Category: Press Releases

A Conference Against the Wall in Bil’in

[BILIN, West Bank] In our village of Bilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, we are living an important but overlooked story of the occupation. Though Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza earlier this year, they are continuing to expand their West Bank settlements.

On our village’s land, Israel is building one new settlement and expanding five others. These settlements will form a city called Modiin Illit, with tens of thousands of settlers, many times the number that were evacuated from Gaza. These settlements consume most of our area’s water. Throughout the West Bank, settlement and wall construction, arrests, killing and occupation continue.

Over one year ago the International Court of Justice handed down an advisory ruling that Israel’s construction of a wall on Palestinian land violated international law. Today, Palestinians in villages like ours are struggling to implement that decision and stop the illegal construction using nonviolence. Unfortunately the international community has done little to support us.

Our village is being strangled by Israel’s wall. Though Bilin sits two and a half miles east of the Green Line, Israel is taking roughly 60 percent of our 1,000 acres of land in order to annex the six settlements and build the wall around them. This land is also money to us – we work it. Bilin’s 1,600 residents depend on farming and harvesting olives for our livelihood. The wall will turn Bilin into an open-air prison, like Gaza.

After Israeli courts refused our appeals to prevent wall construction, we, along with Israelis and international citizens from around the world, began peacefully protesting the confiscation of our land. We chose to resist nonviolently because we are peace-loving people who are victims of the occupation. We have opened our homes to the Israelis who have joined us. They have become our partners in struggle. Together we send a strong message that we can coexist in peace and security. We welcome anyone who comes to us as a guest and who works for peace and justice for both peoples, but we will resist anyone who comes as an occupier.

We have held more than 90 peaceful demonstrations since February. We learned from the experience and advice of villages such as Budrus and Biddu, who resisted the wall nonviolently. Palestinians from other areas now call people from Bilin “Palestinian Gandhis.”

Our demonstrations aim to stop the bulldozers destroying our land, and to send a message about the wall’s impact. We’ve chained ourselves to olive trees that were being bulldozed for the wall to show that taking the life of our trees takes the life of our village. We’ve distributed letters asking the soldiers to think before they shoot at us, explaining that we are not against the Israeli people, we are against the building of the wall on our land. We refuse to be strangled by the wall in silence. In a famous Palestinian short story by Ghassan Kanafani, “Men in the Sun,” Palestinian workers suffocate inside a tanker truck. Upon discovering them, the driver screams, “Why didn’t you bang on the sides of the tank?” In Bilin, we are banging, we are screaming.

In the face of our nonviolent resistance, Israeli soldiers have attacked our peaceful protests with teargas, clubs, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition. They have injured over 400 villagers. They invade the village at night, entering homes, pulling families out and arresting people.

But a year after the International Court of Justice’s decision, wall construction Palestinian land continues. Behind the smoke screen of the Gaza withdrawal, the real story is Israel’s attempt to take control of the West Bank by building the illegal wall and settlements that threaten to destroy dozens of villages like Bilin and any hope for peace.

Bilin is banging, Bilin is screaming. Please stand with us so that we can achieve our freedom by peaceful and nonviolent means.

We invite you to participate with us in an international conference that we will hold in Bilin to address the occupation and build nonviolent resistence to it, February 20 & 21, 2006.

For more information on the conference, please write to:
bel3en@yahoo.com

Please forward this invitation widely!

Bilin’s Popular Committee
Against the Wall and settelments

A Week of Palestinian Calls for the Release of the CPT Volunteers Held Hostage in Iraq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Ramallah, Occupied Palestine] Over the last week Palestinians from across the political spectrum have issued impassioned appeals and demonstrated for the release of the four Christian Peacemaker Team volunteers who were taken hostage in Iraq, three of whom had previously served in Palestine with CPT and ISM.

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 7th, two further demonstrations will take place. In Nablus, a demonstration will take place at 11am in front of the Red Cross building. Participating will be several Palestinian NGOs and the friends of Harmeet Sooden who met him in January 2005. The Nablus region was the main focus of Harmeet’s work with ISM, and he made many friends there. A candle-lit demonstration calling for the release of the four will be held in Ramallah, meeting at al-Manara at 4:30pm.

Calls for the release of the hostages were made by the head Mufti of Palestine, Ikram Al Sabri; the coordinating body for all Palestinian political parties, the National and Islamic Forces for both Palestine and Hebron; Shawkat Samha the Mayor of Jayyous; the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades; Qadura Fares, the Coordinator of the National Committee to Resist Settlement and the Wall; Ferial Abu Haikal, the Headmistress of the Qurtuba Girls School in Hebron, and many other community leaders from Hebron.

Demonstrations calling for the release of the CPT volunteers were held in Hebron, At-Tuwani and Ramallah. More are planned over the next week in Nablus (tomorrow at 11am) and Ramallah (tomorrow at 4:30pm). Below are statements by these individuals and groups, as well as links to their full statements in English and Arabic when available, and reports on the demonstrations.

Ikram Al Sabri, the Chief Mufti of Palestine on December 5th: “There is a duty for all Palestinian people, institutions and factions to commit to sending a call to release these people who have been kidnapped. They are very important for us to help continue our struggle, whether here in Palestine or in Iraq, to gain our country’s freedom. We repeat our call to release all the civilian people who have been kidnapped all over the world, not only these four.”
For full text see:
Transcript of Palestinian Press Conference Calling for the Release of the Four CPT Hostages in Iraq

The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces, the coordinating body for all Palestinian political parties, on December 2nd: “We call upon all the people of Iraq, on all people of faith and honour, on all people of conscience to act for the release of those activists who struggle on our behalf against occupation and injustice. We raise our voice alongside all National and Islamic factions in the district of Hebron who issued a statement on this most serious matter, on November 29th, 2005, which reflects the feelings of all Palestinians from all factions and persuasions.”
For full statement in Arabic and English:
Statement by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces on the CPT Hostages in Iraq
For press conference remarks see:
Transcript of Palestinian Press Conference Calling for the Release of the Four CPT Hostages in Iraq

The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces of Hebron on November 29th: “We appeal to our brothers in the resistance and all those with alert consciences in Iraq, with whom we consider ourselves to be in the same trench confronting American aggression and occupation, to instantly and quickly release the four kidnapped persons (two Canadians, one Briton and one American) from CPT, in appreciation for their role in standing beside and supporting our Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples.”
For full statement in Arabic and English:
Statement by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces in Hebron on the CPT Hostages in Iraq

Shawkat Samha, the Mayor of the West Bank Village Jayyous on November 30th: “They subjected themselves to grave dangers when they stood in front of Israeli bulldozers. We knew them as people who were against the occupation and supported freedom for occupied peoples, like the Palestinian and Iraqi peoples.”
AP article:
Palestinians appeal for release of Western activists kidnapped in Iraq

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on December 4th: “Those are the same friends of the martyr Rachel Corrie who was crushed under an Israeli bulldozer as she stood in the defence of our people and her friends against the Israeli Zionist occupation. We came to know them as they took a courageous stance against the new system of apartheid and the racist separation Wall. They suffered as we did, and were wounded by the bullets of the occupation, while others were exiled and imprisoned. Therefore, we ask the kidnappers to release those hostages.”
For full statement in Arabic and English:
Statement by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Palestine on the CPT Hostages in Iraq

Qadura Fares, Coordinator of the National Committee to Resist Settlements and the Wall on November 30th: “From Palestine we call upon you to release the four from the Christian Peacemaker Teams who were kidnapped from Baghdad. This is an organization that has helped and continues to help our people living under Israeli occupation in the city of Hebron and in other regions throughout our occupied homeland. They expose themselves to danger in order to provide protection to our women and children in front of Israeli military checkpoints.”
For full statement in Arabic and English:
Statement by the National Committee to Resist Settlement and the Wall on the CPT Hostages in Iraq

Ferial Abu Haikal, the Headmistress of the Qurtuba School in Hebron on December 5th: “We still remember the nice moments while we were under curfew with the CPT members who we have known since 1995. They came and gave food to people under curfew and showed their love and solidarity with our schools and our children. We will never forget these moments, because the CPT were the only people standing with us at that time. As a women who works with them, I send my call for the Iraqi resistance to release these people because CPT are very important people for us.”
For full statement see:
Transcript of Palestinian Press Conference Calling for the Release of the Four CPT Hostages in Iraq

At the December 2nd Demonstration in At- Tuwani, Hebron District, another Palestinian said: “We have been suffering from the Israeli occupation since ages. CPT members first came here two years ago. They have documented such suffering, and were badly beaten by the Israeli settlers for that. As such, we have to stand by them because they hold a message of peace as we call upon the kidnappers to release the kidnapped CPT members in Iraq. They have become human shields for our children against Israeli aggression. We demand that they are to be set free as a reward for their good deeds here in Tuwani and in the rest of Palestine.”
For coverage see:
Palestinians Ask for Release of Christian Hostages

On the 1st of December, 300 Palestinians demonstrated in Ramallah in solidarity with the four. The demonstration was attended by Abu Hasan Morrar a representative of the Islamic Council of Palestine, Shawkat Samha the mayor of the town of Jayyous, Fatima Asi of the Women For Life group in the Salfit region and Mustafa Barghouti the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative. All called passionately for the hostage’s release, as demonstrators held up signs in Arabic and English describing the four as their friends. A statement on behalf of the Popular Committees Against the Wall was read adding to the call. Palestinians and internationals who know the hostages personally were on the demonstration which was attended by Palestinians from Bil’in who spoke and called on the kidnappers to release the hostages.
For coverage see:
Palestinians Unite to Call For Release of Four Peace Activist Hostages in Iraq
For press conference remarks see:
Press Conference in Hebron Held by the National and Islamic Forces on November 30th.

Wire Service Photos

Ikram Al Sabri at December 5 Press Conference in Ramallah:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051205/481/jrl12112051314
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051205/481/jrl12212051325
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051205/ids_photos_wl/r3564300070.jpg
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051205/ids_photos_wl/r3034176822.jpg

December 1st Ramallah Protest for Release of Hostages:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051201/481/jrl12212011903
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051201/481/jrl12012011629

November 30 Hebron Protest:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051130/481/jrl11811301803

For More Information Contact:
ISM Media Office: 02 297 1824 or 057 572 0754
CPT Hebron: 02-222-8485

Statement by the National Committee to Resist Settlement and the Wall on the CPT Hostages in Iraq

The Palestinian National Authority
The National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlement
Office of the Coordinator of the Committee
Ramallah, Palestine

November 30, 2005

A PLEA TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE

From Palestine we call upon you to release the four from the Christian Peacemaker Teams who were kidnapped from Baghdad. This is an organization that has helped and continues to help our people living under Israeli occupation in the city of Hebron and in other regions throughout our occupied homeland. They expose themselves to danger in order to provide protection to our women and children in front of Israeli military checkpoints.

We urge you in the name of humanity and in the name of all peoples that have tasted bitter wars, violence and occupation… we urge you to release Tom Fox (American citizenship), Norman Kember (British citizenship), James Loney and Hermeet Sooden (Canadian citizenship), all of whom insisted on helping our family in Iraq and living with our Iraqi brothers and sisters through the war and destruction, believing in the message that every human being has the right to live in freedom and with dignity and that occupation is wrong and must end.

We have faith that you will find that this group is among those working for peace and against occupation and that you will release them immediately, god willing.

Coordinator of the National Committee to Resist the Wall
Qadura Fares

Statement by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Palestine on the CPT Hostages in Iraq

From your brothers in arms, the sons of the same blood who have suffered from one enemy, to the fighters against the invaders in Iraq, at a time when we are engaged in one battle against a single unjust plan by Zionist imperialism; a plan aimed at dividing the region, the theft of its wealth and the subduing of its peoples in the name of deceitful excuses such as the spreading of democracy and freedom, we appeal to the hands that are fighting the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the lands, those who reject occupation. This occupation is the real terrorism in this world. As a result of the actions of this occupation, be it the killing of humans, or destruction of houses and trees, a group of free people in the world have moved to stand by the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples, as they continue to suffer from the evils of the occupation. Those volunteers include: Tom Fox, James Loney, Harmeet Sooden, and Norman Kember.

Those are the same friends of the martyr Rachel Corrie who was crushed under an Israeli bulldozer as she stood in the defense of our people and her friends against the Israeli Zionist occupation. We came to know them as they took a courageous stance against the new system of apartheid and the racist separation Wall. They suffered as we did, and were wounded by the bullets of the occupation, while others were exiled and imprisoned

Therefore, we ask the kidnappers to release those hostages in order for them to go back and stand by the side of justice and peace, and by the side of the persecuted nations, notwithstanding the actions of their governments who are directly responsible for all the violence in the region.

United together to eradicate the occupation and to lift the injustices from our peoples

Your brothers,

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
December 4, 2005

Statement by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces in Hebron on the CPT Hostages in Iraq

In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful

“O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done.” – The Holy Qur’an, 49:6

The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine express their deep regret for the kidnapping of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Iraq.

The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine have had long experience confronting Israeli crimes and violations with the CPT since 1995, and wish to confirm that the members of this group have had and still have a major role in confronting Israeli crimes and violations, and in the protection of the property and the lives of the Palestinian citizens.

More than once they placed themselves in front of the occupation’s tanks, and they confronted Israeli occupation bulldozers with their bodies defending Palestinians’ homes against destruction. They accompanied our children when they were threatened and attacked by Israeli settlers on their way to and from their schools. Because of what they were doing, the CPT members were subjected to arrest, beating and pursuit by the Israeli soldiers and settlers in more than one location in Palestine. Many of them were denied entry to Palestine, or deported by the occupation authorities because of their activities in confronting the occupation.

We appeal to our brothers in the resistance and all those with alert consciences in Iraq, with whom we consider ourselves to be in the same trench confronting American aggression and occupation, to instantly and quickly release the four kidnapped persons (two Canadians, one Briton and one American) from CPT, in appreciation for their role in standing beside and supporting our Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples.

Freedom for the Iraqi and Palestinian people.
Shame and disgrace on the Zionist and American occupation.

The Islamic and National Forces in the Governorate of Hebron:

  • Islamic Resistance Movement/Hamas
  • Fatah
  • Palestine People’s Party
  • Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
  • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
  • Palestine Liberation Front
  • Democratic Union of Palestine/FIDA
  • Palestinian Popular Struggle Front

Hebron
November 29, 2005