March against the Wall in Bethlehem Village

by the ISM media team, February 2nd

Today around 100 residents of Umm Salamuna, Wadi Annis and neighbouring villages were joined by international and Israeli supporters in a prayer and march on their bulldozed land. Following the midday prayer villagers marched up the hill to a site overlooking land where work on the Apartheid Wall was being carried out.

700 dunums will be annexed by the Wall in Umm Salamuna and 270 dunums will be taken for its footprint. In addition, the Wall will prevent easy access from the village to the main Jerusalem to Hebron road, turning a 7km trip to Bethlehem into a 20km one.

According to Khalid Al Azza, head of the Popular Committee for Land Defense in Bethlehem, villagers from the 10 south Bethlehem villages affected by the Wall have vowed to continue the weekly protests until construction of the Wall stops. They are currently appealing against the Wall in Occupation courts.

Today was the third Friday protest against the Wall on the razed land of Umm Salamuna and Wadi Annis.

The Guardian: “Time to get serious about Israel”

by John Hilary, January 31st

You know that things are serious when a parliamentary select committee puts out a call for sanctions against another sovereign state. Doubly so when that state is supposed to be one of Britain’s key allies in the Middle East. Yet today the House of Commons international development committee is calling on the Labour government to press for sanctions against Israel over its treatment of the Palestinian people. Things must be pretty bad.

Things are indeed bad, says the committee’s new report. As a result of Israeli occupation and the accompanying restrictions on movement, the Palestinian economy is in freefall. Fully 70% of Palestinians are now living in poverty, according to UN calculations, a figure which rises to 80% in Gaza. Over half of all Palestinians are now unable to cover their families’ daily food needs without relying on external aid – a scandal in such a rich and fertile land.

As a first step in putting pressure on the Israeli government to end this oppression, the UK should now urge its fellow members in the EU to consider suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, the cross-party committee says.

That agreement gives Israeli exports preferential access to the markets of the European Union. Europe accounts for two-thirds of Israeli exports, and suspending the preferences those exports currently enjoy would send the first proper message to Israel that its oppression of the Palestinian people is unacceptable.

That message is long overdue. The EU-Israel agreement should have been suspended years ago, as its own text states that it is conditional upon respect for human rights. In this regard Israel has already violated the agreement many times over. The UN’s own special rapporteur, Jean Ziegler, among many others, has pointed out that the agreement should already have been suspended under its own terms.

The call for suspension of Israel’s trading preferences is the first in a line of sanctions which the UK could take. Suspending arms sales is another obvious candidate. The UK has been approving record levels of arms sales to Israel over the past couple of years, despite admitting that it cannot trust Israel’s claims that the weapons will not be used in its military operations against the Palestinian people. The government is now facing a court case on the issue.

Today’s committee report is not just targeted at Israel. It also slams the UK and other international donors for withdrawing aid to the Palestinian Authority since early 2006. Together with Israel’s withholding of revenues due to the Palestinian government, this action by the international community has “increased poverty and hardship amongst most Palestinians”, the report says. At least one million people have been affected by this punitive action, the least smart form of sanctions since those imposed on the people of Iraq during the 1990s.

The main significance of the committee’s report is that it challenges Tony Blair to move from his unconditional support of Israel to a position of standing up for the Palestinian people. In so doing, the report echoes the call of a new coalition also launched this week. The Enough! coalition brings together all major British trade unions, campaigns organisations and charities plus faith groups from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities in a joint call for justice for the Palestinian people. Only through such justice can Israelis and Palestinians hope to build a lasting peace for the region as a whole.

The immediate focus of the coalition is to mark this year’s 40th anniversary of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, Palestinian groups trace their suffering back further to the 1948 nakba, or catastrophe, when 750,000 were driven into exile in order to make way for the founding of the Israeli state. Both anniversaries are equally important.

For those of us who bear the weight of British imperial history, there is another reason for marking 2007. This year also sees the 90th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, in which Britain, for its own political ends, committed itself to a Jewish national home in Palestine. Britain and France had promised self-determination to the peoples of the former Ottoman empire, but the British government chose to deny the people of Palestine this right.

Yet the historical responsibility of the British state is not the issue. It is Britain’s current support of Israeli aggression which must be challenged and changed. Today’s call for action from MPs in the international development committee must be the start of a radical reorientation of Britain’s policy towards the Middle East. Sanctions against Israel is a first and necessary step on that journey.

Shepherd Abducted for Nothing in Tel Rumeida

by ISM Hebron, February 2nd

Yesterday shepherd Bilal Il Qadi was abducted from his home in Tel Rumeida at around 2pm by the IOF after a sheep had been seen in an olive grove on CCTV. The sheep was seen in an olive grove belonging to the Abu Haykel family, which is frequently used to graze animals and as a thoroughfare for local residents. Bilal didn’t appear on the CCTV as he wasn’t in the olive grove at the time anyway. Soldiers took him to the IOF post at the top of Tel Rumeida street.

International human rights workers (HRWs) and a lawyer arrived at the post at 2.50pm and asked why Bilal was being detained. They were told there was a sign in the olive grove saying it was forbidden for Palestinians to be there – when investigated this was found to be untrue. When the police arrived they handcuffed and blindfolded Bilal before taking him to the police station. He was released after having spent two hours in captivity.

Bilal was told that he wasn’t allowed to be in the olive grove and that if he went there again he would be shot. At the same time as Bilal’s abduction, local children were being given a lesson on Martin Luther King and the US Civil Rights Movement.

Villager beaten and arrested at Bil’in

by the ISM media team, February 2nd



UPDATE 10.30: Farhat Burnat will be held at Ofer Military Detention Centre for another 4 days on suspicion of ‘assaulting a soldier’. Many Bil’in residents have been abducted and held at Ofer on trumped up charges only to have their cases collapse due to lack of evidence.


Farhat at a demonstration on September 8th last year

The theme of today’s weekly demo against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in was the need to end the internal conflict harming the Palestinian cause. Villagers constructed a scaffold with nooses and wore sheets with slogans such as ‘Palestinian State’, ‘Palestinian Freedom’, ‘Palestinian independence’, and ‘Palestinian dream’. The scaffold bore the sign ‘internal conflict’. Around 100 villagers were joined by 30 Israeli and international supporters.

After reaching the gate in the Wall and chanting anti-Occupation slogans, some villagers separated from the main group to try and dismantle the razor wire forming the first barrier in the Wall. Soldiers responded with the new type of sound bomb that explodes in the air and tear gas.

Meanwhile up by the gate soldiers beat and abducted Farhat Burnat, 26, who managed to get over the gate. He remains in captivity. They assaulted and tried to abduct other villagers but supporters managed to de-arrest them.

The IOF also made liberal use of the aerial exploding sound bombs and tear gas against the peaceful protesters to make them disperse. Some dispersed suffering from the effects of the tear gas but others remained near the gate and resisted the military violence.

One soldier approached a Palestinian and asked him to hold out his hand before throwing a sound bomb at him, which hit his chest before detonating. Altogether five people suffered light injuries from rubber bullets and beatings.

A representative from the German Consulate visited the village and was told about the difficulties resulting from the theft of over half the village’s land.

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اصابة خمسة مواطنين واعتقال أخر في قرية بلعين

الجمعة 2\2\2007

خرج المتظاهرون بعد أن أدوا صلاة الجمعة اليوم في المسيرة الأسبوعية المناهضة للجدار والإستيطان في قرية بلعين ، معبرين عن سخطهم ورفضهم للاقتتال الداخلي ، وقد عمل المتظاهرون مشنقة كبيرة مصنوعة من الخشب ،كُتب في أعلاها “الاقتتال الداخلي”، وعُلق في حبالها خمسة متظاهرين بصورة رمزية ، كُتب على كل واحد منهم :الدولة الفلسطينية ، الحلم الفلسطيني ،المقاومة الفلسطينية ،الاستقلال الفلسطيني ، الأمن الفلسطيني . وقد رفع المتظاهرون اليافطات التي تعبر عن أن الاقتتال الداخلي يقضي على كل طموحات وأمال الشعب الفلسطيني بالتحرر وإقامة الدولة الفلسطينية،وأن المستفيد الأول الاحتلال وأعوانه ،وهتف المتظاهرون بعبارات بنفس الموضوع ، بالإضافة إلى أخرى تدعي إلى الوحدة “يا هنية ويا عباس وحدتنا هي الأساس”.

وشارك في هذه المظاهرة 100 متظاهر بينهم 30 من المتضامنين الدوليين والإسرائيليين ،حيث جابوا شوارع القرية متوجهين بعد ذلك إلى منطقة الجدار محاولين العبور من البوابة ، إلا أن الجيش تمترس خلفها ومنعهم من العبور ، مما أدى إلى حدوث مشادات بينهم نتج عنها استخدام الجيش للقوة والعنف ، حيث قام بالقاء قنابل الصوت عليهم ، ومن ثم اطلاق قنابل الغاز والرصاص المعدني المغلف بالمطاط ،مما أدى إلى اصابة خمسة مواطنين وهم :إبراهيم عبدالفتاح بر ناط ،معتصم إبراهيم أبو رحمة،نمرمصطفى أبو رحمة،عايد عبدالرحمن سعيد أشرف محمد جمال الخطيب. واعتقل المواطن فرحات إبراهيم هاشم برناط،بعد أن أعتدي عليه ، حيث ضرب ضربا مبرحا.

ومن جهة أخرى زار الملحق السياسي للممثلية الألمانية في رام الله “فيليب هولزابفل”القرية حيث استمعوا إلى شرح ملخص عما يجري في بلعين ،ووعد بالقيام بجولة على نطاق أوسع في الأيام القادمة .

وقد قام الدكتور عبدالرحمن التميمي مدير عام مجموعة الهيدرولوجيين وعدد من موظفيه والمحامية نادية الخياط يوم أمس بزيارة إلى القرية استمعوا خلالها إلى شرح واف عن معاناة القرية الناجمة عن بناء الجدار ، وعن التظاهرات والصمود الذي حققه أهالي القرية على مدار عامين رغم المحاولات المتكررة من الجيش واعوانه لثنيهم عن ذلك ،ومن ثم قاموا بعد ذلك بجولة حول الجدار والأراضي الواقعة خلفه ،حيث شاهدوا بعض الإنجازات التي حققها المواطنون من خلال متابعتهم واحتجاجاتهم . من جهته أعجب التميمي بنضال أهالي بلعين وبصمودهم وعبّر عن مساندته ووقوفه إلى جانب أهالي القرية.

لمزيد من المعلومات مراجعة:

عبدالله أبورحمة

منسق اللجنة الشعبية لمقاومة الجداروالإستيطان\بلعين

0547258210 أو0599107069 أو022489043

YNet: “Prosecution: Soldiers must detain settlers harassing Palestinians”

by Aviram Zino, February 2nd

Following incident caught on video in which soldiers failed to interfere while female settler harassed Palestinian neighbor in Hebron, State Prosecutor’s office rules: Soldiers must block violence towards people, property and alert police

When a soldier witnesses settler violence towards Palestinians or their property, he must detain the suspects and alert the police or Border Guard, Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan declared Thursday.

In a letter to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Nitzan addressed the recent incident in the West Bank exposed by Ynet in which Hebron settlers harassed their Palestinian neighbors and soldiers failed to interfere.

After two videos recording incidents of settler harassment were published on Ynet, the question arose as to what degree of involvement should be required of soldiers who witness such disturbances.

The letter told the civil rights groups that all the relevant officials had met at the Deputy State Prosecutor’s office to discuss the problem.

Nitzan wrote that the officials concluded that soldiers must detain suspects until police arrived, rather than rely on identifying the suspects later.

The letter noted that in the course of 2005, Hebron District Police dealt with 152 complaints against settlers for violence towards Palestinians. Indictments were filed in 39 of the cases. During 2006, 155 complaints were recorded and 81 indictments were filed.

According to the Judea Division’s commanding officer and police reports, there was a significant decrease in the number of disturbances in Hebron, Attorney Nitzan wrote. In the past six months there have been no serious incidents in the area, he said.

Nitzan attributed the decrease in violent incidents to improved deployment of law enforcement authorities in Hebron. An important tactic, according to Nitzan, was the deployment of special Border Guard patrol unit in the area to back up police forces.

Regarding minors, who are frequently involved in harassing Palestinian residents, Nitzan wrote: “There has been a significant decrease in incidents involving minors. In 2006, 16 complaints were filed against minors. In three of the incidents, the identity of the suspects is known, and their names and details of the incident were transferred to regional authorities.”

Participants in the meeting stressed that it must be made clear to Israeli settlers that “there will no tolerance” towards such behavior and offenders would be held culpable, the letter noted.

Security forces were recently ordered to patrol the area more frequently, it said.