International Solidarity Movement - Page 1523 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Separation wall ‘drowns’ Palestinian

By Laila El-Haddad
From AlJazeera.net

A Palestinian man has drowned in the West Bank after getting entangled in the separation barrier’s barbed wire during flash floods, medical officials and witnesses say.

According to witnesses, heavy rains followed by flash foods washed away two brothers, Eyad and Raad Taher, in the West Bank village of Bil’in early on Sunday morning.

The two men, from the village of Bait Annan in the West Bank, were passing through Bil’in on their way to Ram Allah via an Israeli-built road connecting the two areas, when they were washed away by the flood waters, witnesses said.

They got out of their vehicle, but were swept by the strong current in the direction of the barrier.

Raad Taher was rescued by villagers, but his brother Eyad, 26, was found unconscious, caught in the razor-wire of the barrier that separates Bil’in from nearby Jewish settlements.

Poor roads

Palestinians blamed the Israelis for poor road planning. The road runs through a valley between two mountains.

Palestinians say the road is aimed at serving the expansion of the nearby settlement of Beitar Illit without taking into consideration the possibility of flooding.

The earthworks of the barrier, whose route was ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in July 2004, acted as a dam, flooding the poorly built road between the villages of Bil’in and Safa, west of Ram Allah, villagers said.

“We asked the army to allow us to drain the water, but they refused, saying they were worried the fence would collapse”

Mohammad Khatib, a member of the Popular Committee Against the Separation Fence in Bil’in, said: “Placing the road here in such a low area with no drains caused the water to pile up so high that it covered 15m of our olive trees.”

Villagers also blamed the Israeli army, who they say prevented their search party from using their equipment to try to drain the flooded area.

Residents say they were not allowed to dig a ditch next to the fence in order to drain water.

Khatib, said: “We asked the army to allow us to drain the water, and even the Israeli rescue services agreed but the army refused, saying they were worried the fence would collapse.”

Eido Minkovsky, an Israeli army spokesperson, said: “All the claims that we didn’t allow the forces to act are incorrect.”

Fence at fault

Khatib said: “Because of the planned route of the fence, which is being built according to the expansion plans of nearby Jewish settlements, this man was killed.

“There was a humanitarian situation and lives at stake, and they refused to let us through. So how will it be when the fence is completed? We hold the occupation completely responsible for this.”

Bil’in is a small Palestinian farming village 4km east of the 1949 Armistice Line.

The planned route of the West Bank barrier comes within four metres of the last house in Bil’in and is set to take more than half of the village’s land to make room for settlement expansion.

A report published by human rights group B’tselem recently stated that the wall’s route through the village was not chosen based on correct security claims, but rather was politically motivated and designed to incorporate illegal expansion of nearby settlements.

Drowned Body Found Caught on Razor Wire of Illegal Barrier Near Bil’in

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 2.10 pm, Eyad Tahar was found dead, drowned in a flood near the annexation barrier. His body was found trapped on the annexation barrier’s razor wire. A valley between Bil’in and Safa (west of Ramallah) has been flooded near the construction of the illegal barrier there, which prevented the water from draining creating a pool which according to villagers reaches over the level of the olive trees.

Eyad and Raad Taha from Beit Annan were on there way to work in Rammallah when they were washed away by the flood water. Eyad’s brother Raad was found unconscious shortly after and is currently in hospital in Biddu. Israeli military prevented the Palestinian rescue party from using a bulldozer to drain the water.

Dr. Khaled Ayash, from the Carmel hospital in Biddu, who examined the body said that the cause of Eyad’s death was drowning.

Pictures are available on the ISM website:
www.palsolidarity.org

For more information call:

ISM Media Office: 022 971 824 or 057 572 0754

Lethal Flood Caused by Apartheid Wall Construction in Bil’in

UPDATE: At 2.10pm, Eyad Tahar’s dead body was found. See the latest press release at www.palsolidarity.org for more details.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 7 am this morning, in a flash flood caused by the annexation barrier near the village of Bil’in two brothers were washed away. A search party is currently attempting to find Eyad Tahar who is still missing, presumed dead. Raad Tahar was found unconscious and has been evacuated to hospital. The Israeli army is currently refusing to let the villager’s search party use their equipment to try and drain the flooded area, which according to the villagers is so high that it is over the level of the olive trees. The army says that the area is part of the wall construction, so the villagers are not allowed to move it.

The earth-works of the illegal Barrier is currently acting as a dam that has flooded the road between the villages of Bil’in and Safa, west of Ramallah.

For more information call:

ISM Media Office: 022 971 824 or 057 572 0754

Bil’in Tries to Bridge Over Troubled Waters

by ISM Media office volunteers

At about 1:20 pm this Friday 31st of March the weekly demonstration against the apartheid barrier in Bil’in set off. As usual, it consisted of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals – about 300 in all. When we got to the fence, we were met by a crowd of about 50 Israeli soldiers, some border police and a special riot squad.

The villagers carried a large-scale metal pot that symbolized the empty food pots of the Palestinians that is caused by two “walls”. The first is a physical wall built by Israel in the West Bank. The second is the new international withdrawal of aid from the Palestinian Authority after the Hamas election victory.

The plan for the day was to use a frame as a bridge in order to be able to get over the gate without touching it. This was in order to get around the fact that Palestinians are often accused of “damaging security property” if they touch the fence or gate – this way we would be able to cross to the stolen land without actually touching the gate.

The soldiers reacted to our arrival by attacking the demonstration with sound bombs and beatings. They also fired a rubber bullet when the bridging frame was brought next to the razor-wire. On a second attempt to bring the frame to the gate they beat the demonstrators who were bringing it there and pushed it away. Towards the end they also shot rubber bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing youth from the village.

Three Israelis, one foreign journalist and one Australian activist were beaten and arrested. The Australian activist might be charged with assaulting a soldier, despite the fact that it was the soldiers assaulting him. Several injuries were sustained by the demonstrators and one journalist was even shot in the back with a rubber bullet.

Land Day Actions

Since 1976 Land Day is marked by Palestinians on the 30th of March to protest against the grabbing of Palestinian lands by Israel.

This year, thousands of Palestinians, along with Israeli and international activists held a series of large-scale peaceful protests against the ongoing occupation and continued theft of Palestinian land by Israel.

Demonstrations took place in the villages of Beit Sira (Ramallah area), Zabda (Jenin area), Rafat (Salfit area) and Tulkarm city (Tulkarm area) with marches alongside the annexation barrier where local residents attempted to plant olive trees.

In Beit Sira, about 400 or 500 demonstrators marched down to the village land where they were met by a large presence of Israeli soldiers blocking the path to the area where they wanted to plant olive trees. They were geared up with riot shields, clubs, rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas and live round. After roughly a 5 minute stand-off, the soldiers decided to attempt to drive the demonstration away with physical force – beatings and sound bombs. The Palestinians responded to this mostly by running away, though some threw stones. The soldiers then used the stone throwing as an opportunity to open up with rubber-coated bullets, which in turn provoked further stone throwing. By the end of the demonstration, the soldiers had used a lot of their tear gas and some live rounds were heard. An ambulance was directly hit with a tear gas canister. Several minor injuries were inflicted on Palestinians by the soldiers, including one boy who was shot in the head with a rubber bullet.

Thursday’s nonviolent demonstration in Rafat was quickly met by Israeli soldiers and border police jeeps which blocked the main agricultural road leading to the Annexation Wall. Israeli soldiers threw sound bombs to disperse the demonstration which was peacefully walking with Palestinian flags and signs and chanting “No to the Wall” in Arabic. Despite the sound bombs, the demonstrators pushed forward and more sound bombs and few tear gas canisters were thrown directly in the middle of the crowd.

The demonstrators then sat in front of the jeeps and the Palestinians demanded that they be allowed to go to their land. The Israeli military recently declared 300 of the remaining 500 dunam of village lands are in a closed military zone and have restricted access to pasture and olive groves on the east side of the Wall. After the noon prayer in the road, the Palestinians returned to the village.

Recently, Rafat and the adjacent village of Deir Ballut have been the site of demolitions and access restrictions. While the construction of the Apartheid Wall in the area has winded down, the Israeli military have issued demolition orders and restricted access to pasture and olive groves on the east side of the Wall. Bulldozers are flattening part of the hillside for unknown purposes.

In 2003 and 2004 the Salfit region, particularly the villages of Deir Ballut, Azzawiya, Rafat and Mas’ha, was the center of mass actions against the building of the Apartheid Wall. While not stopping the building of the Wall completely, the resistance of the villages resulted in the High Court ordering the re-routing of the wall in mid-2005. Still, Rafat lost all but 500 dunums of its land. Rafat is adjacent to the 27-settlement bloc of Ariel, the largest Israeli settlement network in the West Bank after Greater-Jerusalem. As he campaigned in Ariel last week, Kadima frontrunner Ehud Olmert pledged to supporters that “the Ariel bloc will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel under any situation.”