Category: Reports

Bil’in Demonstrators Attacked by Experimental Weapons

for a short video, please click here

Friday afternoon, the first of September 2006, the non-violent Bil’in demonstration began as it has every week for over 18 months, with Palestinians, Israelis and internationals today totaling about 150 people, proceeding towards the illegal Wall constructed within the boundaries of Bilin’s land.

After the demonstrators marched towards the gate in the wall, they met a group of Israeli soldiers on the main road just few hundred meters from the center of Bil’in with a large tank capable of shooting liquid at high pressure. When the front line of non-violent demonstrators arrived in front of the tank, the Israeli Occupation Forces announced through loudspeaker that the area was a closed military zone. After announcing this, they retreated behind a large tank which contained a mix of blue chemicals and water, as used against Bilin demonstrations in the preceding weeks. Then they began to spray the front line demonstrators with this chemical mix.

Afterwards, a line of Israeli soldiers pushed the demonstrators with their shields. One Palestinian was detained in the process and de-arrested by a group of Palestinians and Israeli activists after he was taken to the jeep. Many other demonstrators remained further behind on the road, but within a few minutes some were hit with bean-bag bullets, by several IOF troops located within a hollow house located to the south of the road, and behind the front lines. In all, eight Palestinians, one journalist, four Israelis and one international were injured by the soldier’s aggression.

Israeli soldiers rushed into the village firing rubber bullets and teargas canisters, one military jeep arrived and supplied soldiers with more equipments and ammunition. Other weapons were also used – once again, Bil’in seems to be a testing ground for new types of “less lethal” weapons. One Palestinian and one Israeli were also hit with a sponge bullet, which places needles within the skin and sucks out blood. Additionally another Palestinian was hit with a rubber bullet during today’s demonstration

Tear gas and sound bombs were also used to disperse the demonstrators.

Israeli Company Refuses to Prosecute British Protesters Over Fear of Examination of the Lawfulness of its Business in Court

Early Wednesday morning, Palestine solidarity activists blockaded the Israeli company Carmel Agrexco’s UK headquarters. This was part of a non-violent protest against recurrent breaches of human rights and international law in the occupied territories of Palestine. Protesters locked themselves inside large metal cages in the entrance and exit of Agrexco’s UK depot causing serious disruption to dispatches from and deliveries to the depot.

The company advised police that they did not wish to have protesters prosecuted and after eleven hours locked on the company’s property the protesters left. Protester Tom Hayes said “Agrexco do not want to prosecute us because when a nearly identical protest was carried out two years ago Agrexco-Carmels’ dealings with illegal settlements in the West Bank were forced to be disclosed in court. The experience was very embarrassing and damaging for them”.

Carmel is complicit in war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (ICC Act). They import fresh produce originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.

The action follows a legal warning letter to Carmel stating clearly why they are in breach of the law.

The action took place at Agrexco UK, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, Middlesex, Israel’s largest importer of agricultural produce into the European Union. It is 50% Israeli state owned.

Before taking part in the blockade, many of the protesters had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli military occupation.

This followed on from an action of 11th November 2004, when seven Palestine-Solidarity protesters from London and Brighton were arrested after taking part in a non-violent blockade outside the same company.

Last September a Judge ruled that Agrexco (UK) must prove that their business is lawful. The acquittal of the seven activists before they were able to present their defence meant that the court did not have to rule on the legality of Agrexco-Carmel’s involvement in the supply of produce from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

Yesterday’s blockade aimed to draw attention to this company’s complicity, in murder, theft and damage of occupied land, collective punishment, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and other breaches of International Law.

More protests against the company are anticipated.

For more information call any of these numbers:
+44 7723 055070
+44 7845 039980
+44 7701 034887

Links:

Another report of the day with more pictures on Indymedia UK
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/349756.html

Text of letter sent to Carmel Agrexco
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2006/08/347361.html

Report on Carmel’s Involvemnt in the Jordan Valley:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/322537.html

Press release from previous trial (with links):
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/331851.html

War on Want?s Report “Profiting from the Occupation”:
http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=12671

Palestinian Activists with International and Israeli Supporters Picket Kofi Annan’s Visit

by ISM Media Office volunteers

This afternoon, peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement joined Palestinians, Israelis, and international supporters from other organizations to picket the visit to Ramallah of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations. Mr Annan was in the West Bank today to meet Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The demonstration began at 1.30pm at the Muqata, headquarters of the PA. Activists brought banners and placards, written in Arabic, Hebrew and English, with slogans including “Stop Land Theft”, “Scotland Against The Wall” and “Enforce Resolution 242”. A large banner included illustrations of the illegal partition wall, currently under construction in the West Bank, and the ongoing destruction of olive trees (by the Israeli Government) which provide livelihoods for many Palestinians.

The central purpose of the picket was to emphasize the impact of the Israeli Government’s policies upon the lives of people living in the occupied West Bank, with particular reference to the partition wall, which is preventing ordinary Palestinians from accessing their farmland, jobs and schools, and has divided families. Amongst the demonstrators were people from Bil’in, a village to the West of Ramallah, where 60% of the villager’s farmland has been cut off from the village by the wall, and where regular non-violent demonstrations are held in protest at the erection of the wall.

Activists hoped to remind Mr Annan that the Israeli Government has still not complied with a raft of UN resolutions, nor has it moved following last year’s ruling, by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which confirmed that the erection of the partition wall is illegal under international law.

Prior to beginning formal talks, both Mr Annan and Mr Abbas came outside to briefly meet demonstrators. Mr Annan listened to the concerns of the gathered villagers and activists, and confirmed that these matters would be discussed in talks today.

Settler Children Burn Down Palestinian Olive Tree in Hebron, Israeli Soliders Block Firefighters

by ISM Hebron

On Saturday August 26th, at approximately 12 noon, a Palestinian family in Tel Rumeida, (in the Israeli controlled H2 district of Hebron) noticed a group of settler boys setting fire to the dry grass in front of their home. This land contains many olive trees and settlers have attempted to burn down these trees on many occasions by starting grass fires. The family put the fire out with water but the kids returned and started a fire which spread to the center of a large olive tree. By the time the family noticed, the fire was so hot that they could not put it out by themselves. Phone requests to the DCO (District Command Office of the military) to allow firefighters from the Palestinian municipality of Hebron to enter into H2 to put the fire out were denied.

The family tried to solicit the help of soldiers who poured a white, firefighting powder on the burning tree. This attempt at putting the fire out was not successful and eventually the whole tree was destroyed. Soldiers attempted to charge the family 600 shekels ($135) for the firefighting powder and the family refused. The soldiers threatened to come back and confiscate the family’s television is they refused to pay.

In addition, settlers set the ground on fire in another location next to this same family’s house. No olive trees were destroyed in this fire.

Palestinian Children Assaulted by Israeli Army

by ISM Hebron

On Sunday August 27th, two HRWs were on Shuhada Street in front of the military post which watches the Beit Hadassa settlement in Hebron. At around 5 p.m. a group of six Palestinian kids between approximately 10 and 12 years of age, who had been around the area for a few hours, went towards the checkpoint and started a conversation with the soldier in the military post. After a couple of minutes, the group of kids sat down on the steps in opposite of the post and started obviously joking with the soldier, so that it was not clear if the kids were detained, or if they were just joking around with the soldier. The HRWs wanted to clarify the situation and asked the soldier what the kids are doing there. The soldier responded that the kids were detained because they tried to steal a bicycle from the settlement and that he called the police to deal with this case. The HRW asked the soldier to let the kids leave, but he refused to do so. A short time later, some Palestinian residents started talking to the soldier.

At about 5.30 p.m. one police officer and four Border policemen arrived at the military post and started questioning the boys and talking to a Palestinian woman who was still around. After about 15 minutes, three boys were allowed to leave and the Palestinian woman left with them, giving each a cuff on the head. The other three boys were still there, and the police officer told the HRW, who tried to intervene, that he should leave because they were “taking the kids back home”. The HRWs moved back several yards and saw the border police and the police officer take one boy after another into the military post, behind the camouflage netting, where the HRWs couldn’t see what was being done. When the first boy came out again (after about 15 seconds), the HRW saw that he was holding his head, so they suspected that those boys were taken in there to beat them. The HRW went quickly towards the military post while asking the soldiers and the police, if they would beat the kids in there. Being closer to the post, the HRW was able to hear slaps and see obvious moves. The Border Police came quickly towards the HRWs and tried to intimidate them while asking them questions and demanding their passports. Meanwhile, the three boys left.