9 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
Night-raid in Bil'in
Today at about 3 in the morning the Israeli army entered the village of Bil’in. About 50 soldiers came in by jeep and by foot. As they arrived to the two targeted houses, they ran and took positions outside, while a number of them entered the house of two brothers.
Soldiers hammered on the door of one house, demanding to see 30 year Ashraf al-Khatib. It turned out they were at the wrong house. They then went to another house by forcing one of Ahsraf’s brothers to show them the way to where Ashraf lives. Soldiers entered that house and his brother’s family’s house, and with the same procedure woke up the family, again asking for Ashraf al-Khatib. His brother, Haytham al-Khatib, is a journalist from the human right’s group B’tselem and was one of the people roused by the army. Though they had again entered a house where their target did not live, they remained inside for about one and a half hours, searching all the rooms.
Haytham al-Khatib tells about his 6 year old son’s reaction when he woke up and saw tens of soldiers in his house. “He asked me to close the door, because he didn’t want to see them.” Haytham himself was held back when he wanted to record the raid in his family’s houses -– the soldiers simply locked him in a room for more than an hour, away from his children and wife. The children in the houses are aged from 1 1/2 to 8 years, and this is not the first time they have seen their homes raided in the night.
Soldier during night-raid
However, after 1 1/2 hours of searching for the target in three houses, two of them in which he does not reside, Ashraf al-Khatib was not found. Five weeks ago Ashraf was shot in his leg with live ammunition by an Israeli soldier in a demonstration in Bil’in. The bullet went through his leg, breaking the bone. Even though he was heavily injured and in major pain, the soldiers tried to arrest him. Luckily he was brought to safety by fellow protesters and then to the hospital for surgery. Tonight the army decided to come and take him in front of his wife and 1 1/2 year old daughter instead.
The soldiers retreated from the targeted houses by foot, walking toward the military road that follows the illegal segregation fence in Bil’in, about 4:30 AM. The village of Bil’in has suffered from frequent night raids over the last few years, and a number of villagers have been taken for interrogation and imprisoned for their non-violent resistance to the occupation and segregation wall on Bil’in’s land.
Today, workers from the Jerusalem municipality and Israeli forces removed the Memorial of Samer Sarhan, this morning. They also removed the water supply donated on the soul of Samer Sarhan and the olive tree planted in the place, although the tree was present prior to the monument. The operation took place under the monitoring of an Israeli helicopter in the area. Vehicles of municipal workers and Israeli forces emerged after the enforcement of the task in less than ten minutes. One eyewitness and a resident of the region said, “members of the Israeli police came earlier to take pictures of the site of the memorial. They must have have studied how to implement the process in a very short time and leave before a large number of residents noticed them.” He adds, “police were not alone for the removal of a martyr’s memorial, but were accompanied by the head of settlers’ guards in Silwan.”
Miri Regev, a member of the Israeli Knesset for the Likud party, and former spokesperson for the Israeli Army, was sent to the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, yesterday, demanding that he remove the memorial of Silwan resident Samer Sarhan, 32, who died on the twenty-second of September after being shot by a settler guard.
In recent weeks, the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan has become a flashpoint of settler and Palestinian confrontation. Over 33 young Palestinian men between the ages of 8 and 16 were arrested in October alone, mostly for being accused of throwing stones.
Violent clashes between armed Israeli forces, settlers, and Palestinian youth are now an almost daily occurrence in the area. This recent pattern of unrest comes directly in response to the shooting death of Samer Sarhan, killed by one of the many private settler guards who act with impunity in East Jerusalem.
As news of Samer’s martyrdom reached the Palestinian population, spontaneous protests broke out throughout the city, peaking during Samer’s funeral when over one thousand mourners confronted the armed Israeli occupation forces present at the cemetery.
According to testimonies from the ground, Sarhan was walking towards his home at 4.00 a.m. in his neighborhood of al-Bustan, when he was shot by an armed Israeli security guard patrolling the area.
The Israeli security guard who shot Sarhan was called by Israeli police for interrogation on the same day, but was immediately released under the pretext that the murder of Sarhan was in self-defense. According to him, Sarhan intended to ambush the settlers and security guards in order to kidnap them. These accusations are soundly denied by Sarhan’s family and al-Bustan’s Popular Committee.
During the protests, the Israeli occupation forces employed tear-gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets, which led to many physical injuries, as well as suffocation inside peoples’ homes.
On September 24th, a 14-month old toddler-martyr in Issawiya named Muhammed abu-Sneneh was murdered in his house after having suffocated gas that was fired at residents and their houses. The Israeli occupation forces attacked a peaceful demonstration of residents who held a symbolic funeral for the baby. A total number of 16 Palestinians are reported to have been arrested on the 25th by the occupation forces and large amount of armed policemen and Special Forces were present in all major Arab neighborhoods of the city.
On October 8th, a settler named David Be’eri ran over two boys as they threw rocks at his car, and was caught on video with his license plate in the act. The boys were rushed to the hospital with some broken bones. The settler was questioned about the incident but suffered no consequences. These Palestinian boys were later arrested, and on October 17th, a Jerusalem court accused them of throwing stones and ordered to be placed on two weeks of house arrest. All three were questioned by police and found to be “involved in disturbances and riots” in the neighborhood of Silwan, said Mickey Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli national police.
4 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
As Israeli army snipers in the control tower at the Erez crossing looked on, Saber Al Za’anin, the General Coordinator of the Local Initiative group spoke passionately about Palestinian resistance on the anniversary of the November 3rd 1917 Balfour Declaration.
“We carry forward the fight of our great grandfathers to dismiss the disgraceful and unjust promise that the UK Foreign Secretary offered to the Zionists to create a state in the middle of Palestine 93 years ago. Here we are, the present-day Palestinian generation standing strong again to uphold the principle of our forefathers and the struggle that has been passed down for us to continue today.”
It was the 93rd anniversary of the Balfour promise, and local volunteers from the Local Initiative group from Beit Hanoun and activists from the International Solidarity Movement demonstrated next to the Israeli border in Beit Hanoun, Northern Gaza. The crowd marched up to 100 metres from the Israeli wall, where previous non-violent demonstrations had been fired upon with live ammunition. The protesters were bringing attention to the horrific injustices that have befallen them since the promise by British occupiers to create a Jewish homeland over an area that was over 90% Palestinian Arab.
The demonstration took place near the Erez border , near the Israeli imposed ‘buffer zone’ – an area of land 300 metres from the fence stretching along the entire border fence. A United Nations investigation found that farmers, rubble collectors, civilians and protesters have been shot up 1500 metres of the fence, which makes 35% of Gaza’s most agricultural land a high risk area to access, causing severe loss of food production and livelihoods.
The demonstrators approached the Israeli wall, stopping at a barbed wire fence and ditch created by a bulldozer during an Israeli incursion over a month before in which 3 farm workers we killed. Planting one Palestinian flag at the fence, they chanted and waved flags before people spoke of the horrific legacy of the Balfour Declaration.
Local farmer Abzel Al Baseony spoke about the current plight he faces; he stands to lose more land near the border. He has been farming since 1984, taking after his father. He explained how the Israeli army bulldozed much of his land that used to be covered in trees and how afraid people are to farm there now. Like most Palestinians, he was also well aware of Britain’s historical role in facilitating the creation of Israel on Palestinian land.
“It was the British who created this problem allowing the Israeli state to be built on the ruins of our refugees and you’ve seen what they have done to us ever since. During the British mandate before 1947 their attacks on us killed many civilians, and now they, like the American and European Governments, continue to support Israel when it takes our land and bombs our families. But we will keep farming for another 93 years if that’s what it takes to get justice for our people.”
Like over 80% of Gazans, most of the demonstrators were refugees from different Palestinian towns and villages such as Faluja, Min Dimra, Askelaan or Majdel, arab villages located in what is now Israel. In total, 531 villages were wiped out and demolished in 1948 by the Israeli army after their Palestinian inhabitants were violently forced to leave. Ever since they have been refused their right of return.
British International Solidarity Movement activist Adie Mormech believes that people from his country have a duty to right the wrongs of the British involvement in Palestine, which continues today with political, commercial and military support.
“The British Government’s role in the middle east is a sad one, like much of the British empire was for the inhabitants of the countries they were colonizing. Britain contributed similarly the Apartheid system in South Africa. Fortunately many British citizens opposed the apartheid regime, boycotting the South African government until their racist policies had to end. Today in Britain and throughout the world, boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israel are growing while the international community continues to allow with impunity Israel’s medieval siege of Gaza, it’s military occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem and its continuing discrimination and ethnic cleansing. As was the case for South Africa, it is up to people of conscience around the world to join the movement until Israel adheres to international law and allow Palestinians the same human rights as any other people.”
The demonstration ended without incident, although there was no mistaking the memories and sense of injustice stirred by the anniversary of Balfour, emphasized by the resolution of organiser Saber Al Za’anin:
“We are out from under the rubble of Israeli oppression to prove again to the whole world that the Palestinian people will never accept the ethnic cleansing and murder against us. We will remain steadfast for our rights, our freedom and our land.”
29 October, 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
22 people injured, 5 still in hospital, at increasingly violent An Nabi Saleh Demonstration by Henni
Many shebab, two journalists and a girl were injured on Friday at the weekly demonstration in An Nabi Saleh. Villagers had employed a new strategy in response to the increasing violence of soldiers and border police.
Demonstrators shot with pepper spray at An Nabi Saleh
Demonstrators split up and approached the road from the two opposite hills divided by the valley. The side with most of the shebab was blocked with massive amounts of teargas and attacked by border police. From the other side, most of the internationals, women, and children entered the road and continued the demonstration.
Police shouted and attacked some Palestinians with pepper spray directly in their faces. Soldiers attempted to arrest an international, saying “we want to talk with you.” With the support of other internationals and Palestinians he was de-arrested.
Border police declared the road “a closed military zone” without showing any paper or map as proof. Demonstrators asked to look at the paper, but the commander “was not able to find it”. Soldiers gave people 10 minutes to leave, threatening that everyone would be arrested otherwise. The demonstrators remained and argued with the soldiers, but the only response was a round of sound bombs shot directly at them.
Border police isolated the internationals and most of the children and women of the village from the shebab, occupying three houses in the village center and clashing with the shebab for several hours.
They shot two Palestinian journalists, leaving one injured on the arm and the other on the leg. Border police and soldiers continued their attack on the shebab until after sunset, pushing the clash to the olive fields surrounding the village, using rubber bullets and tear gas.10-year-old girl hit with rubber bullet at an Nabi Saleh
At this same time, the internationals and women were attacked with heavy amounts of tear gas. About sunset, one 10-year-old girl was injured by a rubber bullet. In total, 22 people were injured, and 5 are still in the hospital.
These weekly demonstrations have been taking place since January, 2010. One man in the village said “We want to build a strategy for all Palestine to find a way to resist against the occupation.” The village has a strong story of resistance: During the first Intifada almost half of its inhabitants were in jail. Women always participate in the Demonstration and act independently.
Ni’lin demonstrators cut away part of electric fence by Stella
Climbing the wall to raise the Palestinian flag
Friday, demonstrators in Ni’lin succeed in cutting away part of the electric fence that annexes land onto the nearby illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit. Around one hundred Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered under the olive trees just outside the village and, after the noonday prayer, marched through the village’s land towards the Apartheid Wall.
In protest against the illegal settlements that have already stolen most of their land and that prevent them from farming what little is left, some youth from the village threw stones symbolically against the Apartheid Wall. A few minutes after the demonstration reached the wall, the army responded with tear gas. As the wind was often blowing toward the wall, the soldiers frequently got a taste of the tear gas themselves.
Some protesters then managed to cut a part of the electric fence. At that point, soldiers came out from the gate to check what was happening, and the protesters retreated. Quite surprisingly the soldiers didn’t follow the protesters as they usually do, but went back to hide behind the concrete slabs of the wall and continue to shoot tear gas.
The demonstration finished around 3 p.m. with no injures or arrests.
Soldiers hiding behind the concrete prove of the Apartheid
This weekend the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conference was held in Jerusalem, despite pressure from human rights groups for it to be held elsewhere or not at all. After their insistence on holding the conference here, ignoring Israel’s blatant violations of international law and colluding with their aspirations to claim Jerusalem as an Israeli capitol, we were forced as activists with conscience to confront the participants with criticism, posters, and a giant banner.
We came upon a detailed schedule for the “Round Table” conference of high profile OECD ambassadors, and were thus able to meet them at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, 8:30 AM on Friday. Our signs had pictures of ostriches with their heads buried in the sand, and the slogan “Don’t Close Your Eyes to Apartheid” in several different languages. They were surprised to find us there. We were told to stand at the exit, but all of the ambassadors still had to pass us on their way out. A few smiled, but most quickly averted their eyes or glared at us.
click for full sizeSaturday we dropped a ten meter wide banner off the Calatrava bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem, that again said “Don’t Close Your Eyes to Apartheid,” and had an “OECD Approved” stamp over a photo of the Apartheid Wall. As a result of Shebat, there were no police in the area so our banner remained in place for at least a few hours. Some Israeli passersby attempted to untie the banner, but were unsuccessful due to our proficiencies in knotting. A few boys tried to pull the banner back up onto the bridge, but when they saw us filming them they threw it back over and ran away.
click for full sizeDespite Israel’s persistent violation of human rights as protected by International law, the OECD — whose member countries include most of the rich countries of the world — granted Israel membership on May 27th this year. This not only symbolized diplomatic approval of Israel’s policies on the part of the most powerful countries in the international community, but also brought many potential economic benefits to Israel.
