15 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
October 14th was the seventeenth day of the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. People took to the streets for a solidarity demonstration in the village of Beit Ummar, Hebron. This is the second such demonstration in this village, a similar march last week led to several arrests in a dawn raid on Thursday 13th October.
There have been numerous demonstrations across the West Bank since the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike began. These are in support of the 9 demands of Palestinian prisoners, which include the right to family visits, end to the use of isolation as a punishment, and an end to the profiteering of Israeli prisons from financial penalties charged against prisoners.
The Beit Ummar protest began after noon prayers with a peaceful march through the village, but later there were clashes between approximately 10 – 15 young demonstrators and the Israeli military, who used tear gas to disperse them. The clashes continued until around 4pm. Nobody was seriously hurt.
Later that evening – after the press and international observers had left – Israeli forces closed all main entrances to the village. These have yet to be re-opened. Popular Committee spokesman, Muhammed Awad, reported that an ambulance was prevented from passing through. It was en route to attend to a sick man, but the Israeli forces refused access despite protestations from the ambulance crew.
The mayor of Beit Ummar, Nasri Sabarneh, has condemned the action, calling it revenge for the hunger strike solidarity marches.
The names of three men arrested following last weeks protest are Yousef Ekhil, 40; Muhamad Bahar, 17 and Ahmad Sleibi, 16.
14 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Near the concrete wall which separates Bil’in from Modiin Illit colony, occupied by ultra-Orthodox Jews, there is an olive tree. It is impossible to know how it survived the construction of the wall and how it continues to resist to the lack of a few cares that the specie demands – a lack caused by the Israeli barbed wire fence that prevents the access of the residents to the point where it is, in the buffer zone. This survivor came to the attention of the villagers since some time ago. Today they finally managed to breach the fence and to go to the lonely olive tree for harvest.
Fire caused by tear gas canisters
The tear gas grenades fired by Israeli soldiers, who lurked on the other side of the wall, attempted to prevent the harvest, a time of year that mobilizes the entire population of Palestine. One of the canisters fell on dried plants, and the heat of the metal caused a fire which the residents were able to control. Spread by the strong wind the gases reached even the activists more distant from the site – people from the village, from Israel and from around the world –causing suffocation, burning eyes and skin.
October 14th’s demonstration was dedicated to Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike and to the beginning of the olive harvest.
Occupy Wall Street not Palestine! We are part of the world’s 99% yearning for freedom, justice and equal rights!
If a people one day wills to live
fate must answer its call
And the night must fade
and the chain must break
– Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia)
Occupied Palestine, October 13 -The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilisations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.
Our aspirations overlap; our struggles converge. Our oppressors, whether greedy corporations or military occupations, are united in profiting from wars, pillage, environmental destruction, repression and impoverishment. We must unite in our common quest for freedoms, equal rights, social and economic justice, environmental sanity, and world peace. We can no longer afford to be splintered and divided; we can no longer ignore our obligations to join hands in the struggle against wars and corporate exploitation and for a human-friendly world community not a profit-maximizing jungle.
The Occupy Wall Street movement and its counterparts across the US, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere are — at least partially — inspired by the Arab Spring for democracy and social justice. Leaders of the Arab popular revolts tell us that they, in turn, were largely inspired by our own, decades-old struggle against Israel’s occupation of our land, its system of discrimination that matches the UN’s definition of apartheid, and its denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.
The rapidly emerging movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law is a key and effective part of the Palestinian struggle. Anchored in universal principles of human rights and struggling for freedom, justice and equality, the BDS movement, established in 2005, is deeply rooted in decades of Palestinian peaceful resistance to colonial oppression and is inspired by the South African struggle against apartheid as well as the civil rights movement in the US. It is adopted by a near consensus among Palestinians everywhere, with all the main political parties, trade unions, professional syndicates, women’s unions, student groups, NGO networks and refugee advocacy networks represented in the BNC, the reference for this growing movement to end Israeli impunity.
The Palestinian-led BDS movement is a global effort of groups, from South Africa to Britain, from Canada to India, and within Israel itself, all committed to ending Israel’s denial of basic Palestinian rights. It is endorsed by towering moral leaders of the calibre of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Holocaust survivor and co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Stephane Hessel. It is supported by world renowned cultural and intellectual figures such as Alice Walker, Naomi Klein, Roger Waters, Judith Butler, Sarah Schulman, John Berger, Ken Loach, John Greyson, and Adrienne Rich. Massive trade union federations such as COSATU (South Africa), CUT (Brazil), TUC (UK), ICTU (Ireland), among many others, have also adopted BDS.
The movement has scored in the last two years some spectacular achievements when internationally renowned artists and music groups heeded the cultural boycott of Israel and refused to perform there or cancelled scheduled appearances. These have included the Pixies, Elvis Costello, Snoop Dogg, Meg Ryan, Vanessa Paradis, Gil Scott-Heron, among many others. The Norwegian state pension fund, among others, major European banks and some corporations have all been convinced to divest from businesses implicated in Israel’s violations of international law. Increasingly, BDS is recognized as a civic movement capable of ending Israeli impunity and, crucially, contributing to the global struggle against the war-mongering, racist agenda which Israel has persistently played a key role in.
So as you break your own chains and build your own effective resistance against corporate tyranny, we ask you to demand a just peace for all the peoples in the Middle East, based on international law and equal human rights. Palestinians, too, are part of the 99% around the world that suffer at the hands of the 1% whose greed and ruthless quest for hegemony have led to unspeakable suffering and endless war. Corporate power has not just profited from our suffering but has colluded in maintaining Israel’s occupation and apartheid to perpetuate an unjust order that profits oil and military companies and multinational financial institutions.
We call upon all the spreading social movements of the world to think critically when considering their attitude towards the Israeli ‘social justice’ protests, which have almost completely ignored the key issue at the heart of all of the problems faced by ordinary Palestinians and even Israelis: Israel’s costly system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people. Without putting an end to that multi-tiered Israeli system of oppression, our entire region will never enjoy a comprehensive and lasting peace, one that is based on justice and human rights.
Money for jobs, health and education, not for racist oppression and occupation!
Nowhere is this more important than in the United States. Despite Israel’s persistent denial of Palestinian rights, the US has provided Israel with unconditional political and military assistance that directly contributes to the denial of Palestinian rights, but also to the problems faced by ordinary US citizens. Could the $24bn of military aid provided to Israel in the period 2000-2009 not been better spent on schools, healthcare and other essential services? Did Israel not play a major role in prodding the US to launch and continue its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at immense human and material cost, mainly borne by the poorest in those countries?
But, we must remind ourselves all the time that this struggle will never be easy, and reaching our objectives never inevitable. As Martin Luther King once said:
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
The refreshing scenes of determined peaceful protest for justice from around the world tell us that we, the 99% of the world, are in the process of straightening our backs, collectively, with unwavering fortitude and boundless hope.
13 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
For the third morning children and teachers from Qordoba Scool gathered on the H1 side of Checkpoint 56 at 7.30am. The children, with the support of their teachers and the Director of Education in Hebron, Nisreen Amro, peacefully protested against heightened “security measures” that were introduced by the Israeli Army on Tuesday 11th October 2011.
The protest was covered by local, national and international press.
School children as young as 6 years old had their lessons outside, sitting on the floor by the checkpoint while standing at intervals to passionately chant, “We will not return, we want our right to education.”
The Director of Education in Hebron, representatives from the Governor of Hebron’s office, and teachers from Qordoba School attempted to reason with the soldiers, however the army continued to refuse anyone entry through the checkpoint gate. The Israeli Army’s response to the children’s peaceful protest was to send approx 10 soldiers and border police through the checkpoint to push the children further away from the checkpoint entrance.
For the past seven years teachers have had an agreement with the Israeli army that they can pass through the checkpoint gate instead of the metal detectors. However two days ago without giving prior notification the Israeli army changed the rules – they are currently insisting that everyone, including teachers, pregnant women and people with heart complaints/ pace makers must pass through the metal detector.
As previously reported by ISM the children’s impromptu protest on Tuesday 11th October resulted in a number of children requiring hospital treatment after being hit (with the butts of rifles) and kicked by both the Israeli army and the Israeli Police. Initially ISM reported that 7 children were taken to hospital, however today the father of one of the injured children informed ISM that 9 children were taken to hospital with injuries (1 boy and 8 girls). Fortunately all 9 children were able to leave hospital after a few hours.
Today ISM volunteers interviewed 11 year old Yazan Sharbati, one of the boys violently dragged into the checkpoint by an Israeli Police Officer on Tuesday 11th October as seen in the following video.
Sharbati stated, “There were no teachers in the school and so we protested to the army that we wanted our teachers. The army told us to go back to school, we told them that without teachers there is no school.”
Sharbati was asked how he felt when the Policeman grabbed him and pushed him into the checkpoint.
Hebron students continue to advocate – Click here for more images
“I was so afraid that something bad was going to happen. He pushed me very hard,” he said.
When asked if he intends to continue protesting against the closure of the gate at Checkpoint 56 Sharbati replied, without hesitation, “Of course”.
The Director of Education for Hebron, Nisreen Amro, said to ISM volunteers “If the Israeli Army does not reverse their decision by Sunday, chalkboards will be brought to the checkpoint and lessons will be held here.”
At the end of the protest as ISM volunteers left the checkpoint they observed soldiers refusing to allow a far along, pregnant, Palestinian lady through the checkpoint gate. She and her toddler were forced to climb the steep hill next to the checkpoint in order to avoid the metal detector.
International volunteers will continue to observe and report on any future protests.
