Sheikh Jarrah protest camp due to be demolished again – Two internationals taken by Israeli police

UPDATE: The two internationals have been released from the Israeli police station without charge.

The tent was eventually taken down by the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, though it has now been rebuilt. The bulldozer, after threatening to demolish the tent, instead built a small rock wall inside the Palestinian property. The purpose of this wall is as yet unclear.

Israeli forces are now demolishing the protest tent established in Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem established on Palestinian private property in support of the evicted al-Kurd family and the 18 Palestinian families who currently face eviction from the neighbourhood.

Two international solidarity activists, one Danish and one Swedish, who had been sleeping in the tent have been taken from the protest camp by Israeli police. They were woken at 8:30am by dozens of Israeli police before being detained and their phones confiscated. They were then taken to an Israeli police station. One Palestinian resident of Sheikh Jarrah was also detained by Israeli police, but was subsequently been released.

An Israeli bulldozer is currently at the site and is due to start the demolition of the camp.

The protest camp was established by the Sheikh Jarrah Neighbourhood Committee following the violent eviction of the al-Kurd family on the 9th November initially to show support for the evicted family and the 500 other Palestinians who are under threat of eviction from the neighbourhood. It has been demolished twice already by Israeli authorities despite being situated on private Palestinian property.

The camp has been used as a cultural centre for the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, regularly screening films, holding traditional Palestinian dancing and showing Palestinian photo exhibitions. The latest demolition of the tent can be viewed as another effort by Israel to react against displays of Palestinian national identity within Occupied East Jerusalem.

The house had become emblematic of the plight of Palestinian residents of Occupied East Jerusalem. The al-Kurd family were previously made refugees from Jaffa and West Jerusalem. They were then made refugees for the second time as they were evicted from their home of 52 years.

A previous protest tent had been active throughout the Summer on the al-Kurd property, as widespread international condemnation of Israeli policy against the family and neighbourhood grew, including an official complaint from the US State Department (see below).

Abu Kamel al-Kurd was immediately rushed to hospital following the family’s violent early morning eviction with high-blood pressure. He was re-admitted to hospital two weeks later where he died of a heart attack homeless.

The decision to remove the al-Kurd family paves the way for the takeover of 26 multi-story houses in the neighborhood, threatening to make 500 Palestinians homeless and signifying the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Occupied East Jerusalem by the Israeli State. In July the US State Department brought forward an official complaint to the Israeli government over the eviction of the al-Kurd family, openly questioning the legality of terms on which the Israeli Jewish settler group claimed to have purchased the land (click here)

The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem was built by the UN and Jordanian government in 1956 to house Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. The al-Kurd family began living in the neighbourhood after having been made refugees from Jaffa and West Jerusalem. However, with the the start of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, following the 1967 war, settlers began claiming ownership of the land the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was build on.

Stating that they had purchased the land from a previous Ottoman owner in the 1800s, settlers claimed ownership of the land. In 1972 settlers successfully registered this claim with the Israeli Land Registrar. While the al-Kurds family continued legal proceedings challenging the settlers claim, the settlers started filing suits against the Palestinian family.

In 2006, the court ruled the settlers claim void, recognizing it was based on fraudulent documents. Subsequently, the Al-Kurd family lawyer petitioned the Israeli Land Registrar to revoke the settlers registration of the land and state the correct owner of the land. Although it did revoke the settlers claim, the Israeli land Registrar refused to indicate the rightful owner of the land.

In 2001 settlers began occupying an extension of the al-Kurd home. Despite the fact that their claim to the land was revoked, settlers were given the keys of the al-Kurds family home extension by the local Israeli municipality. This was possible after the municipality had confiscated the keys of the extension that the al-Kurd family built on their property to house the natural expansion of the family. When this extension was declared illegal by Israeli authorities, the Israeli municipality handed the keys over to Israeli settlers. The al-Kurd Family went to court and an eviction order was issued against the settlers. When the al-Kurd family were evicted on the 9th November 2008, the settlers were allowed to remain in the property, despite their own eviction order.

In July 2008 the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the eviction of the al-Kurd family, for their refusal to pay rent to the settlers for use of the land. Although the settlers claim to the land had been revoked two years earlier, the court instead based their decision on an agreement made between a previous lawyer and the settlers. It should be noted that the al-Kurd family -and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood as a whole- rejected this agreement and fired their legal representative at the time.

AFP: Israel turns back senior UN official

To view original report, published by AFP on the 15th December, click here

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has turned back UN human rights envoy Richard Falk upon his arrival at Ben Gurion airport, authorities said on Monday, accusing him of “legitimizing Hamas terrorism.”

“Israel has made clear that Mr. Falk was not invited, nor would be welcome in Israel, under his capacity as special rapporteur” for human rights, the foreign ministry said.

Falk, who is the UN’s monitor of human rights in the Palestinian territories, last week prompted Israel’s ire when he said its policies against people in the territories amount to a “crime against humanity.”

UN officials said Falk was sent back to Zurich upon arrival at Ben Gurion, near Tel Aviv, on Sunday.

The Israeli ministry said Falk’s mandate is biased and that this is “further exacerbated by the highly politicized views of the rapporteur himself, in legitimizing Hamas terrorism and drawing shameful comparisons to the Holocaust.”

It also said Falk failed to follow procedures in arriving uninvited and while fully aware of “Israel’s clear reservation.”

On December 10, Falk called on the United Nations to make an “urgent effort” to “implement the agreed norm of a responsibility to protect’ a civilian population (in the Palestinian territories) being collectively punished by policies that amount to a crime against humanity.”

Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip from all but basic goods since the Islamist movement Hamas, which is pledged to its destruction, seized power in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas.

Israeli army invades Zawata

Israeli soldiers raided the village of Zawata late Sunday night, going house to house throughout the village, tearing down doors and scaring residents. The occupying army stayed well into the morning terrorizing young children on their way to class.

On December 14th, at approximately 11pm, Israeli soldiers entered Zawata and began to go house to house, allegedly searching for weapons. By one hour later, approximately ten military jeeps had occupied the village, all entrances and exits were blocked by army personnel, and at least one house was occupied by the military. Further up from the village, eyewitnesses stated seeing what appeared to be four Israeli snipers

Several Palestinian families reported broken doors, a result of the Israeli army not giving enough time for Palestinians to wake up and get to the door on time. According to Palestinian villagers, the Israeli army went to almost every house in Zawata. In most the houses, their stay was brief, long enough to wake residents up, break windows, overturn furniture and generally terrorize residents. But in the case of Ghassan Fou’ad Goodi and his family, the soldiers stayed overnight.

According to Ghassan, soldiers entered his house at midnight. Like most Zawata residents, he wasn’t given enough time to get to the gate of his house to let in the invading soldiers. They tore down the gate, and stormed into the house, forcing Ghassan and his family, into one room. Their landline was unplugged from the wall and their cell-phones were confiscated. Altogether, approximately 50 soldiers surrounded and occupied the house. Four soldiers stayed in the room not allowing the family to leave or contact anybody for help. The occupation lasted over seven hours, forcing the family to stay up all night, and in the morning, preventing the students from going to university classes. When the soldiers finally left the house the next day, around 7:30, they threw the cell phones they confiscated in different places around the house. Ghassan reports that one cell phone and his address book are still missing.

Ghassan Fou’ad Goodi is no stranger to the military. During the second intifada, in 2002, soldiers occupied his house for 6 months. Still, this invasion came as a surprise to the family, due to the fact that there was no apparent pretext for it.

Small children were terrified when, on their way to class, several soldiers, armed with M-16s and wearing camouflage face paint, hid in an alleyway pointing their guns at them. Some children ran back to their houses, while others crying and fearing for their lives, decided to push onward.

This is yet another example of what life is like under Israeli occupation. Although, Zawata is part of Nablus, designated area A under the Oslo agreements, and is supposed to be under the complete control of the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli military enters at will and with impunity.

Friday demonstration against the illegal apartheid wall in Ni’lin

On Friday 12 December 2008 at 12 o’clock approximately 200 villagers from Ni’lin together with 15 internationals and Israelis protested against the construction of Israel’s illegal Apartheid Wall on their land.

The level of violence from the Israeli army was high from the beginning of the demonstration. They shot live ammunition in the air regularly for the entire 5 and half hours the protest lasted. The shots increased in the last hour when soldiers were very close to the protesters who were pushed back to the outer houses in the village from the olive field.

Huge amounts of round, plastic coated steel bullets, rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas were shot at the demonstration, starting even before the demonstrators had gathered by the local clinic.

At least 10 demonstrators including two Swedish and a Scottish solidarity activist were hit with plastic and rubber coated steel bullets. Tear gas was also shot at people’s homes, two of which had to be evacuated due to the gas.

Today’s demonstration started with a prayer by the local clinic. Nine Soldiers were already present on a hill top in front of the clinic and started shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at the children in the fields about half an hour before the prayer started.

Members of the Popular Committee changed the protest route to avoid the tear gas and the non-violent demonstrators got almost all the way down to the construction site of the illegal apartheid wall before the army stopped them.

The army shot live ammunition in the air and plastic coated steel bullets at head height to push back the protest.

When the demonstrators were pushed back to the village the army continued the use of live ammunition.

The soldiers shot round steel bullets covered in a thin layer of plastic at the heads of the demonstrators. A 15-year-old boy was hit right under the eye with such a bullet and had to have six stitches at the local clinic.

One family had a window broken by a tear gas canister causing an old woman and two children to suffer from heavy tear gas inhalation.

A woman in another house fainted when gas was fired into her home.

B’Tselem have previously released a statement highlighting the use of rubber-coated steel bullets in Ni’lin.

The villagers of Ni’lin have protested against the construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall since May 2008 that with its completion will annex more than 90 percent of their land. In August 10-year-old Ahmed was killed by a live bullet shot in his head from a short distance, at his funeral 17-year-old Yousef was also shot in the head with rubber coated steel bullets and later died at the hospital.

There is an Israeli military order for IOF forces to use live ammunition against Palestinian demonstrations unless internationals or Israelis are present.

In order to draw use from the clear racism in this law and attempt to give a level of security to the Palestinians who are using their right to protest, internationals have been present in solidarity with the Palestinians to every protest at Ni’lin.

Gulf News: Call to boycott Israeli jeweller

By Abbas Al Lawati

To view original article, published by Gulf News on the 14th December, click here

Dubai: Activists campaigning against Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev urged Dubai residents to boycott the jeweller during the screening of a documentary film on activist hip hop at the Dubai Film Festival on Friday.

Forty T-shirts and one hundred letters from the West Bank town of Jayyous were distributed to the audience at the screening of Slingshot Hip Hop, a documentary about Palestinian rappers in Israel by Arab American filmmaker Jackie Salloum.

Leviev’s companies build Jewish-only colonies in the occupied West Bank, including the village of Jayyous. Leviev also owns a self-titled diamond label that has been selling in Dubai for almost a year.

Salloum, who has been to Jayyous, described the situation there are dire, saying that the “security barrier” and colonies being built by Israel there have robbed its residents of their livelihoods.

Online campaign

The distributed T-shirts called on Dubai residents to boycott Leviev as well as Levant Jewellery, owned by Leviev’s local agent, Palestinian-Moroccan Arif Bin Khadra.

Meanwhile, activists campaigning against Leviev’s activities have set up a Facebook group that is calling for a boycott of all Dubai venues that host stores selling Leviev diamonds.

The group has gained almost 400 members in less than two weeks since its launch, according to group administrator Jabbar, a UAE-based Palestinian rapper.

Levant stores exist in the Atlantis, Al Qasr and Mina Al Salaam hotels. Another branch is planned for the Dubai Mall.

“It’s important for people to be aware of where their money is going. Especially if it is happening so close to home,” said Jabbar.

New York based Coalition for Justice in the Middle East (Adalah-NY), has led the international campaign against Leviev.

The group has recently had success in persuading Hollywood celebrities to distance themselves from Leviev.

So far, Sex and the City star Kirsten Davis, Full House star Mary-Kate Olsen, as well as Felicity Huffman and Melissa George have reportedly asked Leviev to stop using their names to promote the diamonds.

Pictures of a number of other celebrities such as Salma Hayek, Sharon Stone and Whitney Houston remain on the Leviev website.