Israeli forces arrest Israeli and international activists in Safa

For Immediate Release

27 June 2009: Israeli forces arrest 24 solidarity activists and 2 hired Palestinian Israeli drivers in the West Bank village of Saffa.

At 7.30am, 35 Israeli and 10 international solidarity activists joined 3 Palestinian families from Beit Ummar to harvest their land. As the group tried to go down to their lands, 50 soldiers and border policemen stopped them.

Before reaching the land, Israeli forces arrested 10 Israeli and international activists, under the premise that Saffa was under a Closed Military Zone*. The army was aggressive towards the group and used violence against them.

After pushing the group, border policemen arrested another 9 activists.

Yousef Abu Maria from the Palestine Solidarity Project, had his leg broken from the use of excessive force. Israeli soldiers tried to arrest him, but the solidarity activists negotiated for the soldiers to release him and allow him to be taken by an ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent. He is currently being treated at a Hebron hospital.

A female Israeli activist from Tayyoush was also injured and is currently at an Israeli hospital seeking treatment for a potentially broken hand.

As 2 cars with hired drivers were leaving the area with other activists, Israeli forces stopped them and arrested 5 more activists and the 2 Palestinian Israeli drivers.

The arrested were taken to the Israeli prison in the illegal settlement of Gush Etzion.

The activists are members from Palestine Solidarity Project, Tayyoush, Anarchists Against the Wall, and the International Solidarity Movement. They have been accompanying Palestinian farmers to document and deter violence from Israeli forces as the farmers harvest their land.

Last Saturday, 8 Israeli activists were arrested as they accompanied Palestinian farmers.

*Israeli forces have declared the area in Saffa a Closed Military Zone (CMZ), in direct violation of an Israeli Supreme Court decision. The Israeli Supreme Court determined that Closed Military Zones cannot be issued on Palestinian agricultural land, cutting off Palestinian farmers, or prolonged periods of time. However, Israeli forces have been regularly declaring a Closed Military Zone on farm land in Saffa since 2 April 2009.

UPDATE: 1pm, 27 June 2009, All the activists and drivers have been released.

Naomi Klein in Bil’in: boycott Israel

Mondoweiss

26 June 2009

Naomi Klein with Iyad Burnat of the Bil'in Popular Committee
Naomi Klein with Iyad Burnat of the Bil'in Popular Committee

Naomi Klein visited the West Bank village of Bil’in today to voice her support for the weekly demonstrations against the Separation Wall, and to reiterate her support for boycotting Israel. Her visit it timed with the release of her best selling book, The Shock Doctrine, in Israel/Palestine where it is being published in Arabic and Hebrew. During a press conference held under an olive tree near before the weekly protest, Klein explained her support for the boycott:

“It’s a boycott of Israeli institutions, it’s a boycott of the Israeli economy,” the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation wall.

“Boycott is a tactic …we’re trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa,”

“It’s an extraordinarily important part of Israel’s identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy,” the Canadian writer and activist said.

“When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don’t come, when the symphonies don’t come, when a film you really want to see doesn’t play at the Jerusalem film festival… then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is.”

The Ma’an News Agency reports that Klein was moved to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement because of the Israeli attack on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Ma’an also explained the creative approach Klein is taking to selling her book in Israel while honoring the boycott:

As a part of her push for a boycott, Klein is donating the royalties her the book to her local publisher, Andalus, which specializes in translating Arabic texts into Hebrew. She is also working closely with Palestine’s Boycott National Committee (BNC), and refusing to cooperate with Israeli state institutions during what she called an “unusual book tour.”

Klein discussed choosing the Andalus publishing house in her January 2009 article in the Nation. In that article she made the important point that the boycott increases debate rather than cutting it off. The difference is that it forces discussion of the issues that must be discussed, but are frequently ignored. She made a similar point today in explaining her book tour,

“We’re rejecting normalization,” Klein said of her Middle East visit, “We’re rejecting the idea that there can be apolitical cocktail parties and book signings while violence like this is taking place so nearby.”

The AFP reports that after the press conference Klein watched as the Israeli military attacked the weekly protest with tear gas. She observed: “‘This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation,’ Klein said adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against Jewish protesters.”

Author Naomi Klein calls for boycott of Israel

AFP

26 June 2009

Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

“It’s a boycott of Israeli institutions, it’s a boycott of the Israeli economy,” the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation wall.

“Boycott is a tactic … we’re trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa,” said Klein, the author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

“It’s an extraordinarily important part of Israel’s identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy,” the Canadian writer and activist said.

“When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don’t come, when the symphonies don’t come, when a film you really want to see doesn’t play at the Jerusalem film festival… then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is.”

She briefly joined about 200 villagers and foreign activists protesting the barrier which Israel says it needs to prevent attacks, but which Palestinians say aims at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.

She then watched from a safe distance as the protesters reached the fence, where Israeli forces fired teargas and some youths responded by throwing stones at the army.

“This apartheid, this is absolutely a system of segregation,” Klein said adding that Israeli troops would never crack down as violently against Jewish protesters.

She pointed out that her visit coincided with court hearings in Quebec in a case where the villagers of Bilin are suing two Canadian companies, accusing them of illegally building and selling homes to Israelis on land that belongs to the village.

The plaintiffs claim that by building in the Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit, near Bilin, Green Park International and Green Mount International are in violation of international laws that prohibit an occupying power from transferring some of its population to the lands it occupies.

“I’m hoping and praying that Canadian courts will bring some justice to the people of Bilin,” Klein said.

Her visit was also part of a promotional tour in Israel and the West Bank for “The Shock Doctrine” which has recently been translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Klein said she would get no royalties from sales of the Hebrew version and that the proceeds would go instead to an activist group.

Bil’in village holds press conference and demonstration against construction of the Apartheid Wall

For Immediate Release:

Friday, 26 June 2009: Bil’in village holds press conference and a demonstration against construction of the Apartheid Wall.

Palestinian residents, alongside international and Israeli activists gathered today in Bil’in to demonstrate against the Wall.

Before the demonstration, Naomi Klein, Basel Mansour, and Attorney Wisam Ahmad held a press conference.

Naomi Klein is visiting Palestine on the occasion of the publication of her latest book, the #1 international bestseller, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” in Arabic and Hebrew. Klein is an advocate for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and spoke about her choice to respect the 2005 call for BDS from Palestinian civil society. She explained that the international community can actively support the Palestinian people in their non-violent resistance to the Occupation through BDS.

Explaining her role as a writer, Klein said, “We believe that art and culture are political… Bil’in has integrated art and culture into their resistance. ”

Basel Mansour; a member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements spoke about Bil’in’s ongoing campaign to demonstrate against the theft of it’s land.

“We will continue our non-violent resistance to the confiscation of Bil’in’s land and incorporate using the legal system as a means of attaining justice. We hope that the Canadian court will decide to hear our case and hold Green Park International and Green Mount International accountable for their violation of international law.” – Basel Mansour

Attorney Wisam Ahmad; a program officer for Al Haq and speaker on behalf of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) will talk about Bil’in and the village’s current suit against two Canadian companies.

“The privatization of the settlement industry is an attempt for the Israeli government to hide behind the actions of companies such as Green Park International and Green Mount International. These companies and the Israeli government must be held accountable for violating the Geneva Conventions and Rome Statue.”

After the press conference, Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators marched from the village towards the site of the Wall. Chanting slogans against occupation, protesters arrived near the Wall. Israeli forces shot tear-gas at demonstrators, including the use of the cannon (which shoots off many gas canisters at once). Several suffered from heavy tear-gas inhalation and required medical attention from medical personnel.

Bil’in’s Court Case

Bil’in has charged that Green Park International and Green Mount International are illegally constructing residential buildings and other settlement infrastructure on village territory.

The Canadian court will first decide if it has jurisdiction to hear Bil’in’s case.

According to Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli attorney representing the village of Bil’in, both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute have been incorporated into Canadian federal law under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute, giving Canadian courts jurisdiction to hear Bil’in’s case.

Green Park International and Green Mount International have motioned to dismiss the suit. They claim that Canada is not the appropriate forum in which to try the case.

Bil’in plaintiffs are asking for three things in the lawsuit: a declaration that the companies’ construction is illegal under Canadian and international law; the demolition of the buildings and restoration of the land, and $2 million in punitive damages from the companies.

Bil’in is located 4 kilometers east of the Green Line and is adjacent to Modiin Illit, a large settlement bloc that sits on territory confiscated from Bil’in and several neighboring Palestinian villages. Since 2005, residents of this agricultural community have been organizing a nonviolent campaign against the construction of Israel’s Wall in the West Bank on village land.

Palestinian kids with kites reclaiming land and rights

ISM Gaza | Farming Under Fire

25 June 2009

ISM Gaza Strip activists participated in a children event/protest organized by the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, close to the so called “buffer zone” that Israeli occupation forces are trying to impose all along the Green Line. Among the ruble of recently demolished homes, with other children watching from their homes full of bullet holes, the children of Beit Hanoun launched their kites, defying the siege and the buffer zone and reclaiming land and rights. The Israeli occupation forces participated also to the event with their military balloons.

Beit Hanoun Local Initiative press release of Tuesday June 23, 2009 (translation by ISM Gaza Strip)

Beit Hanoun Local Initiative launches its Children’s activities: Let me Play Freely, in Beit Hanoun

On Tuesday June 23, 2009, the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative group organized a kite competition with the participation of Beit Hanoun children. Six organizations participated in this event, which are from Beit Hanoun: Family Development Centre, Izbet Beit Hanoun Development and Progress centre, Adham Charity centre, Jerusalem Centre for health and society, Taghreed Association for Culture & Development, and the Promising Generation group.

Five children from each organization were chosen to hold big colourful kites, some with the colours of the Palestinian national flag, while other kites had slogans such as: The Children of Palestine Have a Right to Life, a Right to Play, We Refuse Occupation, We want to live like other children in the world, No to the Israeli Occupation.

The “Let me Play Freely” activities was launched in a march beginning from the centre of the town, till the buffer zone east of Beit Hanoun, near Sderot. There, the children released their kites in the air.

Children who are physically challenged and those with special needs participated in the activity too. They played and released kites in the air.
Palestine… we shall remain here despite all the damage and the siege.

The Beit Hanoun Local Initiative coordinator, Saber Al Zaaneen, certified that the activities and events shall continue in the buffer zone despite the occupation forces’ policies that aim at forced removal of familes, and farmers from their places of residence. He called upon the Intenational community to take on a move to stand with the Palestinian people against occupation and neo-colonialism.

On his part, the coordinator of league for activities and events in the Beit Hanoun local initiative stated that the initiative will work during the summer period in organizing and launching children’s activities and events.

At the end of the day’s activity, the initiative and fellow solidarity workers distributed modest gifts to the children who won the “Let me Play Freely” competition.

Beit Hanoun Local Initiative
Media Committee- Beit Hanoun, GS-Palestine