Ha’aretz: “Despite High Court ban, settlers occupy Matityahu East homes”

By Dan Keidar and Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondents, 24th May 2006

At least two settler families moved on Tuesday into apartments in a neighborhood of the West Bank settlement of Upper Modi’in that was built illegally on land belonging to the neighboring Palestinian village of Bil’in.

The move came in flagrant disregard of a Supreme Court injunction forbidding the occupation, transfer of ownership, or use of structures in the Matityahu East neigborhood.

Palestinian farmers reported on Tuesday afternoon that they witnessed from their fields two families in the neighborhood unloading their belongings from moving trucks.

“We were working on our land when we saw moving trucks enter the neighborhood,” said Mohammed Hatib, a Bil’in resident. “We approached the area and saw families enter the apartments. We asked them not to enter, because the court made their entrance illegal.”

According to the Bil’in residents, their request was ignored, after which they attempted to physically stand in the way of the settlers.

Attorney Michael Sfard, who represents Bil’in residents, called the police, who arrived after he threatened to a file motion charging the them with contempt of court unless they stopped the settlers. However, their arrival did not prevent the settlers from moving in.

Last December, Haaretz exposed the construction of Matityahu East, which was acquired from Bil’in residents through suspected fraudulent land purchases. The affidavit affirming the transfer of ownership was signed by an attorney representing the settlers, instead of by the head of Bil’in, as is customary.

The separation fence under construction runs through Bil’in, and separates the village from substantial parts of its land, including the portion on which Matityahu East was built.

According to the Palestinians and Israeli activists, the construction of the neighborhood helped determine the route of the fence. They say that the settlers appropriated the private land and it leased to building contractors run by settler leaders, which helped, along with the separation fence, create facts on the ground.

Pictures from the original Hebrew version.

Israeli Army Invades Centre of Ramallah, Kill 4 Injure 34

Update: Palestinian ISM activist Mansour who had gone to the scene was injured by shrapnel when soldiers opened fire at bystanders. Luckily he wasn’t hit directly but he was hit by shrapnel in the head and required stitches. At the time of writing this update, 4 are confirmed dead, including 21-year old Issa Qasim from Jenin, and 34 injured.

Sunbula reports from the media office:

The Israeli Army have invaded al-Manara, close to the center of Ramallah in order to try and apprehended resistance fighters. They are rather uncomfortably close to the ISM apartment and we can see smoke rising in the distance and hear gunshots. I was about to go out with a friend but it’s not really a good idea right now.

Two of our Palestinian ISMers have gone to the scene of the action. We are now sitting in the ISM apartment watching al-Jazeera (that really is worth watching to find out what’s going on) and Neta’s daughter runs with her little baby footsteps toward the window every time there’s a gunshot to see what’s happened. She seems a lot less worried about things than the rest of us, she is rather more concerned with eating as many of the biscuits I bought a couple of hours ago as possible.

It’s really bizarre to see the place that I had wandered through the last time I was there and just a couple of days ago looking like a war zone on TV. Will update more on what’s happening as more developments come. The shebaab are trying to set up roadblocks and there are at least12 injured. The latest is that it would be preferable not for internationals to go to where there is an impromptu demonstration happening near al-Manara.
Just heard that two people were killed.

More to follow.

Sunbula’s journal: “Farmers in Bil’in successfully plow their land behind the Wall”

Today there was some plowing of the land around the outpost in Bil’n and as always and international presence was needed to help ensure soldiers didn’t attack Palestinians (the Popular Committee in the village decided to build this outpost at the end of last year in order to “counter-settle” the land being taken from the village. See this article).

Trying to cross the fence in order to get there has become harder since I was last there in January. There is now a guard tower on the “security” road with soldiers in it. They can’t really stop us or Palestinians from going to the outpost because of a court order permitting the residents from reaching their land but they can harass plenty as they do. There still hasn’t been a response to the village’s petition to stop the building of wall on grounds of illegality, but instead a court order permitting the residents to pass through a gate in the fence. In addition to the army, there is also the Border Police and civilian security for the settlers.

Another ISM-er and I had to get to the outpost in near-dark with one of the village shebab (youth) and we were stopped by one of the Israeli patrol cars, and between their lack of English, my broken ‘ammiyya (colloquial Arabic) and Ashraf’s broken Hebrew, there was some awkward communication which I think eventually frustrated the guy enough for him to indicate to us to buzz off.

I was eager to know what had been going on since the last time I was there. The outpost has expanded a tiny bit and there are a few more places to sleep outdoors. However, my friend told me he is usually the only one from the village who is there regularly, all the time, because the other shebab are afraid to come to the outpost now. The police have been turning up to their homes and either arresting them or confiscating their IDs for allegedly throwing stones at the Friday demonstrations against the wall. His brother is among these and he just got out of jail two months. So, basically, internationals are needed more than ever to be permanently at the outpost. There was only one visit from the army that night, one of their more routine stops for no particular reason other than to scare the Palestinians. I was more disturbed by the mosquitoes buzzing around my head all night.

On Tuesday, for the planting and plowing, we were joined by a group of older Israeli peace activists and some more internationals. Some of the Popular Committee leaders came along with youth and some of the farmers.

Plowing some of the land took place successfully, along with some sheep grazing (they were adorable) and we started digging a hole in the ground for an eventual bathroom. Everyone took their turns at digging and scooping up earth in a pail. There’s something about the earth that gave it a really nice texture – Palestinian earth that has so many stones in it and is so fertile.
There was just one visit by an army jeep that seemed more curious than anything else to check out what was going on. It’s somewhat upsetting to think that farming your own land needs to be a planned “action” with international presence, and that despite an order from the court of the occupying country saying you have the right to do.


Graffiti inside the outpost: “we are staying and will not leave”

Villagers of Jab’a to Work Their Land After Settler Vandalism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Over two days, Thursday the 25th and Friday the 26th of May, the villagers of Jab’a, south-west of Bethlehem will attempt to access and work their land, from 9am till 3pm.The villagers will bring agricultural equipment to develop the over-grown land. Settler intimidation and violence had, until very recently, prevented them from accessing.

Last month, with the support of international and Israeli activists the villagers were able to work the land for the first time in 5 years. A few days later, settlers herded 150 goats onto the land, where they destroyed the village’s crops.

Jab’a is a Palestinian village of 900 people, which has 4000 dunams of land, 200 of which will be de-facto annexed to Israeli after the building of the illegal apartheid wall there. It is near the Gush Etziyon settlement block and faces frequent problems with settler violence.

This action is supported by the Popular Committee from nearby Beit Ommar. The people of Beit Omar recently held a similar land access action in their village. See the report from the 18th of April on www.palsolidarity.org entitled “Jab’a Ploughs its Land” for an account of the last such action in Jab’a.

For more information call:
Mosa Abu Mariya: 054 583 8925
ISM Media office 02 297 1924

Tomorrow: Solidarity Meeting Against Land Confiscation in Asira, Nablus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 1:30pm tomorrow (Wednesday the 24th of May) the people of Asira, near Nablus, will be joined by Israeli and international supporters in holding a meeting in solidarity with the owners of land that the Israeli military is about to confiscate. The aim of the meeting is to ask for an official military order for the confiscation, which they will use in a lawsuit they intend to bring against the military. Legal representatives, human rights workers and other members of Palestinian civil society will attend the meeting.

On the 22nd of May, Israeli soldiers issued an order declaring their intention to confiscate 120 dunams of village land for expansion of the Sabatash checkpoint and military base. Three Palestinian families currently live on the land that will be confiscated. They will be facing potential displacement if the confiscation succeeds.

The land confiscated includes strategically important electricity power lines that come from Nablus over which all the electricity for village is supplied. The order also decreed that at least 70 additional dunams of the land of Asira will come under Israeli military control.

Asira municipality is intending to file a lawsuit against the military in Israeli courts. The Jerusalem Centre for Human Rights will be assisting in this case.

For more information call:

Kanan 0599 398 266
Zadie 054 590 2319
ISM Media office 02 297 1924