Settler Children Burn Down Palestinian Olive Tree in Hebron, Israeli Soliders Block Firefighters

by ISM Hebron

On Saturday August 26th, at approximately 12 noon, a Palestinian family in Tel Rumeida, (in the Israeli controlled H2 district of Hebron) noticed a group of settler boys setting fire to the dry grass in front of their home. This land contains many olive trees and settlers have attempted to burn down these trees on many occasions by starting grass fires. The family put the fire out with water but the kids returned and started a fire which spread to the center of a large olive tree. By the time the family noticed, the fire was so hot that they could not put it out by themselves. Phone requests to the DCO (District Command Office of the military) to allow firefighters from the Palestinian municipality of Hebron to enter into H2 to put the fire out were denied.

The family tried to solicit the help of soldiers who poured a white, firefighting powder on the burning tree. This attempt at putting the fire out was not successful and eventually the whole tree was destroyed. Soldiers attempted to charge the family 600 shekels ($135) for the firefighting powder and the family refused. The soldiers threatened to come back and confiscate the family’s television is they refused to pay.

In addition, settlers set the ground on fire in another location next to this same family’s house. No olive trees were destroyed in this fire.

Israeli Company Blockaded in Britan For the Second Time in Bid to Gain Ruling on Illegality of Settlement Products

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Early Wednesday morning Palestine solidarity activists blockaded the Israeli company Carmel Agrexco’s British headquarters. This was part of a non-violent protest against recurrent breaches of human rights and international law in the Israeli occupied territories of Palestine.

Carmel is complicit in war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (ICC Act). They import fresh produce originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.

The action follows a legal warning letter to Carmel stating clearly why they are in breach of the law.

The action took place at Agrexco UK, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, Middlesex, Israel’s largest importer of agricultural produce into the European Union. It is 50% Israeli state owned.

Protestors used wire fencing and bicycle D-Locks in a well planned blockade at the two entrances to the building.

Before taking part in the blockade, many of the protesters had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli military occupation.

This follows on from an action of 11th November 2004, when seven Palestine-Solidarity protesters from London and Brighton were arrested after taking part in a non-violent blockade outside the same company.

Last September a Judge ruled that Agrexco (UK) must prove that their business is lawful. The acquittal of the seven activists before they were able to present their defence meant that the court did not have to rule on the legalityof Agrexco-Carmel’s involvement in the supply of produce from illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

Today’s blockade aims to draw attention to this company’s complicity, in murder, theft and damage of occupied land, collective punishment, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and other breaches of International Law.

Links:
Text of letter sent to Carmel Agrexco

Report on Carmel’s Involvemnt in the Jordan Valley

Press release from previous trial

War on Want’s Report –”Profiting from the Occupation”

Israeli Army Destroying Olive Trees in Jenin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 29th, 2006 in the town of Zububa in the Jenin region, Israeli soldiers are currently destroying large swaths of Palestinian olive groves. The attacks began around 7:00 in the morning with American-made Caterpillar armoured bulldozers, and is currently ongoing.

According to Mohammad, a resident of Zububa, the tress being destroyed are in an area, 2km in length and 100km in width. This land amounts to the total area owned by the town. The farmers who have repeatedly tried to access their fields have been beaten and fired upon by Israeli forces. The residents of Zububa have argued that the destruction of their fields serves no security purposes, because the land is on the Palestinian side of the Annexation Wall.

For more information contact:

Mohammad
0522747822

Partial Demolition of Israeli Colony in Bil’in

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On Monday, August 28th, two structures were demolished in the illegal Israeli settlement of Matityahu East, on the land of Bil’in village. Construction of the settler colonies had continued until an Israeli court issued a stop work order pending a decision on the status of the colony. The demolition was carried out by the construction company responsible for expanding the colony. This reversal is in response to an Israeli Supreme Court order on July 20th, instructing the company to demolish the two partial structures. The court also decided that a Palestinian road must be built in order to give the villages access to their land. This latter ruling has so far not been enforced.

As well as demanding the demolition of the two structures in the Matityahu East enclave, the court instructed the company to restore the land to its previous pre-colonial state, wherein the land was a flourishing olive grove. Previously the whole of the illegal colonies of Matityahu and Mod’in Elit was agricultural land belonging to Bil’in and other villages in the area.

Occupation authorities annexed 1,100 dunums (275 acres) of the land of Bil’in in 1991. At the time, the confiscation was justified by reference to an old Ottoman-era law allowing for confiscation of unused land. Much later, it was revealed that in order to demonstrate that the coveted land was “unused,” the State made use of photos of seasonal crop farm land taken when the crops were not yet in season. More than a decade after the confiscation, Israeli colonial settlements began to be built, following a typical pattern of settlement expansion, whereby first, Palestinian land is declared State property and then eventually distributed to Israelis. As a reaction to the theft of the land, weekly non-violent demonstrations have been held in Bil’in village for the past 17 months.

These demonstrations, in existence weekly since January 2005, garnered international attention and support, making a protracted legal campaign challenging the settlement’s legality a possibility. Yesterday’s demolition is a major step in the struggle of Bil’in village to restore their land to its pre-colonial state. The village plans to continue to challenge plans to gain retrospective permission for other parts of the colony already constructed or under construction.

For more information call:
Mohammed Khatib 054 5573285
Abdullah Abu-Rahme 054 725 8210

Israeli Assault on Balata

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This morning, two Palestinian resistance fighters were killed by Israeli military during an incursion into Balata refugee camp just outside of Nablus. Another young man was shot in the stomach and is, according to sources at Rafidia hospital, in critical condition. Hani Al-Hashash, 22, and Ibrahim Neba, 23, were chased up on the roof by Israeli special forces who broke the door and entered their home at about five o’clock this morning. As the military opened fire, one of the men attempted to defend himself and shot two soldiers, injuring them slightly.

The two resistance fighters attempted to escape by climbing up to the roof. An Apache helicopter then backed them up against a wall before firing several rounds of bullets into their bodies. Hani Al-Hashash died from a bullet to his brain and Ibrahim Neba incurred several fatal wounds to the neck, stomach and chest. Five to six missiles were also fired from the helicopter, breaking two water tanks and making several large holes in the roof of the building.