Category: Press Releases

Balata Video Collective

Film is an important means of both resistance and communication. The Balata Film Collective was initiated to enable young Palestinians from Balata to break their isolation, challenge their oppression and represent their lives to the world.

The Balata film production collective films, edits and produces movies in Arabic and English. Films produced will include shorts uploaded to the internet and full-length movies distributed on DVD and VHS. Interesting footage will be made available on a server for other filmmakers across the world.

Visit them online at:
http://www.balatacamp.net

Bil’in and Ramadin to demonstrate against Annexation Barrier this Friday, June 17th

This Friday, June 17th, the villages of Bill’in (at 1pm) and Ramadin (at 11am) will continue their non-violent campaign against the Annexation Wall that is being built on their land, depriving them of their livelihoods and annexing their lands to Israel.

The village of Bil’in has been organizing non-violent demonstrations against the barrier being built on their land for many months now. The demonstrations have been organized by the local Popular Committee Against the Wall, whose members have been detained, arrested, beaten and threatened, and their families have been harassed in the middle of the night. The entire village has suffered at the hands of the Israeli army for their persistence in non-violent resistance. The army commander in the area, Lieutenant Colonel Tzachi Segev was recently quoted as saying: “The stronger the activity against the fence, the stronger our operations will be. We reserve the right to enter the village at any hour … sometimes there is no escaping collective punishment, even if it has a negative impact. Collective punishment is closure, prohibiting people from entering a certain village, blocking the Bilin-Safa road [referring to the neighboring village] as a lever of pressure if the village does not behave properly.” (Meron Rappaport – Gandhi Redux).

All forms of collective punishment are illegal under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The village of Ramadin, in the ultra-impoverished district of South Hebron, will once again demonstrate against the theft of the villagers land this Friday. The Annexation Barrier, if completed in this area, will cut the village off from their olive groves, throwing the community into further poverty. The village demonstrated twice last week, managing on one occasion to stop the work of the bulldozers. The response of the army was very violent.

Israeli democracy

In a true example of Israeli democracy Sam from Britian was arrested today for holding a Palestinian flag in Jerusalem. He was released with a caution not to disturb the peace a few hours later.

See: Police detain peace activist for waving Palestinian flag near High Court by Itim at http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/587685.html:

Police detained a peace activist on Tuesday after the man waved a Palestinian flag outside the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem. The activist took part in a demonstration against the construction of the West Bank’s separation fence.

Protesters included Israeli, Palestinian and foreign participants waving signs and chanting slogans. One of them, waving the Palestinian flag, refused to abide by the police’s request to put it away and was taken in for questioning.

NYC Activists Take Message Against Caterpillar to “Business and Sustainability” Conference at Waldorf

One Arrested Later at CAT Presentation

For photos, visit
http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/152583/index.php

NEW YORK – NYC activists on behalf of Palestinian rights brought their message to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel this morning, where an executive from Caterpillar was scheduled to appear on a panel about social responsibility and sustainability. The spirited rally excited police attention but no arrests. Later, while the CAT executive’s talk was underway, an activist was arrested attempting to make a presentation to the same audience on CAT’s role in Israel’s ongoing campaign to destroy Palestinian homes, while another activist leafleted the conference attendees.

In Israel/Palestine, CAT has clearly overwhelmingly chosen business value over social responsibility. The D9 and D10 bulldozers that CAT sells to the Israeli government are designed specifically to destroy Palestinian land, roads, water supplies, and sewer systems and to uproot hundreds of thousands of fruit and olive trees – the main livelihood for many Palestinians.

In recent weeks the Israeli government has announced plans to demolish 88 more Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem using Caterpillar bulldozers, as Israel continues to bulldoze Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (www.icahd.org), “Since 1967 Israel has demolished almost 12,000 Palestinian homes, leaving some 70,000 without shelter and traumatized.” CAT bulldozers have helped to facilitate Israel’s policy of sustained destruction of the Palestinian economy and communities.

Latest information is that the arrested activist was taken to Manhattan North precinct, to be charged by the hotel with trespass. The protest earlier this morning was endorsed by the International Solidarity Movement – NYC, NYU Students for Justice in Palestine, Queer Resistance for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Women of a Certain Age, Jews Against the Occupation NYC, and the BootCAT Campaign. The conference itself was organized by the New York-based Conference Board, whose senior vice president, Gail Fosler, also serves on CAT’s Board of Directors.

Children of Bil’in to Protest at Supreme court Tuesday

Tomorrow, Tuesday, a request will be submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court that Bil’in lands will be included in the appeal by the neighboring village of Harbata against the confiscation of the villages’ lands for the separation wall.

As Bil’in residents above the age of 14 are not allowed to enter Israel, even in order to attend a court session so crucial for them, the children of Bil’in will go to Jerusalem alone – to demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court when the request is being made. Internationals and Israelis will attend the court session in support of Bil’in’s children. The deliberation will start at 9:00 am and the demonstration will start at 8:30 in front of the court.

Following this Friday’s morning prayer, residents of Bil’in, internationals, and Israelis will once again protest the building of the annexation barrier.

Despite indications of reviving the `road map’ which requires a freeze on Israeli settlement growth, the route of the Wall near Bil’in hasbeen specifically designed to incorporate future expansion of Modiin elit.

In 1991, 1,300 dunam of agricultural land used for regional crops were confiscated by the state of Israel for the construction of Kiryat Sefer settlement, but 200 dunam of olive trees remained in Palestinian hands. The basis for the confiscation of Bil’in’s agricultural land was based on an Ottoman-era land law, still being used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which states that land unused for over a certain period of time can be confiscated by the state. Bil’in residents claim the photos of the land which were presented to the court when the confiscation was approved were taken in the summer.

In 2003, the state claimed that the 200 unconfiscated dunam had been sold to the settlers by Bil’in resident Sami Bornat. The Bornat ownership papers were forged, a fact well known by the Israeli authorities because they had previously recognized the owners of the land in the court case for the confiscation. Despite this, the land was approved for building the settlement.

Now Bil’in will lose an additional 1000 Dunams behind the Wall. The planned route of the Wall comes four meters from the last house in the village.