.gov.il
Greece Irit Ben-Abba pr@athens.mfa.gov.il
Hungary Izrael Allam info@budapest.mfa.gov.il
Ireland Boaz Modai info@dublin.mfa.gov.il
Italy Naor Gilon cons4@roma.mfa.gov.il
Latvia Hagit Ben-Yaakov press@riga.mfa.gov.il
Netherlands Haim Divon consular@hague.mfa.gov.il
Norway Raphael Schutz consular@oslo.mfa.gov.il
Poland, Anna Azari, publicaffairs@warsaw.mfa.gov.il
Portugal Tzipora Rimon israelmb@lisbon.mfa.gov.il
Romania Dan Ben-Eliezer info@bucharest.mfa.gov.il
Slovakia Alexander Ben-Zvi cao-sec@bratislava.mfa.gov.il
Spain Alon Bar info@madrid.mfa.gov.il
Sweden Isaac Bachman info@stockholm.mfa.gov.il
Switzerland Yigal B. Caspi press@bern.mfa.gov.il
Vatican Zion Evrony info@holysee@.mfa.gov.il
-Turkey
Ankara Amira Oron info@ankara.mfa.gov.il
Istanbul Shai Cohen info@istanbul.mfa.gov.il

-North America
-Canada
Ottawa Rafael Barak info@ottawa.mfa.gov.il
Toronto DJ Schneeweiss consular1@toronto.mfa.gov.il
Montreal Ziv Nevo Kulman info@montreal.mfa.gov.il
-USA
Washington D.C. Ron Dermer info@washington.mfa.gov.il
Pacific Northwest San Francisco Andy David Consulardep@SanFrancisco.mfa.gov.il
Los Angeles David Siegel consular-assist@losangeles.mfa.gov.il
Florida and Puerto Rico in Miami Chaim Shacham concal.sec@miami.mfa.gov.il
Atlanta Ofer Aviran info@atlanta.mfa.gov.il
Mid-Atlantic Region Yaron Sideman information@philadelphia.mfa.gov.il
New York Ido Aharoni info@newyork.mfa.gov.il
New England Yehuda Yaakov info@boston.mfa.gov.il
Midwest Roey Gilad contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il
Houston Eitan Levon concal.sec@houston.mfa.gov.il

-Oceania
Australia Shmuel Ben-Shmuel info@canberra.mfa.gov.i
New Zealand Yosef Livne info@wellington.mfa.gov.il

-South America
Argentina Dorit Shavit info@buenosaires.mfa.gov.il
-Brazil
Sau Paulo Yoel Barnea info@saopaulo.mfa.gov.il
Brasilia Dr. Reda Mansour info@brasilia.mfa.gov.il
Chile Rafael Eldad info@santiago.mfa.gov.il
Colombia Marco Sermoneta info@bogota.mfa.gov.il
Ecuador Eliyahu Yerusalmi info@quito.mfa.gov.il
Peru Ehud Moshe Eitam info@lima.mfa.gov.il
Uruguay Nina Ben-Ami info@montevideo.mfa.gov.il

Protest commemorating one year anniversary of the killing of Mohammad Abu Khdeir met with military violence

2 July 2015, in honor of the first anniversary of the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, Palestinian activists with international supporters blocked a settlers-only road leading to the illegal Adam settlement. Demonstrators cited this road as the road that the murderers took in their search for a Palestinian victim. Journalists, Palestinian and international activists, suffered from pepper spray burns and several were hospitalized.

“This is the first in a week of demonstrations for Muhammad Abu Khdeir. One of the murderers, Yosef Haim Ben-David, is from the Adam settlement. This is why the demonstration was held at this settlers-only entrance,” said Abdullah Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in.

Demonstrators blocked the road to settler traffic in both directions until the Israeli Army and Border Police dispersed the non-violent demonstrators and journalists by pepper-spraying indiscriminately. Three Palestinian activists, four journalists, and two International ISM volunteers were pepper sprayed in the eyes and mouth by a masked Army officer. An ISM co-founder as well as journalists from Roya TV Channel, Reuters, and Palestine TV were severely pepper sprayed in the eyes requiring hospitalization.

The soldiers threw sound percussion grenades at demonstrators and chased people. In addition to the pepper spray, they shoved journalists and Palestinian activists to the ground.

After the soldiers and border police chased the demonstrators off the road and down a hill, they continued to throw percussion grenades even as the demonstrators stood at a distance waiting to find fellow demonstrators.

Contact for more information:

Abdullah Abu Rahmah – 0599107069

ISM Media Coordinator – 0597406401 OR 0598353204

Mondoweiss

Al Jazeera

Palestine UN

Israel once again commits an act of state piracy in the Mediterranean

29th June 2015 | Freedom Flotilla Coalition | International Waters, off the coast of Occupied Palestine

At 02:06AM today (Gaza time) the “Marianne” contacted Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and informed us that three boats of the Israeli navy had surrounded her in international waters, while sailing approximately 100NM from Gaza coast. After that we lost contact with the “Marianne” and at 05:11AM (Gaza time) the IDF announced that they had “visited and searched” Marianne. They had captured the boat and detained all on board “in international waters” as they admitted themselves. The only positive content in the IDF announcement was that they still recognize that there is a naval blockade of Gaza, despite Netanyahu’s government recent denial that one exists.

We have no reason to believe that Marianne’s capture was “uneventful”, because the last time the IDF said something like that, in 2012, the people on board the “Estelle” were badly tasered and beaten with clubs. Back in 2010, ten passengers of Mavi Marmara were murdered by the IDF during a similar operation in international waters.

It is disappointing that the Israeli government chose to continue the absolutely fruitless policy of “no tolerance”, meaning it will continue to enforce an inhumane and illegal collective punishment against 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza. Israel’s repeated acts of state piracy in international waters are worrying signs that the occupation and blockade policy extends to the entire eastern Mediterranean. We demand that the Israeli government cease and desist the illegal detainment of peaceful civilians travelling in international waters in support of humanitarian aid.
We call on our governments to ensure that all passengers and crew from the “Marianne” are safe, and to strongly protest against the violation of international maritime law by the Israeli state. We call on all civil society organizations to condemn the actions of Israel. People all over the world will continue to respond and react to this injustice, as will we, until the port of Gaza is open and the siege and occupation is ended.

For more updates visit: ff3.freedomflotilla.org

Shuhada Street 2015: Suffering from Israeli propaganda and ongoing military closure

Hundreds Palestinian shops and warehouses were closed on Shuhada Street by the Israeli army in 1994 following the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, in which twenty-nine Muslims were murdered during prayer inside Ibrahimi Mosque by Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish settler from Kiryat Arba. In the name of protecting Jewish settlers after the massacre of Palestinians during Ramadan, Palestinian vehicular traffic was prohibited and pedestrian access restricted in addition to the closure of businesses and municipal offices. In 1997 Israel agreed to reopen Shuhada Street to Palestinians and to restore closed shops in order to reestablish pre-1994 conditions. To this day, nearly twenty years later, none of the shops have been reopened and the street remains closed to Palestinian vehicles.

A door on Shuhada Street that has been completely welded closed.

Lately, news about a reopening of parts of Shuhada streets has been circling international media, and has been reported on in newspapers as prominent as the New York Times. According to these articles, the Israeli Civil Administration, through the mayor of Hebron, has promised that either seven (which was confirmed by an IDF spokesperson) or 70 stores would be allowed to reopen, with 70 being the most cited number. We, human rights workers from the International Solidarity Movement that are based in Hebron, have seen that, unfortunately, there is little to support these claims. The same days that the news broke, two stores were indeed allowed to open for about an hour, before they were forced to close again by the Israeli forces present.

On July 24, a Palestinian store-owner, with the permission of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, attempted to get to his shop, which is located further up on the same street as the supposed store openings, in order to restore it to workable condition. He was, however, blocked from entering his shop by a big gathering of settlers, escorted by border police. The settlers brought chairs and a tent, and sat down in the front of the Palestinians shop on Shuhada Street to have their breakfast, taunting Muslims who were fasting for Ramadan. ISMers witnessed this event. This occured again in the evening of the same day, when they brought banners, as well as the next morning. As of yet, this is the most action the stores of Shuhada Street has seen. To us, and other people who frequent the area of the Ibrahimi mosque daily, it is hard to draw any other conclusion than that the whole story is simply a another Israeli PR campaign with little basis in reality.

We walk Shuhada Street every day, from checkpoint 56 at the start of the street to the checkpoint near the mosque of Ibrahim, and can confirm that nothing changed. Israeli forces continue to increase the arrests and detentions against Palestinians. Also, settler violence against Palestinians as well as internationals has not decreased at all. In fact, during the first couple of weeks of Ramadan, it was on the rise as many incidents occurred.
It should be clarified that the permission to reopen the stores has not shifted the complete block of this area by even one centimeter: the Palestinians are not allowed to access Shuhada Street and restrictions of movement imposed by the Israeli government between checkpoints and roadblocks for passing illegal settlements make it completely impossible to develop the functionality of economic activity.
Issa Amro, who was born in the old city of Hebron and is a local human rights defender, says of the situation: “The Israeli PR is trying to spread fake rumors about improvements and facilities for the Palestinians during Ramadan in the whole of the West Bank. As Palestinians, we don’t want a “nicer occupation,” we want our full freedom and self determination. The lies about reopening shops in Hebron is the best evidence to prove the real image of the occupation and the Israeli propaganda to change the apartheid image of the occupation.” Amro said that his organization hasn’t seen any improvement in Shuhada street, only more violations on the Palestinian identity of the street as well as more settler and army violence toward Palestinian children, women, and elders.

Barbed wire blocking the door to a house on Shuhada Street.

Amro says that his group is organising an international campaign to reopen Shuhada street. They had great success on 2015 by organizing more than 120 nonviolent activities all over the world, asking to put pressure on Israel to end its occupation and closure of the city centre of Hebron.
Amro added that even reopening shops without reopening all the checkpoints to let people and goods reach the shops is useless and impractical.

Soldiers — Israeli border police on Shuhada Street

Abed Salaymeh, a Shuhada Street resident since birth and activist in Youth Against Settlements, says: “What is happening in the main street of Hebron city makes me very angry. It’s not just because I was beaten up by a group of illegal settlers living on my street, who did that in front of the soldiers’ eyes, who not only didn’t take any action to stop them, but they let them attack and then had them leave the area while they forced us to stay home in order not to follow them. Judicially, as it is a kind of a dirty game, but also because of the lies that were spread in the media claiming that the occupation is to open shops in the street. Unfortunately people were very happy hearing that they would open some shops. This is not a gift that the occupation is giving, but this is a violated right by this occupation and must be taken back.”

This story was written by Youth Against Settlements and International Solidarity Movement.

Jerusalem Day: Palestinians met with extreme violence

On Sunday 17th May 2015, I witnessed some of the most violent and painfully blatant acts of Apartheid since my time in Palestine. I went to Al Quds for the annual ´Jerusalem Day´, to document the racist chants, commonly known to occur. ‘Jerusalem Day’, or ‘Yom Yerushalayim’ is a zionist celebration of the 6 day war in ’67, when Israel claims to have reuinited Jerusalem. Having ethnically cleansed West Jerusalem in 1948, Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since ’67, which had previously been under Jordanian control. The day consists of thousands of hard line Israelis, many of them young men, marching with flags through the muslim quarter of the old city, chanting racist and abusive slogans such as ‘Death to the Arabs’, and forcing shops to close their doors for the day.

Naively, I expected a relatively uneventful day, videoing marchers as they passed through the street. In reality, the day consisted of an abusive demonstration of the Zionist apartheid state and the ethnic cleansing upon which it is founded.

We arrived at Damascus gate just after 2pm to a crowd of young Israelis waving Israeli flags and, closely watched by soldiers, a small group of Palestinians and internationals waving Palestinian flags. All seemed tense. Throughout the city were swarms of zionists, dancing, chanting and celebrating their deemed ‘ownership’ of this city. Their loud chants through the Old City and choice to gather at Damascus Gate (The entrance to the muslim quarter), was a nod towards the provocative nature that this day would inevitably take.

Over the course of an hour, I witnessed a number of arrests. Although all separate to each other, they all had a common thread; they were all arrests of Palestinian men, and all included acts of violence shocking even within the context of the abusive occupation. I saw the first of these arrests only once the man’s head was locked in the arms of two soldiers. I burrowed under the arms of the soldiers and pulled the man away, a group of us successfully dearresting him. As he ran, the soldiers grabbed him again, holding his arms behind his back and squeezing at his chest. The man collapsed. His body fell to the ground between the soldiers, and as people rushed forward to perform CPR, the soldiers pushed them back, not allowing them to reach him. Eventually the man was carried away to hospital. We heard no news as to how he was later in the day.

Pushed against some close by metal railings, another man was grabbed by around 6 soldiers and thrown to the ground, before being stamped on and kicked as he lay there handcuffed. Just below the same railings, an Israeli soldier throttled another Palestinian man. Whilst his two hands were round the mans neck, other soldiers swarmed in and pushed him to the ground, hitting him in the face. He too was taken off by paramedics. An older man who looked in his sixties, whose arrest I didn’t see, was carried by his four limbs through the crowd by police.

These arrests were all at the entrance to Damascus Gate, watched over by a group of Zionists who were left to stay in the area. The agenda of the police and military at the scene, was to clear the area and road leading to it of any Palestinians. All Palestinians were moved to a side street, by police on horses charging through the crowds. Palestinians were pushed shoved and pulled away from the gate, many of whom had shopping bags and were with their children.

One elderly man passing through was thrown forwards onto his face by two soldiers. I next saw him as his bloody mouth was tended to by paramedics. Another was grabbed by a number of soldiers, and thrown with such force onto his back, he traveled a meter or so passed me before landing. A Palestinian man who attempted to stop a young zionist from pulling a scarf from a Palestinian woman, was pushed down the steps by two soldiers, as the zionist boy and his friends watched on. The woman, reclaimed her scarf and sat on the spot holding a Palestinian scarf in one hand, gesturing the peace sign with the other.

At around 7pm, what looked like tens of thousands of Zionists marched to Damascus Gate and on through the muslim quarter of the Old City. Largely consisting of young men, they chanted in Hebrew, directed at any Palestinian watching from the side. An older man next to me held a Palestinian flag, as the Zionists threw broken sticks from their flags at him. Later, standing among a small group of press at the side of the square, I found myself on the receiving end of sticks, as the crowd took any opportunity to attack onlookers. Press were hit with sticks, and dragged by police away from the gate. One police officer rugby tackled me from behind, as sticks were thrown from overhead. The crowd hurled abuse, as the soldiers watched on, many laughing along to the chants. As a Palestinian man nearby shouted back to the crowd, he was abruptly arrested and pulled away by soldiers.

The scenes witnessed at Damascus Gate on Sunday were not however the full extent of the day. A family we later visited whose house has just been demolished in East Jerusalem, had their area surrounded by Israeli flags, with people chanting ‘Death to the Arabs’ outside their window. Their 8 children, who were too afraid to leave the house, are daily witnesses to hatred inflicted towards themselves and their families.

Jerusalem Day to me was Zionism personified; the racist apartheid state that Israel is unashamed of. There were violent attacks on Palestinians by soldiers, police, and Zionist marchers alike. The soldiers and police supported Zionist youth as they hurled verbal abuse at passers by. Palestinian shops were forced to close as Zionists banged on their front shutters. Palestinians were made to move from the Muslim quarter to watch from afar as Zionists chanted hatred towards them – inciting ethnic cleansing and death to the Arabs.

This day was not one of watching on the sidelines as a group marched through the street – this day was a new awakening for me as to the systematic violence the Israeli state relies on. The city was turned into a playground for the new generation of right wing Zionists, as they were taught the abuse that’s accepted against all those not waving the same flag.