At approximately 11.30pm on the 18th April, a British ISM activist, Robin Brown, was arrested in Sheikh Jarrah having been falsely accused by Israeli settlers of attacking them with tear gas. Those present in the hours leading up to his arrest insist this cannot possibly be true. Brown was released from police custody at 3am on the 19th – recognition from the police that there was absolutely no evidence to support the settlers’ accusations.
Earlier in the evening, settlers had attempted to destroy a mural that was recently painted in the front garden of the Al Kurd home, half of which is occupied by settlers. Running past the wall, they threw cupfuls of white paint at the mural before fleeing down the street. Despite their later claims to police, there was no confrontation in the street between them and the Palestinian residents of the neighbourhood, or the international activists who were also present.
The previous night, Israeli settlers attacked local residents in the street, pepper spraying two of them. As the police say that, when called to the area on the night of the 18th, a settler did show signs of having been gassed, it seems possible that this was inflicted upon him by a fellow settler, still in possession of the pepper spray used the night before. The police who arrested and interrogated Brown found no traces of any kind of gas or spray on his hands, clothes or bag, proof that, if any gas was used, it did not come from him.
Brown says, “It is clear that settlers have decided to try to find ways to get rid of the international activists who sit in solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah residents, and who document the violence and harassment that is inflicted upon them by the settlers. Settlers frequently make up lies in an attempt to get Palestinians arrested. It’s no surprise that they’re now doing the same to internationals”.
The Al-Kurds continued to reclaim what remains of their Sheikh Jarrah home today with an art project. Three graffiti artists from Palestine, Israel and the UK joined Sheikh Jarrah residents and activists for a day of garden beautification. The artists met with residents in the morning while activists prepped the walls for painting. “Sheikh Jarrah” was sprayed in both Arabic and English with an Al-Aqsa style mosque between the two. The Gawi children, evicted from their homes in August 2009, assisted with the creation. Neighborhood kids also made stencils to decorate the doors, walls and pathways of the yard.
Nasser Al-Ghawi sits by reclaimed wall
Settlers were present in large numbers, upwards of 15 at times, throughout the day. They sat in front of the occupied Al-Kurd home watching as over 40 residents, Israeli and international activists filled the yard to support the evicted families of Sheikh Jarrah. Police also had a heavy presence. Artists were blocked from painting on the western wall of the yard, shared by a Palestinian neighbor who recently received eviction papers because the wall. Painting was only permitted on the eastern wall of the yard. At one point during the day, police blocked access to the yard to everyone except Yoni, a leader of the settlers.
Sheikh Jarrah youth paints wall
A legal battle will ensue shortly regarding the ownership of the yard. Settlers claim that it is communal property thus they have the right to access the playground toys recently installed by the Palestinian Authority and the right to paint the walls. One settler remarked how glad he was that we were painting the walls white, as it prepares it for the Israeli flag. Sheikh Jarrah residents and activist supporters insist that the court gave the settlers the Al-Kurd home and just the home. The legal basis for the home being transferred to settlers is that it lacks the proper permits. The yard and walls however, do not require permits and were never deemed illegal, thus logic would state that these parts of the property should not be transferred to the settlers.
Settlers continued in their attempted provocation of residents and activists throughout the night despite even attempts by the military to calm them down.
The Al-Kurd yard has received a makeover in the past month, going from a graveyard of their former life to a playground with olive and fruit tree landscape. The landscaping was completed by Palestinian youth from around occupied East Jerusalem; the playground was funded by the Palestinian Authority and installed by representatives from the government and residents; today’s artwork was organized by the dedicated Israeli activists in Sheikh Jarrah.
Israeli settlers have strengthened their campaign of colonization and violence in the Nablus region of the West Bank in recent weeks. A mosque was vandalized and three cars torched in a Israeli settler attack on Huwara village on April 14. In the neighboring village of Burin, attacks on Palestinian civilians and homes continue as six mobile homes have been established on Burin’s land, constituting a new settler outpost.
On Thursday, April 15, international solidarity activists visited Huwara, a village of 6,500 inhabitants, to express solidarity with the village after the mosque had been defaced by settlers early Wednesday morning. Huwara mayor, Samer Odeh, reported that five to six settlers descended on the village in the early morning hours and spray-painted graffiti on the eight-year-old mosque. They also set fire to three cars belonging to inhabitants of the northern region of the village that lies a short distance from Yitzhar settlement. The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) arrived and immediately closed off the entire area surrounding the mosque. They took pictures and then set to work painting over the graffiti – ostensibly to clean it up, but much more likely to cover up the act. The paint that was used was the wrong color and villagers came to clean the mosque as soon as the Army departed. Some of the graffiti remains and we were able to photograph it.
Another mosque in the village was defaced by settler colons in a similar way just two years ago. The mayor went on to note that the Israeli Army often comes into the village’s nursing school and harasses the women. The grade school, which is near the main road, also suffers such harassment – yet more examples of the extreme hubris of the Israeli Army which harasses and intimidates merely because it can.
From Huwara we traveled north to Burin to visit the head of Burin’s popular committee Bilal and his family and to hear about the incursion of the settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Bracha into the village. Bilal reported that two weeks ago approximately 20 settler colons entered the village at night, shooting and throwing stones into the windows of two homes. Shortly thereafter the Army arrived, echoing the settlers’ violence with further intimidation aimed at the people in Burin in an effort to silence their protest.
The settler colons from Bracha and Yitzhar are a constant problem and threat to the villagers of Burin – Bilal, himself, carries the scars of a beating by settler colons.
Four days ago, settler colons attempted to steal a horse belonging to a Burin farmer as he made his way down the slopes of the mountains that envelope the village, brandishing a weapon at villages as they came to rescue the frightened animal. Six months ago, settler colons set fire to the house that Bilal is building at the summit of a nearby hill. Since that incident, Bilal has set the house in concrete so as to avoid another arson attack, but that has not stopped the settler colons from spray-painting the home. Looking out over the surrounding hills one can see Bracha very clearly, where 20 new houses have recently been built, despite the alleged 10 month freeze on construction implemented by the Israeli government last year. Six new temporary mobile homes have been established on the peak adjacent to Bilal’s new home five weeks previously, constituting the establishment of a new outpost. Prior to this, settlers had set up tents on the hill, but have since upgraded the constructions to include walls and roves, as well as electricity and water supply.
The settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha, built on the lands of Huwara, Burin and the neighboring villages of Urif, Einabus, Iraq Burin, Madama and Asira al-Qabliya were originally established as Israeli military bases in the early 1980s. Despite their “de-militarization” and alleged transformation to civilian communities, their positions in the region retain strategic value to the Israeli military and significantly aid the continuing annexation of Palestinian land. Residents of the religious settlements have increased their campaign of violent colonization in the past two years, wrecking havoc on the indigenous Palestinian communities and aided by the conspiratorial forces of the Israeli military. Route 60, the main highway running north to south through the West Bank passes directly through Huwara village, constituting the constant threat of settler and military harassment. Burin, situated in a valley between the two settlements bears the brunt of their territorial zeal. Despite the settlements’ violation of international law, Yitzhar was earmarked for increased funding in Israel’s 2009 national priority map.
Nonviolent demonstration in BilinThe Palestinian village of Bil’in will host the next 21-23 April 2010 the conference “Khalas! Enough occupation! We’re winning! 5th Bil’in International Conference on Popular Resistance” All the Secretary Generals of the Palestinian Political Parties will participate in one of the panels of the conference in an unprecedented move since the breakup of the two main Palestinian political forces, Hamas and Fatah, four years ago.
For the second consecutive year a Spanish delegation led by the Solidarity Campaign “With Palestine in the heart” will participate in the Conference representing the Spanish Civil Society and Institutions.
In addition to the remarkable presence of the Political parties, the major representatives of nonviolent Palestinian movements in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the main international solidarity initiatives such as the Russell Tribunal on Palestine will be in attendance.
Mahmoud Shawa a 19 year old resident of Shaja’iyya district of Gaza City, received a wound from a live round in his leg while participating in a peaceful demonstration near Nahal Oz border crossing. Mahmoud was urgently transported by an ambulance to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City bleeding heavily and suffering from shock.The bullet entered at the back of the knee area and exited at the other side and the x-ray shows that it nearly missed the bone. Mahmoud being treated for a gunshot wound
The demonstration was a part of regular weekly protests against the 300 metre buffer zone imposed by Israel as a no-go area for Palestinians, where live fire is frequently used against the ‘trespassers’. A group of over one hundred local residents and activists from different civil society organizations and political parties started marching towards the border at 11.30. They came under the extensive live fire almost from the start which came from about 20 Israeli soldiers and at least 5 army vehicles which were visible at the other side of the border wire.
The majority of demonstrators marched to about 400 metres away from the border line and a group of about 30 including Mahmoud, went further waving Palestinian flags. Mahmoud was wounded on the spot about 150 meters from the border wire. The opposition to the buffer zone has been on the increase in the recent months mobilizing with burgeoning numbers of participants. The protests now take place almost daily in different locations alongside the border. Unfortunately firing at peaceful demonstrators have also become more frequent with 4 demonstrators receiving bullet wounds in the recent Land Day demonstrations in Abbassin and Magazi areas.
