Human Rights Activists Protest against Apartheid Wall in Um Salamona

On Friday, October 19, approximately 100 human rights activists from different backgrounds converged at Um Salamona in the West Bank today to protest against the building of the segregation wall. Internationals, Palestinians and also Israelis, who are against the Occupation and construction of the Segregation Wall, all came together this morning to express their dissatisfaction with the wall under construction in this area. Over 60 percent of the land belonging to Palestinian farmers will be confiscated and sealed off on the other side of the concrete barrier.

Many NGO’s and human rights groups from all backgrounds and faiths and all ages joined hands in solidarity with the local Palestinians to peacefully protest against the wall. The demonstration was closely watched by a large contingent of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers as well as the Israeli Police. Tempers flared a little as some of the soldiers attempted to exert their assumed authority resulting in some jostling and pushing of the protesters and media folk. Nobody was injured and the protest continued peacefully and without event once the situation had simmered.

“So today we are here to demonstrate against the Wall, to say to them and all over the world that this is the occupation and we are here suffering from the wall, the separation wall, which is stealing our land. I hope that one day we will succeed and we will recover our land with these non violent activities, and you will recognize today, how much the soldiers are violent, and I don’t know what is the use of violence. We are here on a peaceful demonstration. As you see we have friends from Israel, we have international friends, we are here Palestinians to say Down to the Wall. The wall which shows clearly the Israelis are against Peace, because Peace and trust is not made by barriers and stealing land,” says a local Palestinian.

The Wall currently under construction will traverse through the land of many local Palestinians, isolating them both from their farm lands and from the outside world. Israel claims the wall is being built as a security measure to protect its citizens. On the far end of the proposed wall is the illegal Jewish settlement of Efrat. The wall has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice and is dubbed by many as “The Apartheid Wall.” An Israeli advocacy group has found that 39 percent of the land used by Jewish settlements in the West Bank is private Palestinian property, which the organization contends is a violation of international law.

First olive harvest in seven years (updated)

Today a collaboration of Palestinian farmers, human rights workers and Israeli activists converged at the Jabri family farm in Hebron to commence the annual olive harvest.

The Jabri family farm, situated in a corridor between two illegal Israeli settlements, has been subject to a history of settler violence- such as the recent attacks seen on 31st August 2007, when settlers attacked a group of 40 Palestinians, Israelis, and various other human rights workers – punching, kicking, throwing stones and stealing tools. Today was the first time the family has returned to the farm since this attack, as there have been ongoing concerns about the possibility of further violence.

The olive harvest, which was to take place in a few weeks’ time, was brought forward in response to reports that settlers were stealing olives from the trees.

The olive picking began without incident, with Israeli police and Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) lining the farm’s entrances and settler security officers filming the harvest. After a few hours settler children and youths began obstructing the illegal settler footpath that bisects the Jabri property, actively preventing Palestinian filming of the process. One settler youth, trespassing, then began to grab olives from a tree, flinging them away so that the owners could not pick them. A complaint was lodged with the police, who temporarily arrested the boy and then remained on site to observe the rest of the harvest.

Despite the heavy security presence, settler children threw rocks at Palestinians, from within the illegal compound, as the farmers and their families tried to leave.

PACBI: Facts about the Cancellation of the Jericho-Tel Aviv Normalization Event

October 17, 2007

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and all its partners, individuals and organizations active in art, culture and human rights, regard the cancellation of the Jericho-Tel Aviv event, planned by “One Voice” to take place on October 18th, as a substantial accomplishment for the Palestinian boycott movement. A solid partnership between diverse civil society organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has succeeded in thwarting the event’s organizers’ attempt to mislead public opinion and to use deceptive slogans to market a political program that concedes some fundamental Palestinian rights. Without the broad grassroots support among Palestinian and Arab institutions and leading figures for the statement* calling for boycotting the event, the organizers would not have been compelled to cancel this huge production handsomely funded by dubious foreign sources.
PACBI and its partners wish to express their gratitude to all the artists and arts groups that withdrew from the festival after learning the truth about the organizing group’s political program. In particular, we thank Jamil as-Sayeh, Ilham Madfa’i, DAM and Asayel. We also thank everyone who helped spread the word and raise awareness about the event and its sponsors.

The discrepancy in the political language used by the organizers in their Arabic webpage and the main English page was only an indicator of a deeper deception. They falsely claimed, for instance, that the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, was the event’s main patron, a claim that was categorically dismissed in an official statement issued by the President’s office on 11 October; they also included names of well-known national figures as members of various committees of their organization without those individuals’ consent or even knowledge, as was later disclosed.

Most recently, after they were forced to cancel the festival due to the withdrawal of the main artists, the overwhelming support of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of the event, and the President’s distancing himself from the whole festival, the organizers asserted, in Arabic, that the event was cancelled due to “technical reasons,” while the press statement, in English, issued by the main sponsor — who announced the festival cancellation — cited “security reasons” and “threats” by “extremists” against the participating artists as the reason for the cancellation. Despite the obvious falsehood and slander of such assertions, PACBI wishes to stress that, since its inception in 2004, it has embraced civil struggle, non-violent by its nature, in its discourse and action, inside occupied Palestine and outside. Moreover, all of PACBI’s partners who participated in exposing the truth about this event adopted only rational persuasion and awareness-raising in countering the deception and innuendo propagated by the event organizers, a fact that played a key role in widening the circle of public support for the proposed boycott.

This achievement is further proof that a clear majority in Palestinian society continues to insist on the full realization of the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine, paramount among which is the right to self-determination and the right of return for the refugees, as guaranteed by international law. A just peace can only be attained by completely ending the occupation with all its manifestations as well as the various forms of Israeli oppression against the Palestinian people, in compliance with international law and the universal principles of justice and human rights.

Contact: info@BoycottIsrael.ps

The PACBI statement can be read at: http://www.pacbi.org/press_releases_more.php?id=612_0_4_0_C

IOF invades Nablus yet again

Early Tuesday morning on Oct 16th, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Two Palestinians, a resistance fighter in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and a 70 year old man, were killed during the raid which also left several people severely injured, including one woman who was shot in the back inside her own home and is now in a critical state in Ratadia hospital. The photojournalist Alaa Badarna was also shot four times in the back with rubber bullets whilst attempting to film the incursion.

The incursion began at approximately 1.30am as the IOF moved into the streets of Ras Alain and Keshekeh, in a neighborhood west of the old city. The army occupied several houses and military jeeps blocked off streets to traffic in numerous places.

Human Rights Workers (HRWs) arrived at approximately 8am to find a group of children around the age of six trapped inside their school, terrified to move. Their teachers tried to negotiate their passage to safety past an IOF Jeep, but the soldiers initially denied them permission to move the children. With the help of Palestinian medical volunteers and HRWs the children were eventually moved outside the conflict zone and were driven away to safety.

By 11am the IOF were occupying two more properties and had installed a sniper on the roof of one. Medical teams were denied access to sick residents inside the buildings but were later allowed to take people inside to hospital, and to bring in supplies. The IOF consolidated their position and stayed until the early evening, firing sporadically.

Tear gas and sound bombs were used throughout the day by the IOF, and also Israeli police, who fired gas canisters and a sound bomb into a group of medics and HRWs. Two of the ambulance crews on the scene reported two women and two youths who had been shot at with tear gas.

The raid concluded early this evening after the IOF arrested a number of residents.

IWPS: Marda under curfew, assault, arrests, house occupations

October 16th, 2007
approximately 10 am to 9 pm
Marda, Salfit region
Witnesses: family members and IWPS members

At around 10a.m. on the 16th of October, 2007, the Israeli army entered the village of Marda in the Salfit governate in the Occupied West Bank. The Israeli military declared curfew on the village and arrested 7 young men and detained them for half hour. The home of four families were also occupied, with soldiers taking up positions on the roof where they fired rubber bullets and sound bombs.

According to eyewitnesses at approximately 10 a.m., Israeli military jeeps, No: 443, 610100, 011259 and a Border Police jeep No 611121 entered the village of Marda. Dozens of Israeli soldiers started spreading the announcement that the village had been placed under curfew.

The Israeli soldiers occupied the roof of homes of 4 families, whose members included 15 adults and 10 children, aged 1-14 years old. IWPS team members called to the village were informed that at the morning, the soldiers had been firing rubble bullets into the village, resulting in
three civilians being injured. Despite injuries to civilians, the Israeli army refused to allow an ambulance to enter the village to attend the wounded and to transport them to hospital. Villages reported that the 7 young men were arrested by the Israeli forces but were released after a
half an hour.

An IWPS member witnessed a heated exchange between the Israeli military and the four families whose house had been invaded by the military. During the argument, the Israeli soldiers attacked and pushed to the ground a young girl, who was a member of the families.

At the time of writing this report, Israeli soldiers continue to occupy the family house and are patrolling the village, preventing any Palestinian civilians from being able to leave their homes and to move about freely. Soldiers have also begun to shoot tear gas inside villagers’ homes.

At the end of the day soldiers wired shut the occupied house. The wiring was later cut open and most people have left. There are a handful of women remaining, with one Human Rights Worker (HRW) staying with them.

***Update***
Soldiers have left as of this morning, the 17th of October.