Category: Reports - Page 395 - International Solidarity Movement

Army uses disproportionate force against small demonstration in Beit Ommar

02 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Today, small peaceful demonstrations in Beit Ommar were met with disproportionate force by the Israeli army. Just after 11 o’clock this morning, a small group of villagers and internationals marched to the entrance of the village where they were met by lines of soldiers preventing them from exiting the village. The soldiers soon declared the area a closed military zone and erected a barricade preventing vehicles from entering and exiting. The army then threw teargas and sound grenades directly at demonstrators to drive the small group back into the village. The march was organised to commemorate Land Day and protest the encroachment of Karmei Tsur settlement on land belonging to local farmers. Karmei Tsur is one of five illegal settlements built on land belonging to Beit Ommar villagers.

Later in the day a group of approximately 25 Israeli activists arrived to protest the closure of the village and were greeted by truckloads of soldiers who violently dragged them away from the village and detained them at the petrol station next to the village. A number of members of the group, who had all come to protest peacefully, were arrested.

Hebron experiences more settler violence

1st April 2010 | International Solidarity Movement / Ma’an News Agency

According to Ma’an News Agency, in the past 48 hours the residents of Hebron have suffered a number of attacks by settlers. On Thursday a three year old girl was hospitalised in a hit-an-run attack by a settler car, outside the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque. Witnesses apparently report that the Israeli army was present at the time of the incident. This is the third time in March that Israeli settlers have hit Palestinians in their cars before fleeing the scene. Also on Thursday, settlers destroyed the contents of a store in the Jaber neighborhood and damaged a Palestinian home in Tel Rumeida in central Hebron. Today settlers also set fire to the front of a shop on Shalala Street.

Three killed and eight injured by Israeli fire this week

01 April 2011 | PNN / PCHR

This week the Israeli army killed 3 Palestinian and wounded 3 others in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 5 Palestinian civilians, including two children, in the West Bank, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said in its weekly report.

The report, which documents daily human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, covers the period of Thursday, March 24, to Wednesday, March, 30, 2011.

Shooting:

In the Gaza Strip, on 30 March 2011, the Israeli air force extra-judicially executed an activist of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) and wounded another one seriously in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.

On 27 March 2011, Israeli troops killed two activists of the al-Quds Brigades and wounded a third one in the northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli warplanes fired at these activists after they had fired home-made rockets into Israeli towns.

On 24 March 2011, a Palestinian resistance activist was wounded by a missile fired by an Israeli army drone in the northern Gaza Strip.

During the reporting period, Israel’s military launched a series of air strikes and artillery shelling against targets in the Gaza Strip. As a result of these attacks, two tunnels on the Egyptian border were destroyed and at least 30 houses and two schools were damaged.

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers wounded 5 Palestinian civilians, including two children.
During the reporting period, Israeli troops used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested 14 Israeli human rights defenders and two Palestinian civilians.

On 25 March 2011, a Palestinian civilian, who suffers from a psychological disorder, was wounded by the Israeli police in Fassayel village near Jericho.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, the Israeli army conducted at least 52 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 27 Palestinian civilians, including 14 children.

The widest incursions were into Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, during which Israeli troops arrested 18 Palestinian civilians, mostly children.
In the Gaza Strip, the military conducted two limited incursion into Palestinian areas, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

BDS victory against Ahava in UK

31 March 2011 | Anna Stevens

In a victory for the BDS movement, the UK flagship store of Ahava has been forced to relocate after years of protests and direct action. Ahava, an Israeli company which sells cosmetic products produced in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem has been a target for protesters in the UK who have sought to drive it out of London and challenge the legality of the company’s practices. In the past two and a half years protesters have blockaded the shop a number of times, preventing the store from trading. Ahava have so far been unsuccessful in securing any convictions for these actions in court. Under UK law, the crime of aggravated trespass is committed if one disrupts or obstructs a lawful activity on someone else’s property. However activists have argued that Ahava’s business is not lawful as it operates out of an illegal settlement. Ahava has also been under scrutiny for labelling its products as ‘made in Israel’ misleading customers and violating domestic consumer law. They have also been accused of evading tax by mislabelling their products.

Every fortnight the UK flagship store in Covent Garden, London is the site of a protest which regularly draws in large numbers of BDS and Palestine supporters. According to The Jewish Chronicle online these protests have resulted in complaints being made against the company by the neighbouring businesses which have led to a decision not to renew their lease when it expires. The protests have also seemingly effected Ahava UK’s profits, with their accounts up until the end of 2009 showing a total loss of more than £250,000, despite receiving more than £300,000 from its Israeli parent company, with no repayment plan.

Launch of new BDSmovement.net website as part of Global BDS Day of Action

31 March 2011 | Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

In celebration of the Global BDS Day of Action, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) has launched a new www.BDSmovement.net website.

Designed specifically with the grassroots, bottom-up nature of our rapidly growing movement in mind, the website will showcase user-submitted articles and videos from BDS groups around the globe.

We’re also excited about our new Download section, which has launched with over 100 fantastic resources that can be filtered according to campaign and type. The site is fully integrated with the latest social media tools, and we encourage you to join our Facebook group, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for our newsletter.

As with any new web project, the site will continue to expand and grow in the weeks and months ahead. We’d like to develop the new Learn section in the next couple of weeks, before moving on to implement a BDS Timeline feature that will track and archive the developments of our movement.

The website will only be a success with your active participation. We encourage you to submit your BDS news, videos, pictures, and victories to our site to help us keep it up to date.

As we continue to develop our movement for freedom, justice and equality, we hope the site will be an effective tool for all those with an interest in Palestinian rights, and a central resource for BDS activists worldwide.