International Solidarity Movement - Page 1340 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Rampaging settlers given immunity by Hebron Police on Sabbath

by ISM Hebron, February 25th

At 11 am as Palestinian schoolchildren were leaving Qorduba School in Tel Rumeida, two Jewish settler teenage girls began to throw eggs at them from the roof beside the synagogue of the Beit Hadassah settlement. The children ran away and no one was hit. Human Rights Workers (HRWs) began to film them and take photographs. Settler adults shouted abuse at the HRWs telling them to stop filming on the Sabbath. The settlers continued to harass the HRWs until they moved back, even though the settler teenagers were still on the roof. Six soldiers were there but they refused to protect anyone or to stop the teenagers from throwing eggs. They also refused to call the police.

At around 2pm one of the Abu Haikal family noticed that there were several Jewish settlers in their almond orchard. She stopped a police jeep and asked them to clear the settlers from the land. An HRW began to film and to take still photographs. The settlers were going up and down the stairs to the military observation post. They were also entering the observation post. The HRW asked one of the soldiers on duty by the Crossing (the military post at the junction below the flat where internationals live) to stop the trespassing. He called two other soldiers who went up the stairs. The police drove round to the top of the hill and entered the Abu Haikal land from there. Together the police and soldiers cleared all of the settlers from the Palestinian land.

Just after 2 pm a visiting tourist to Hebron noticed a female teenaged settler approaching an older, female Palestinian on Shuhada street near the Tel Rumeida checkpoint. The Palestinian woman turned out to be a resident of Tel Rumeida. The teenaged settler began following the older woman down Shuhada Street, yelling at the woman and attempting to grab her.

The tourist approached the Palestinian and the teenaged settler and asked whether there was a problem. The settler girl replied that the older woman had hit her— and then continued to yell at the woman, while trying to grab her. The tourist had witnessed the entire interaction between the settler girl and the older woman from the start, and he did not see the older woman hit the settler girl at any point in time. Nonetheless, the tourist suggested to the settler girl that she could voice her concerns to one of the soldiers, if in fact the older woman had hit her. The girl refused to acknowledge the suggestion, and continued to pursue the woman down Shuhada street, yelling threats and attempting to physically confront the woman.

The older woman was visibly frightened, and as soon as she reached the doorway of the nearest household on Shuhada street, she quickly ran inside. The settler girl then attempted to follow the woman into the building, and the tourist called to the soldiers in the area—asking them to help ensure the safety of the Palestinian woman inside the doorway. The tourist then stood in the doorway of the household, between the older Palestinian woman and the settler girl outside.

On hearing the tourist’s cry for help, a crowd of young settler boys (approx. between the ages of 12-14) from the Beit Hadassah settlement came running to the doorway. Soldiers followed, but kept their distance. The teenage settler girl and several young settler boys then proceeded to kick and punch the tourist, injuring him in the groin and legs. The tourist continued to appeal to the nearby soldiers for help, but the soldiers did not respond.

An Israeli police vehicle ultimately arrived, and the police officers dispersed the crowd. The police admonished the soldiers for not ‘being smart’ and ‘defusing the situation’. The officers then accompanied the tourist toward the Beit Hadassah settlement so that he could identify the teenagers that had attacked him. The tourist identified the female teenaged settler who had chased the older Tel Rumeida resident indoors, as well as a male teenaged settler who had initiated the attack on the him. Citing the Jewish Sabbath holiday, police said they were unable to arrest, detain, or question either of the settlers. The teenage settler girl, after being identified, was simply asked by police whether she wanted to file a formal complaint against the older Tel Rumeida resident. The settler girl refused to give police any personal information, and refrained from submitting a complaint despite telling everyone she had been assaulted. She claimed she could not give a statement on the Sabbath.

The male tourist then went with police to the Kiryat Arba police station to file a physical assault complaint against the settler teenagers. In the interim, both teenage settlers were let go by the police, and they returned to Shuhada St.

Later on, during the evening, the same house on Shuhada St was attacked at night by a mob of 30 settlers who ripped the front door off its hinges and stole it. The family called for help and local resident Issa Amro was detained by soldiers while attempting to photograph the incident. Soldiers alleged falsely that they had seen him on a roof taking photos of a military installation. Issa was released after 90 minutes in detention.

The local Palestinian woman who had been assaulted by the teenaged settler was also detained for two hours in the evening, and so was unable to care for her children.

The settler mob then proceeded up the hill. They threw stones at Palestinians in the shop by the Crossing and at the apartment building where Internationals live. One of the HRWs was assaulted a second time, this time by pushing and with stones. He retreated into the building and all the HRWs were pelted with stones.

The broken front door was returned to the family on Sunday, and they are currently trying to repair it and reattach it.

damage caused by settlers inside the house

broken pipe and doorstep

Haaretz: “Council approves illegal West Bank building plan”

by Akiva Eldar, February 25th

The Supreme Planning Council for Judea and Samaria recently legalized the largest-ever illegal construction project in the West Bank. Part of the project is situated on private land, which belongs to Palestinian residents of the village of Bil’in.

The project calls for the construction of 42 buildings containing approximately 1,500 apartments. The buildings, already in various stages of construction, are in the neighborhood of Matityahu East, which is located in the large ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modi’in Illit.

Peace Now and Bil’in residents filed a petition against the construction a week ago at the High Court of Justice.

About a year ago, following another petition by Peace Now and Bil’in residents, the High Court ordered a halt on the construction and occupation of the buildings.

Following an appeal to the State Prosecutor’s Office, the National Fraud Squad opened an investigation into those involved in the affair. The neighborhood is being built by Green Park and Green Mount, companies registered in Canada, along with two other companies: Ein Ami and Hefziba.

The laundering of the buildings’ construction allows members of the planning council, who were aware of the illegalities and did nothing to stop them, to avoid criminal charges and suits for damages.

The petitioners’ attorney, Michael Sfard, who asked that construction be halted, said the planning authorities knew about the illegal circumstances and did nothing to stop the construction.

He said the body administering the separation fence planned a route that would intentionally leave land for the neighborhood on the Israeli side of the fence. This move, apparently, came at the request of the Housing Ministry, which sought hundreds of dunams of Bil’in’s agricultural lands for Modi’in Illit’s expansion.

“The takeover of the lands was carried out by a conspiracy involving private developers and Israeli authorities. Thus, criminal companies that stole private Palestinian lands won the protection of the fence – which was intended as a means of security and became a tool for annexation – as well as backing from the planning authorities, whose approval laundered the offenses,” Sfard wrote in the petition. Justice Salim Joubran ordered the state to respond to the petition by March 6.

The petition stated that the planning council’s decision would “bury the criminal act and the impaired rights of ownership deep in the earth, and would quickly lead to continued construction of the neighborhood, as if no offense had been committed and there were never any rights of ownership.”

The planning authorities also refused to hear the claims of the residents of Bil’in who sought to prove their ownership of the land.

In September 2004, Moshe Moskowitz of the Civil Administration, the highest authority in planning and construction in the West Bank, wrote to Modi’in’s council comptroller that “construction authorization for the new project of Matityahu East was doubtless given against the instructions of the existing [master] plan and therefore was not within the licensing authority’s power.”

However, last week’s petition stated that Moskowitz and other members of the planning council, had a vested interest in legalizing the project, because the demolition of dozens of apartments would expose them to lawsuits by purchasers.

A lawyer for one of the settler’s associations is suspected of purchasing the land for the project with an affidavit from the mukhtar of Bil’in. The affidavit allegedly claimed that the security situation prevented the lawyer from entering Bil’in to obtain the property owners’ signatures.

In the decision to legalize construction on the new neighborhood, the planning council conceded that it had no master plan for Modi’in Illit, but cited an exception in Jordanian law – the basis for Israeli law in the West Bank – by which small communities do not require a master plan for the construction of new neighborhoods.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, in September 2006, 33,200 residents were living in Modi’in Illit.

*****************************

Water cannon fails to dampen spirits on Bil’in second anniversary demo

1. Water cannon fails to dampen spirits on Bil’in second anniversary demo
2. IOF occupies Palestinian house in Tel Rumeida – “We can do whatever we want”
3. Hebron colonists occupy Palestinian hilltop home
4. Anarchist activist Jonathan Pollak given 3 month suspended sentence
5. Yifat Alkobi leads colonist trespass on Tel Rumeida Hill
6. South Bethlehem village marked out for the Wall
7. The Wall – The Battlefield in Bil’in
8. “Israeli settlement sale in Teaneck discriminatory, may violate international law and the roadmap”
9. Normal Life, Destroyed Homes, and Israeli Apartheid

************************

1. Water cannon fails to dampen spirits on Bil’in second anniversary demo

by the ISM media team, February 23rd

Around 1500 demonstrators attended today’s second anniversary protest against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest the IOF used violent means to try to disperse the crowd, including firing sound bombs directly at protesters at close range. Several needed medical treatment for injuries incurred when the sound bombs exploded on them.

Before today’s march to the Wall protesters had a chance to view a photo exhibition of the two years of resistance in Bil’in as well as some of the props used in various creative actions. Bil’in villagers were joined by other Palestinians, including two Palestinian Legislative Council members and Member of the Knesset Jamal Zahalka, as well as 200 Israeli activists and 50 internationals.

On reaching the gate in the Wall the villagers chanted resistance slogans and waved Palestinian flags. When some protesters climbed onto and walked along the gate soldiers tried to push them off. The restraint of the soldiers lasted longer than usual, perhaps due to the large media presence, but a few stones thrown at them was the trigger for them to use tear gas and sound grenades against all the protesters. Several were hit directly with the sound grenades . They then invaded through the gate and started firing rubber bullets at children throwing stones. Some activists went down the hill and started dismantling some razor wire.

A water cannon was brought up and used indiscriminately against everyone, including the media, but this didn’t have much effect.

When a small group of 20 protesters sat down in front of the gate soldiers tried to remove them violently but failed.

Then several bursts of water were sprayed at them but they remained steadfast.

Others standing near them had sound bombs thrown at their feet, which exploded causing deep cuts on their shins and ankles. Two had to be carried away to have their injuries bandaged. One Israeli activist was arrested.

There were 20 injuries from sound bombs and rubber bullets, including three journalists.

Click here for photos:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/23/bilin-23-02-07/

Click here for coverage from the BBC and the Guardian:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6390531.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2020347,00.html

*************************

2. IOF occupies Palestinian house in Tel Rumeida – “We can do whatever we want”

by ISM Hebron, February 17th

Today at 12.30 pm a group of human rights workers (HRWs) returned to Issa Amro’s house on Tel Rumeida hill, which was yesterday declared a “closed military zone” by the IOF. The HRWs wanted to find out whether the house was still a military area. Yesterday police showed them a document stating that the house and its surroundings were closed until 12 pm today.

When the HRWs arrived, three IOF soldiers were present. They called for back-up on the arrival of the HRWs. Moments later six soldiers appeared who occupied the house. The HRWs asked the soldiers what they were doing in the house, since the rightful occupant, Issa Amro, wanted to come and start doing repairs. The IOF soldiers replied that the house was still a closed military zone, but couldn’t show any document. The HRWs demanded that they be shown this document, as is their right under Occupation law . The soldiers promised that “the document is on its way”. They also mentioned that the Israeli army could get a new document anytime and could repeat this procedure at will. “We can do whatever we want” , a soldier told a HRW.

Half an hour later a group of six border police arrived who confirmed that the document about the “closed military zone” was coming. The HRWs waited for another hour, until suddenly all the IOF soldiers and border police left the house in a hurry, without clarifying the status of the property. The HRWs waited for another half an hour in the “closed military area” and then decided to leave to coordinate the next step with the owner of the Tel Rumeida hilltop house.

At 1 pm HRWs heard people shouting in the street outside the flat for HRWs . 50 meters up Tel Rumeida road, a group of colonists had gathered. Residents told the HRWs that a group af 4 Palestinian children returning home from school had been confronted with a young colonist, aged about 10, who had started to throw stones at them. More colonists came out of their houses as IOF soldiers and police arrived at the scene.

HRWs were told to back off, because the situation “ is already heated”. The HRWs saw a young colonist trying to throw stones at the Palestinian children, by slipping through the line of soldiers, but he was stopped. After long discussions with a few notorious colonist women, they returned to their houses. The Palestinian children were forced to walk back and take another route to their homes. Again a colonist attack on Palestinians ended without the aggressor being punished.

After a visit to the hospital it was confirmed that a 15-year old boy was shot in the leg with live ammunition and not a rubber bullet by the IOF in Hebron yesterday.

Click here for photos:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/17/settler-stoning-tr/

************************

3. Hebron colonists occupy Palestinian hilltop home

by ISM Hebron, February 18th

Today at 4 pm human rights workers (HRWs) in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron were alarmed that colonists had entered local resident Issa Amro’s house on the hilltop overlooking the olive grove. For the third time this week a group of about 10 colonists illegally occupied this Palestinian property. Today they stayed in and around the house for an hour, while nearby soldiers didn’t take any action to get the trespassers out.

When the HRWs arrived to join Issa Amro and Israeli HRWs, the colonists reacted by making disgraceful remarks. Colonist Yifat Alkobi, who became infamous starring in the “Sharmuta Video”, said to one of the HRWs : “You are a Nazi, go back to Auschwitz! “.

After this brief stand-off the IOF soldiers did arrive and also entered the house and garden. The colonists carefully took pictures of international and Israeli HRWs present. Finally they left the house and its garden. Issa Amro and the HRWs were then told to leave by the police.

This latest episode in the struggle against colonist occupation and IOF complicity ended today, but Palestinians residents are determined to keep on fighting for their rights in Tel Rumeida.

Click here for photos:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/18/tr-colonist-occupation/

*************************

4. Anarchist activist Jonathan Pollak given 3 month suspended sentence

Jonathan Pollak, an activist with Anarchists Against the Wall was sentenced to 3 months in prison, that will be activated if he is convicted at a similar charge again. Pollak was sentenced today after he was convicted together with 10 other activist for blocking a road in Tel Aviv in protest of the construction of the wall. He asked the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court to sentence him to jail time, rather than community service or a suspended sentence, saying he has no intention to stop resisting the occupation. The ten other convicted activists were sentenced to 80 hours of community service.

In his sentencing statement Pollak said ” This trial, had it not taken place in a court of the occupation, in the democracy imposed on 3.5 million Palestinian subjects devoid of basic democratic liberties – was supposed to be a trial of the wall. The same wall defined as a illegal by the highest legal authority in the world; the same wall that serves as a political tool in the campaign of ethnic cleansing Israel is running in the occupied territories.”

“It was not us who were supposed to stand here in the dock, but those who plan and carry into action the Israeli apartheid,” Pollak continued. He also stated that while he is not surprised by his conviction, he does not recognize it as legitimate, explaining that is the reason he refused community service or cooperation with the probation authorities.

To end his statement Pollak asked that the court punish him with a prison sentence and not a suspended one. “In a state of things where any gathering in the territories is considered illegal because of a widespread anti-democratic policy of closed military zones, any suspended sentence given to me will quickly become a prison term” pollak said, then turning to the judge personally, saying “if your honor believes one should be sent to prison for such acts, please take the liberty and personally send me to prison here and now”.

The state prosecutor quickly responded by asking not to send Pollak to prison, but rather to pose a conditional sentence and a fine.

Jonathan Pollak’s full sentencing statement

From the first moment of this trial we took responsibility for our acts. We’ve never denied, even for an instant, that we sat on the road. Quite the opposite – we fully admitted this, and we explained why we did so. The defense was revolved around two central axes – exposing the police’s lies and their invention of fictional accusations, which the court has already addressed, and on the principals of civil resistance. In its decision, the court stated that we were attempting to drag this court into the political arena, which it should avoid like fire, lest it get burned. In fact, the state prosecution was the one doing the dragging. In every crime and in every trial, the question of motive is a central one. Our so called crime is clearly a political one, and so are its motives.

This trial, had it not taken place in a court of the occupation, in the democracy imposed on 3.5 million Palestinian subjects devoid of basic democratic liberties, would have been the trial of the Wall; that same wall that was defined as illegal by the highest legal authority in the world; that same wall that is used as a political tool in the campaign of ethnic cleansing being undertaken by Israel in the Occupied Territories; that same wall that in its previous route, that route of the relevant days, was thrown out even by Israeli courts! It was not us who should have been standing accused here, but rather the architects and enforcers of Israeli Apartheid.

To our assertion that there is a duty to violate the law at times, the court answered that in such times, one must accept the punishment as well. This response contains an obvious moral failure. The correct response would be that those who violate the law must expect punishment. Expect it, but under no circumstances accept its legitimacy.

I am not surprised that we were found guilty. But in spite of that, I cannot accept the legitimacy of the punishment. That is the reason I refused to cooperate with the parole agency, and I will refuse community service as well.

I believe that at this stage of the trial the defense tends to state that this is the defendant’s first conviction, that he is a normal human being, who is well within the bounds of civil society, that he works a steady job and so on and so forth. I will argue otherwise. I will state that while this is indeed my first conviction, it is unlikely to be my last. I still believe that what I did was necessary and morally correct, and that resistance to oppression is the duty of every human being, even at a personal price.

It is customary to ask for leniency – not to impose an active sentence, and to be satisfied with a conditional sentence. I will ask not to have a conditional sentence imposed on me, but an active one, since as things are, any demonstration taking place in the Occupied Territories is declared illegal assembly, according to the extensive and anti-democratic system of closed military zone warrants. In this state of affairs, any conditional sentence imposed upon me will quickly become an active one. If your honor believes one should be sent to prison for such acts, please take the liberty and personally send me to prison here and now.

click here for photos:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/18/jpollak-sentence/

**********************

5. Yifat Alkobi leads colonist trespass on Tel Rumeida Hill

by ISM Hebron, February 19th

Today at 4 pm human rights workers (HRWs) decided to pass by local resident Issa Amro’s house on Tel Rumeida hill. In the past week colonists had occupied this Palestinian property several times.

When the HRWs arrived at the house, they noticed a group of colonists, 2 men, 5 women and 15 children, had entered the house and garden again. It was only yesterday that they were sent away by the police. The colonists took pictures of the HRWs and one of the women, Yifat Alkobi, videotaped them. Yifat Alkobi is notorious from the “Sharmouta video”.

A group of about ten colonist girls then approached two of the HRWs and started throwing stones at them. The HRWs continued taking photos and filmed the children attacking them. The children, aged 6-12 shouted “Monkey, monkey!!” to one of the HRWs of Indian origin. When a colonist woman saw that the children were throwing rocks, she told them to stop.

15 minutes after the arrival of the HRWs, the colonists left Issa Amro’s house and garden and returned to the Tel Rumeida colony, just 50 meters behind the hilltop house.

IOF soldiers didn’t show up during the occupation, neither did the police, although they were asked to come by and stop the repeated colonist trespassing.

Click here for photos:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/19/yifat-trespass/

*************************

Colonists invaded Hebron Old City this morning, accompanied by the IOF. The invaders broke into the Al Aqbat mosque, several Palestinian shops, damaging some doors, and destroyed the wing mirrors and headlights of some parked cars. They also threw stones at local Palestinians.

click here for Ma’an coverage:
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=19666

***********************

6. South Bethlehem village marked out for the Wall

by ISM Hebron, February 21st

Human rights workers (HRWs) in Hebron received a request for international presence in Umm Salamuna village south of Bethlehem as the IOF had invaded the village. They arrived in Umm Salamuna village around 9:30 am and joined internationals from other groups. At a Palestinian vineyard about 8 Israeli soldiers, 2 security guards, and 2 surveyors were trespassing.

The Palestinian locals asked them why they were there, because the initial plan for building the Apartheid Wall was supposed to be on top of the hill. They claimed a court order had been given to build the Wall down the hill in the vineyards and surveyors needed to measure the land. The two armed security guards who came along with the surveyors were Arabic speaking Israelis who got this job recently.

The surveyors protected by soldiers and security guards marked the rocks and land with blue spray paint and blue tape. The HRWs documented their illegal activity. Soldiers pretended not to be able to understand English when questioned. The DCO* arrived but was not able to give any convincing explanation for this action, except that it was a court order. No official document was presented. All of them eventually left the site around 12:00 pm.

It later transpired that the Israeli Supreme Court had decided to reject the village’s appeal for work on the Wall to be stopped pending a court hearing on the route of the Wall through Umm Salamuna and other South Bethlehem villages. Villagers expect demolition work to commence soon.

*District Coordination Officer – the civilian administration wing of the Israeli Military in the West Bank

For photos click here:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/21/umsal-surveying/

***************************

In Tel Rumeida at around 4:00 pm, a group of colonists consisting of 5 women, 1 man, and about 10 children trespassed in Issa Amro’s garden on Tel Rumeida Hill. They had kept coming to his garden on and off since the morning, but stayed in the garden for about half an hour in the afternoon. Soldiers said the colonists had permission to stay there. Around 4:30 pm, as the colonists saw police on the way, they left.

At around the same time groups of women and children were walking to the Jewish cemetery on Tel Rumeida street and back. At 5.20 pm two women from the Abu Aisha family were pushed and grabbed by colonists who were part of a larger group as they walked home past the Tel Rumeida settlement. Soldiers quickly intervened and the women were able to get into their house. A crowd of colonists gathered and were shouting abuse at the Abu Aishas. Police arrived five minutes later and eventually cleared all the colonists off the street. It would seem that no arrests were made.

**************************

7. The Wall – The Battlefield in Bil’in

by Abdullah Abu Rahme,

Bil’in is a small, peaceful village surrounded by hills and valleys, lying halfway between Yaffa and Jerusalem and is among the villages that fall under the governorate of Ramallah, 16km west of Bil’in. It has a population of 1800 in an area approximately 4000 dunums in size. Its people are known for their simplicity, hospitality and for being good neighbors to each other. They love peace and freedom, and reject injustice and oppression.

The territory which makes up Bil’in has stood up to confiscation time after time, exploited for the purpose of illegal settlement. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Matityahu settlement was built on a portion of Bil’in land and, at the beginning of the 1990s, another portion of land was confiscated on which the Kiryat Sefer settlement was built. And at the start of the millennium in 2002, yet another new settlement (this one named Matityahu East) was built on Bil’in’s land.

In April 2004, Bil’in’s Village Council relayed the Israeli government’s intention to build a “separation wall” on the village lands. The Council delivered this message to the citizens of the village, who in turn compelled them to form a committee to resist this wall and additional resulting settlements. The committee’s aim was to represent the largest section of the village’s residents, to prepare daily and weekly actions, maintain close relations with international and Israeli solidarity activists, keep track of the legal suit filed on behalf of the citizens, and keep in contact with the lawyers and legal advisers in relation to this.

The Israeli army bulldozers began work in Bil’in on February 20, 2005. The wall now traverses the village at a length of 2 kilometres, a breadth of 30 metres, and is 5 kilometres inside the “green line”, the supposedly legal border separating the West Bank and the lands occupied by Israel in 1948. The wall is being built under the pretence of protecting Israel, but as the citizens of Bil’in have made no threat to the lives of the settlers, the goal is not truly security (as claimed) but rather theft of land and settlement construction on that land once stolen. Approximately 1000 olive trees, the life-blood of the community, have been uprooted and destroyed to make way for this wall, which separates the citizens from their own land and orchards. Most of the village’s land (2300 dunums) lies west of (i.e., inside of) the wall, and is planted with olive trees, which is considered the primary source of livelihood. The actual number of olive trees falls somewhere between 100,000-150,000. The rest of the land is used for sowing seeds/grains, planting vegetables, and sometimes as grazing land for livestock.

Throughout this land confiscation we have noted that the wall has considerably affected the village’s economic resources. The land that has remained on the eastern side of the wall is limited (1700 dunums) and is the space on which the houses of the village are built. The section of land nearest the wall is barren, as use for residential purposes is forbidden, and thus has pushed many village residents to buy land from neighbouring villages or emigrate to the city or to Western or foreign countries. All of the aforementioned choices require large financial sums, and by virtue of the destruction of economic resources, fulfilling them is often impossible.

Bil’in’s citizens face two choices – either living in disgraceful circumstances that force them and their grandchildren to live at the lowest level of poverty, or even worse, voluntary migration. Since most have refused both these options, the only remaining choice for them is the popular resistance, expressing their rejection of Israel’s planned encroachment. With this non-violent resistance, they express their attachment and devotion to their land. And they will strive to come onto this land, whatever the cost they may pay, and work to destroy, pull down and remove this wall from their homeland.

click here for the rest of the article:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/22/bilin-battlefield/

*************************

8. “Israeli settlement sale in Teaneck discriminatory, may violate international law and the roadmap”

Press Release from ADC New Jersey and 11 other Civil and Human Rights groups

February 23, 2007, Clifton, New Jersey – The New Jersey Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC New Jersey) was joined today by 11 civil and human rights groups in warning New Jersey public officials that the February 25 planned sale of Israeli settlement homes in Teaneck, New Jersey may violate international law and the US government’s Roadmap to Peace, and introduce discriminatory sales practices in New Jersey. Groups joining ADC in this warning included The Center for Constitutional Rights (www.ccr-ny.org), The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (www.endtheoccupation.org), Jewish Voice for Peace www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org), and The International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild (www.nlginternational.org). ADC New Jersey’s expression of concern was sent to Teaneck Mayor Elie Katz, Congressman Steve Rothman, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Senator Robert Menendez, Attorney General Stuart Rabner, and Teaneck Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation Bnai Yeshurn.

The sale of Israeli settlement homes in the Occupied Territories by the Yesha Council is planned to take place at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, New Jersey on Sunday February 25, 2007. Property in Israeli settlements has historically been sold exclusively to Jewish people. Palestinians who live in the area are not permitted to purchase such property because of their religion and their ethnicity. ADC New Jersey and the 11 other civil rights groups warned against the toleration of such discriminatory sales practices in New Jersey.

Pursuant to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory, an occupying power is prohibited from transferring civilians from its own territory into the occupied territory, and from creating permanent changes in the occupied territory that are not for the benefit of the occupied population. There exists broad international consensus that that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank – including those in East Jerusalem – violate the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49) and constitute a war crime. Any sales of settlements are therefore presumably illegal. Liability attaches under international law for aiding and abetting the commission of a war crime.

The illegality of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been affirmed by the UN Security Council the International Court of Justice, major human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli organization B’Tselem, and affirmed by the US government throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The rental and sale of Israeli settlements at the event in Teaneck, New Jersey may also contradict US government foreign policy as outlined in the United States Government’s “Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” which, in Phase I, requires Israel “to freeze all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).”

CONTACT: Samer Khalaf – ADC-NJ at (201) 280-3434; Hany Khoury (973) 246-7474

***********************

9. Normal Life, Destroyed Homes, and Israeli Apartheid

by Schlomo Bloom,

The other day, I got a tattoo. Actually, I should say that I got another tattoo, as it is not my first, or for that matter, my last. The day I got my tattoo, was more or less like any other; I got to work by my usual bike route (uphill, unfortunately), had my morning latte, and fortunately got off of work early. Of course, there were the occasional annoyances, stupid co-workers, anxiety about the tattoo (yes, this one hurt!), but for the most part, there was nothing terribly abnormal about my days events; so what the hell, let’s call it a ‘normal day.’

On February 14th, I received confirmation through a CPT report, that the homes of friends of mine in Palestine were destroyed. In one sense, this is also normal, as they were not the first, and won’t be the last homes destroyed in Palestine by Israeli soldiers (or Palestinian homes destroyed in Israel for that matter). But truly, how can the demolition of your home by an illegal military occupation ever be considered normal? How can such brutality be carried out by human beings who are just following orders, without some semblance of reflection and disgust? And how do my friends, and countless other Palestinians, find the strength to survive such violence, and not only carry on, but rebuild and hope for the future?

click here for photos and the rest of the article:
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/24/sh-demolitions-journal/

***************************

For more reports, journals and action alerts visit the ISM website at www.palsolidarity.org

Please consider supporting the International Solidarity Movement’s work with a financial contribution. You may donate securely through our website at: www.palsolidarity.org/main/donations/

Haaretz: “Quality time”

by Gideon Levy,

The Jordanian MIRS chirps on the table. “Where’s Nur?” asks the woman on the line from Amman. “She’s standing next to me,” replies her husband in Azariyeh, east of Jerusalem. A chirp every few minutes. Yihye Bassa, a 40-year-old date merchant, has for several years been forbidden for security reasons to travel to Jordan; Nibin, his wife, 26, is forbidden to come here. He barely knows the two girls, 4-year-old Nur and 1-year-old Talin. They are with their mother in Jordan. Yihye met Nur for the first time two years after her birth, when he was still allowed to travel to Jordan; he met Talin for the first time a few weeks ago, on the Allenby Bridge.

In an unusual and very moving humanitarian gesture, Israel let the couple meet for three hours on the Allenby Bridge, after preventing them from seeing each other at all for about two years. Family reunification: a half-meeting on the bridge, without refreshments, as a “pre-High Court of Justice petition” gesture. Moreover, Israel allowed Nur to join her father for a few months, and now she is here, in Azariyeh. But 18-month-old Talin was not allowed to join her father. All for security reasons. Yihye says that his problems began when the Shin Bet security services wanted to recruit him as a collaborator and he refused. Since then he has been refused permission to leave.

Now Yihye is sitting in the offices of the new community center in Azariyeh that he runs on a voluntary basis. Nur is still confused by the new person in her life and the foreign landscape, and Nibin chirps from Jordan on her MIRS every few minutes to ask if everything is all right. Oh, the Israeli occupation.

Yihye Bassa is a Hebrew-speaking businessman, who buys dates in the Arava and the Beit She’an Valley and sells them in the West Bank and in Gaza with an Israeli partner. His paternal grandmother was Jewish. When he was still allowed to travel to Jordan, he had a company there too, which bought dates in Iraq and sold them in Jordan. Six years ago he married Nibin, a Palestinian from Jordan. Yihye divided his life between Amman and Azariyeh. Nibin has submitted several requests for an Israeli visa at the embassy in Amman – and was refused with the explanation that she is too young. The couple ran their lives with interruptions, in their home in Jordan. Yihye’s parents, his family and his business are here.

Four years ago, when Yihye was once again making his way to his wife and his business, he was arrested on the Allenby Bridge: Banned from crossing. Why? he asked. “Take a note, return to the area and go to the Shin Bet.” Yiyhe went to the Shin Bet and there, he says, “Captain Yariv” told him: “Help us – and we’ll help you.” He told them: “Why should I help you? I have money, work, what deal would I make with you?” In short: He refused an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Yariv tried again: “Go to your family, come and we’ll talk,” and again: “Help us and we’ll help you.” For the next two years, Yihye was prevented from traveling to Jordan. He turned to the civil rights organizations and with the help of his attorney, to the military court in Beit El. Meanwhile their daughter Nur was born in Jordan; Yihye did not see her. Two years later the court allowed him to travel to Jordan and he once again visited with his wife and daughter. Nur was already two years old when she saw her father for the first time. After two visits – he was refused again.

This time, he says, security people offered to let him go for four years, without the possibility of returning. Yihye refused this temporary expulsion. In 2005 he was arrested on suspicion of attempting to murder a collaborator. He was released on bail. Yihye says that it was a false arrest.

Exactly a year ago, in February 2006, they came to his house to arrest him again. This time he was placed in administrative detention for half a year, without a trial, and as is usual in administrative detentions, the reason is unknown. Yihye is an avowed Fatah activist, but his attorney, Walid Zahalka, says that he is not involved in terror. Half a year ago, he was released from detention. Last week the judge, Major Dror Sabrensky, ordered the erasure of the indictment against him, because of which he was arrested the first time, File 3405/05.

Upon his release from detention, he wanted once again to travel to Jordan, to visit his wife and daughters. In Amman, meanwhile, Talin was born, and he had never seen her. Again they offered to let him go for four years, without the possibility of returning, and again he refused. He is unwilling to cut himself off from his parents and his business dealings, his home is here. His attorney demanded one of two things: either he should be allowed to leave, or his wife should be allowed to enter.

In contacts between his attorney and the authorities, before turning to the High Court, the state prosecutor made a creative suggestion: a meeting on the bridge. Attorney Raanan Giladi of the State Prosecutor’s Office wrote on January 17, in the name of the State of Israel:

“Urgent. Re: Pre-High Court of Justice petition 562/06.

1. As you have been informed orally, the state is willing to allow a meeting between the petitioner and his family who live in Jordan.

2. The meeting will take place at the Allenby Bridge terminal, tomorrow, January 18, 2007.

3. We have been informed in writing by the manager of the Allenby Bridge terminal, Mr. Gideon Shikloush, that the meeting on the aforesaid date has been approved and that an appropriate place will be allocated for the purpose.

4. According to the details you have sent us, the family members who will be able to meet are as follows: Yihye, Nibin, Nur and Talin.

5. In case unexpected difficulties arise, we can be contacted by phone.”

In the morning Yihye got up and went to the bridge to meet his wife, his elder daughter, whom he had met twice, and his younger daughter, whom he had never met. At the terminal he was greeted by Sammy, who said he would take care of everything. But Sammy had an exam at Tel Aviv University and he soon disappeared. Yihye waited for three hours on the Israeli side, Nibin and the girls waited for three hours on the Jordanian side, until at about 1 P.M. they started walking toward one another. Yihye wanted to buy refreshments for his wife and daughters in the cafeteria on the Israeli side, but he was not allowed to do so, he says. They were placed in the VIP room at the terminal and were allowed to stay together until 4 P.M. Three hours after two years, quality time for the parents and the girls. “Nur knows me. She knows who I am. The little one doesn’t know who I am,” he said dryly.

When the meeting ended, Yihye wanted to take the girls with him for a visit to Azariyeh. No problem, they told him, but after a little while things became complicated: Nur could stay with her father, but only starting the next day. Not today. Why? Because. And how would he come to take her? And how would she cross the bridge alone? Only Nur, who has a Palestinian passport, could cross. Little Talin does not yet have a passport, a Palestinian passport can be issued only in the territories, and that’s why she can’t come in. A “catch-22.”

Yihye called Asaf, whose phone number appeared on the state prosecutor’s letter, in case “unexpected difficulties arise.” But in vain. Not today and not Talin. Nibin cried and Nur, who was promised that she would go with Daddy, also cried. He returned alone and despondent to his house in Azariyeh, without his younger daughter, without his elder daughter.

The spokesman for the Civil Administration, Captain Tzidki Maman: “From an investigation, it turns out that for security reasons resident Yihye Bassa is forbidden by security factors to travel to Jordan. As far as the entry of his wife and daughters, in the existing lists we found no documentation of requests to enter to visit the region. If requests are submitted in the usual manner, they will be examined in accordance with the instructions and the existing policy, with an emphasis on the humanitarian circumstances.”

Attorney Zahalka dismisses the response of the spokesman: “That’s nonsense. After all, we asked for one of the two, either that he be allowed to leave, or that his wife be allowed to enter.”

The end of the story: Last week Yihye’s mother went to Jordan, and on Shabbat she returned with her granddaughter Nur to Azariyeh, for a first visit with her father. Talin is still refused entry, as is her mother. Yihye pulls out three pictures from an envelope: His wife and his two daughters. Now Nur is playing with the computer in the pleasant and spacious community center run by her father, which was built with money from the German government, and asking where her mother is. This week her father registered her for the kindergarten in Azariyeh, until she goes back to her mother in Jordan. Occasionally the MIRS chirps and asks: “How is the child doing?”

Normal Life, Destroyed Homes, and Israeli Apartheid

by Schlomo Bloom

The other day, I got a tattoo. Actually, I should say that I got another tattoo, as it is not my first, or for that matter, my last. The day I got my tattoo, was more or less like any other; I got to work by my usual bike route (uphill, unfortunately), had my morning latte, and fortunately got off of work early. Of course, there were the occasional daily annoyances, my daily cup of coffee, anxiety about the tattoo (yes, this one hurt!), but for the most part, there was nothing terribly abnormal about my days events; so what the hell, let’s call it a ‘normal day.’

In a moment, I’ll be going through the pictures, both from my trip and the current destruction, but first a few more words. I wrote about the community that has suffered this outrage before, in a diary called Close Encounter of a Settler Kind . It is the village of Qawawis, and the residents have endured numerous acts of violence over the years, the main aim of which is to remove them (and other small villages in the area) from the land.

If one looks at the many maps available, they will show you the logic of the occupation in this area; the less populated (by Palestinians) South Hebron Hills have been targeted for annexation by the Israeli settlers for decades, as opposed to the more densely populated Palestinian areas of Yatta, Samu, and Hebron nearby (that said, Hebron is another story). The villages of Qawawis and many others like them are a problem, not due to ‘terrorism’ or ‘security’as such, but due to their repeated refusal to leave, and their rootedness in the land.

Adi Ophir wrote in an article in the Book, Against the Wall that the occupation is defined not as much by overt acts of violence (although they do occur from time to time), which he calls kinetic violence, but by violence in small bursts, or even more, violence suspended, always there and threatened, always possible, but held back for the present. This is one of the reasons that conveying the terror and violence of the occupation can be deceptive to those that do not understand the way occupation dominates the daily life of Palestinians. But in the time I spent in Qawawis, I witnessed so many small and large examples of violence, it is hard to list them all. Just getting to the village requires a circuitous route replete with checkpoints, backroads and some on-foot traversing; then there was the morning we found 6 olive trees cut down by settlers, the surprise visits by the army, the countless visits to the village by armed and violent settlers. And then there is just the physical setting; Qawawis is ringed to the north, south and east by 3 settlements, and one major highway cuts it off from the village of Karmel. Two more roads branch off the main highway, completing the pincer which surrounds and attempts to choke off any ability to survive for the villages of the region. On top of that, in addition to the Apartheid Wall which passes close to the Green line, they are building an inner wall along the Highway, which will completely seal off the villages from Karmil and Yatta. The Supreme Court ordered the IOF to remove this wall over two months ago but this hasn’t happened yet.

Now I don’t just know this because I read Jeff Halper’s Matrix of Control article, which describes this basic policy and strategy of control and suffocation that the IOF employs, and is certainly applicable to Qawawis and other parts of Palestine. I know it because I lived it when I stayed in Qawawis. When we would take the goats and sheep out to graze, we could go only so far as the lack of roads and settlements would allow us (to give you some idea, I traverse well more than twice that distance during my 20 minute bike ride to work). And when we would be near the roads, we would be in constant threat of soldiers and settlers, due to military orders which say that they need to stay 200 meters from the roads. Some days, the army jeeps would drive by and ignore us, and some days they would try and force us to leave. Some days, the settlers would ignore us (you can always tell who they are by the orange ribbons, a holdover from the disengagement), or some days they would honk their horns at us, or shout from their cars. And, some days, they would do more, as my previous post explains.

But on February 14th, the suspended violence gave way to a full-scale explosion, in the form of home demolitions, in 3 villages in the South Hebron Hills. First, here is a portion of the Haaretz article that discusses it;

Security forces demolish seven houses in Mt. Hebron villages
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

Security forces destroyed seven illegally constructed Palestinian houses and 13 other structures Wednesday on the southern slope of Mount Hebron in the West Bank.

The demolitions took place in the villages of Manzal, Umm al-Khir and Gawawis.

The Civil Administration said, “Twenty illegal structures were destroyed after demolition orders were issued, and offers were made to the owners to pursue the available options before the planning organizations. The supervisory unit of the civil administration will continue to operate against illegal building activity in the area, and to implement the steps mandated by law against this illegal activity.”

And if you would like to see some of the reuters pictures of that day, go here

And here is the CPT report, which was emailed to me by Joe Carr & posted on the ISM site, and is fully approved for reposting;

CPT: Israeli military demolishes seven Palestinian homes in south Hebron district

Israeli soldiers demolished homes in three Palestinian villages near bypass road 317 on February 14, 2007. Starting in Imneizil at around 9am about forty Israeli soldiers with two bulldozers demolished one home, an animal pen and a stone bake-oven. At noon the soldiers moved to Qawawis where they demolished the homes of five families and one bake-oven, then on to Um Al-Kher where they demolished one home and damaged a wall of another home.

At Imneizil several young children were in their home eating when the Israeli military arrived; the soldiers gave the family time to get out, but did not give them time to remove their personal belongings. The animal pen was demolished with a few animals inside; two lambs were injured. The Palestinian family began immediately to build a makeshift pen for the animals as the majority of the sheep were just returning from grazing in the fields.

In the village of Qawawis one of the demolished homes was over sixty-five years old, and sheltered two families. Photos of the families amid the rubble are on the CPT photo gallery: www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album93

The Israeli military, in concert with Israeli settlers, has been trying to force the Palestinian residents of the south Hebron hills to leave their homes for years. Due to harassment from the nearby Israeli outposts several of the young families of Qawawis moved to a nearby town; when the Israeli army then forcibly evacuated the remaining families, a court ordered that the families could return to their homes. According to a lawyer representing the families, the Israeli army now claims that this court ruling allows only the last inhabitants of Qawawis to return, not their children who earlier fled the assaults of the Israeli settlers.

“Our children need homes,” said one villager. “What do they want us to do”?

The Israeli army said, “Twenty illegal structures were destroyed after demolition orders were issued, and offers were made to the owners to pursue the available options before the planning organizations. The supervisory unit of the civil administration will continue to operate against illegal building activity in the area, and to implement the steps mandated by law against this illegal activity”. The Israeli military made no provisions for shelter for the families whose homes they demolished. The families asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide them with tents.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions said, “A building permit is unavailable there [in the south Hebron hills].” The preceding day three Israeli peace activists and two internationals, including CPTer Sally Hunsberger, joined approximately fifty Palestinians in working on their land near Imneizil. The Palestinian men, women and children planted 600 olive trees in fields that they had afraid to walk on for the past four years due to threats of settler violence. During the action, soldiers and settlers watched from a distance, but did not interfere with the tree planting.

Now, I would like to walk through some of the pictures, which consist of the day’s destruction, and my own pictures that precede it. It was especially painful to see these pictures, as these are people that fed and took care of me, in whose homes I slept and ate, and whose children I played with.

First, here is a picture of Qawawis from sometime bin 2004-2005, with the house of Hajj Khalil in the center. The land is farmed for olives, almonds and figs on the hills, and elsewhere for wheat and grazing for livestock.

Next to Hajj Khalil’s house is the smaller structure that the internationals would sleep in. It is made of stone, mud & cement, with a tarp for a roof (after the rain, the water would collect in bunches and we would have to take sticks to push it out). The winter was cold there, but we would always gather in Hajj Khalil’s house for sweet tea to warm us up.

And here are the remains of the home I stayed in, stones, tarp & all.

In the center of this picture is my dear friend, Hajj Ibrahim, and to his right, his wife Hajja Amne. Of the homes there, only Hajj Khalil’s, seen behind them, still stands.

Now, this is a picture of my lame attempt to put together a family tree of the families of Qawawis, and I show it to you as my excuse for not remembering everyone’s names in the photographs; the families are big, and it has been some time since I was there last, so my apologies!

Here I am in the home of Ibrahim, son of Hajj Mohammed who lives in the nearby village of Karmil. In the center is Ibrahim’s son Mohammed, who lives and works in the nearby town of Yatta and teaches English. He was very welcoming, his English was excellent, and I enjoyed spending time with him there. One of the great things about staying in Qawawis was that it really forced me to learn some Arabic, as few spoke English, but when he was there, I luckily had some help!

The taller boy is Salah, and the younger one is either Eyal or Lohai, I honestly forget! I remember playing soccer with them & I twisted my ankle on the rocky terrain (that said, one of the kids was playing barefoot!)

Here is Ibrahim, sitting with his family in the ruins of his home, the one in which I took the previous pictures. To this day he bears an injury to his leg from a confrontation with soldiers years back (he was audacious enough to take his flock by the highway, can you believe that?).

The house is shared with his brother Abed, whose wife Mariamme is here in front of the tire.

some of their possessions that survived the destruction.

Here is a picture of Hajj Mahmoud from last year. He was a funny guy and fed me many times in his home. He also was a bit impatient with my steep Arabic learning curve; as soon as I would figure out a word or an expression of the most rudimentary sort, he would jump straight to full-speed Arabic! I had to learn how to say to him “slow down, I know very little Arabic;” needless to say, I forgot how to say even that.

Here is Hajj Mahmoud after the destruction of his home, with his wife Aisha and his son Ziad, who’s wife was pregnant and has since given birth to their first child. Now they are all homeless, from the newborn to the grandfather.

Here I am in the home of Hajj Khalil with Mahmoud’s son Ziad. Khalil and Ziad had just come back from Karmil after voting in the January 2006 election, fingers purple and all. Hajj Khalil was truly kind to me, and I look forward to seeing him and his family again; who knows, maybe I can help with the rebuilding of their homes, as rabbis for Human Rights and others have pledged to help them rebuild.

This is Hajj Khalil, just minutes before the settler came and attacked us, as described in my diary Close Encounter of a Settler Kind . The man is over 80 years old, and despite everything, both he and his family will refuse to leave their land.

Who is the Terrorist?