Category: Reports

Palestinian Non-Violent Organiser Mohammed Mansour’s Court Case Continues

On Wednesday the 2nd of November 2005 Palestinian non violent organiser Muhammed Mansour from Biddu apeared before an Israeli judge in Occupied east Jerusalem. Mohamed is being charged with assaulting a police officer and throwing stones following his arrest by under cover police during a non violent demonstration against the annexation wall in Al Ram on June 26th 2004. During the hearing the prosecution offered Mohammed’s lawyer a deal. Mohammed would have to accept a 3500 shekel fine and the condition that he not participate in any demonstrations for the next two years. Mohammed rejected the deal. The case was deferred until 22nd February 2006.

When Mohammed was initially arrested in June 2004 he was severely beaten, hospitalised and then held for a week before his release on bail together with another three Palestinians, including two minors, who were arrested at the Al-Ram demonstration. Five Israeli peace activists, also arrested at the demonstration, were released a few hours following their arrest.

A Palestinian photographer working for the Israeli news paper Yediot Ahreonot was also assaulted and severely beaten by undercover police during the demonstration.

Mohammed’s trail is taking place while 17 non violent activists from the village of Bil’in are currently in jail in an attempt to crush the non-violent resistance in the village.

The International Solidarity Movement condemns the Israeli legal system’s defense of war crimes committed by the Israeli military and settlers, as well as its criminalization of non-violent protest against the Occupation.

Bil’in Lock-on and Demonstration Report

by Johan

On Friday morning at 7:55am, 3 Palestinians, 7 Israelis and 5 internationals chained themselves to the posts of the apartheid wall that is currently under construction near Bil’in, a small village in the West Bank. This act of non-violent resistance was aimed at illustrating the devastating effect the wall has on this and other villages in the West Bank. The idea was to force the Israeli soldiers to destroy the posts in order to remove the activists from the scene – this, however, did not work out as planned. At 8:10am the soldiers had managed to untie all the activists, and dragged them away from the posts. Three Israelis were brought to the police station, but were released later in the morning.

The demonstration then turned into a playground when children’s toys were handed out and a slide was raised close to the line of the soldiers. Children were playing and chanting together with the activists in front of the surprised soldiers and members of the Border Police.

Around 11:00 three Israeli activists once again chained themselves to a fence. After fruitless attempts of getting them loose, Border Police changed their tactics and waited close by in order to arrest the activists when they decided to loosen themselves. When they did, however, they managed to escape arrest by running through the olive groves towards the village, tailed for a while by Border Police that didn’t quite reach the same running speed and eventually gave up.

After the noon prayer that was conducted at the scene of the demonstration, the rain came and people started to drop off. At 12:30 the demonstration was over. Apart from some pushing from the soldiers and Border Police, it was a peaceful demonstration without violence – no tear gas, rubber bullets or other experimental “less lethal weapons” were used. Apart from the three Israelis in the morning no other arrests were made.

Round-up of Recent Events in Qawawis

ISM volunteers have been maintaining a presence as Human Rights Observers (HROs) in the tiny Palestinian village of Qawawis (population approx. fifteen), as requested by locals. The vunerable village is often subject to attack and harrassment from nearby Israeli settlers. The following is a brief summary of recent events.

On the 11 of October at 16:35, a car on the settler-only road stoped and a settler took a photo of a villager. At 16:49 an army truck stoped and three soldiers got out. They talked to shepherd and told a HRO that the man had been too close to the settler road.

On the 14th of October at 08:52 an army truck drove into the village via a settler road and approached two shepherds. When a HRO approached the truck with the shepherds a soldier told him to back off because he wanted to talk to the shepherd alone. It seemed that he told the shepherd he is too close to the road and to go nearer the olive trees. The soldier drove away calling the HRO a “fucking faggot”. At 16:00 two army trucks were observed parked on the settler road. After a while they drove off without interfering

On the 15th of October at 07:50 an army truck stoped near a Palestinian shepherd grazing his flock nearby the settler road. A soldier gots out and seems to explain to the shepherd he is too close to the road. A HRO was told “you know they shouldn’t be here?”. The HRO replied that he did not know that. At 10:15 two Israelis drove into village (car licence number was noted). They said they were from a kibbutz and talked to the villagers and the two HROs. They claimed to be organising a tour of the area for their kibbutz. HROs advised that it was not a good idea, as the villagers would think they are settlers. One said “don’t worry, we don’t like the settlers either” and gave the villagers a sack of carrots from “our factory”. One spoke good Arabic and told a villager they had been moved out of Gaza – which would make them settlers too. Their story did not seem to add up. At 13:45 three settlers all of approx. 18 – 20 years of age came into the village. Villagers and two HROs approached them and asked what they were doing. They did not reply and walked around the village in silence. One jumped onto a wall and looked into a garden. At 13:47 one HRO reported the harrassment to the Kyiyat Arba settlement Police. They promised to send first the army and then the police. A few minutes later the settlers left. They were video taped. No military or police ever arrived.

On the 17th of October between 06:00 amd 08:30, several military and police vehicles were observed nearby while shepherds were grazing their flock. Between 10:50 and 11:15 at least 150 cars and 5 busses were obseved heading to Susya settlement. Between 11:00 and 13:00 a watch was kept on the road but no settlers approached.

Eyewitness to Night-time Raids in Bil’in

by Jesse

Last night at about 1:40am we were called to the streets by local Palestinians of the village of Bil’in where we were staying the night. A force of three jeeps full of Israeli soldiers armed with M-16s were conducting night raids to arrest villagers in Bili’n. we were witness to two of the arrests, one of which was a young boy of 14. The other was a young man of about 18. There was one further arresst that we did not directly witness. Most of the 19 people arrested in the past 2 weeks have been young men below the age of 19.

After we were notified of the soldier’s presence, our group of 5 internationals arrived at the scene and started filming the raid by walking up to the door of the aparment that was being raided. We witnessed one man being taken to the jeeps, and followed the other soldiers to another apartment building. They went in and brought out a Palestinian man, took him upstairs, and used him as a human shield by making him knock on the door for another apartment. From there, we followed them to another apartment where they arrested the Palestinian boy. When they took the boy out to the jeeps, we followed them so that they were constantly being monitored.

Then, the villagers showed up chanting in unison. There were about 50-70 villagers in the group. The soldiers were obviously intimidated. From there, the arrests stopped and a confrontation between the villagers and the soldiers ensued. One of the Palestinian men was negotiating with the commander of the soldier’s unit, and from there things got tense. At one point, the soldiers formed a skirmish line and forced our group back a few feet. Negotiations continued for a while, and then the soldiers started preparing to leave. The villagers started creating roadblocks with large stones from the side of the road, and then the soldiers made their getaway. The entire group of Palestinians and internationals chased them down the street and out of the village.

The village of Bili’n is suffering from the creation of the wall, which will cut off the village from it’s Olive groves. The wall and the building of settlements will claim about 2400 of the 4000 dunums of land that this village cultivates. There have been protests every friday in Bili’n lately to expose the injustice of the Wall and Occupation.

What kind of security can be provided by arresting children in the middle of the night and terrorising the entire community in this manner? This is the insanity of the occupation in Palestine. I wish I had not had to go out and witness this tonight, but I am grateful that at least someone was here so that it did not happen without witnesses. If we had not been here, things could have been much more violent and brutal. As it was, the soldiers knew they were being observed by several internationals and several cameras. It is critical that we pass along this information to people so that we can change our government’s policies of supporting this kind of cruel treatment of the Palestinians.

More Settler Attacks in Hebron, While Soldiers and Police Watch

by Andrew

At around 1.20pm on Thursday the 27th of October I received a phone call from one of the three internationals who had come to the aid of a Palestinian schoolgirl near Qurtuba School, and who were now under attack from a mob of settlers.

I made my way quickly to the end of Shuhada Street, stopping at the soldiers’ post there. All the buildings immediately beyond this post on the left are the Beit Hadassah settlement buildings. On the right, a narrow stone staircase leads up to a hillside path which leads to Qurtuba School. By this time the three internationals and the Palestinian child had been removed from the area by the police and army.

I stayed on Shuhada Street and began walking with the Palestinians to the end of the street, waiting at the bottom of the stone staircase until they had reached the apparent safety of the hillside path. On one occasion during the next hour four settler children followed me back along Shuhada Street, throwing stones at me. I was also spat at and shoved in the chest by two 18 year old settler males. I was told by the soldiers who were standing on the street that the Israeli Army were unable to ensure my safety.

At 2.30pm I walked with three Palestinian women to the bottom of the staircase, waiting until they had reached the top before I left. Seconds after I turned to leave, I heard several loud crashes and screams from the top of the staircase. I turned to see at least two teenage settler girls who had jumped up from behind a wall next to the path the Palestinian women were now on, throwing bottles and stones at them. The women retreated several metres to the top of the staircase, but were now effectively stranded there as four or five settler men (one of whom was brandishing a power drill) had now approached the bottom of the staircase.

I shouted to the soldiers to do something and went to join the women who were still trapped at the top of the stairs, but out of range of the missiles which continued to fly in their direction. The soldiers remained standing on the street with the settler men.

Five Palestinian kids had now arrived at the bottom of the stairs, and were being prevented from passing by the soldiers and settlers there. As I made my way back down the stairs to join the kids, the settler with the power drill began waving it in the air, shouting. He then charged at the kids, chasing them away. The soldiers continued to stand on the street.

Two police officers then arrived who despite requests to assist the stranded women continued to do nothing for 10 minutes until the settler girls who were throwing the rocks and bottles had left. They then went up to the women to escort them along the path. The soldiers continued to stand on the street.