Tag: Abdallah Abu Rahmah - Page 11 - International Solidarity Movement

New York carolers sing for boycott of Leviev while Israel jails protesters’ Palestinian allies

19 December 2009

For immediate release:

New York, NY, December 19, 2009 – On a snowy Saturday afternoon, forty-five human rights carolers serenaded Madison Avenue shoppers with familiar holiday tunes outside the storefront of Israeli diamond and settlement mogul Lev Leviev, but their lyrics called for the boycott of Leviev’s companies. The New York protest took place against the backdrop of a growing arrest campaign by the Israeli military against Palestinian protest and boycott activists from West Bank villages where Leviev has built settlements.

Ethan Heitner from Adalah-NY commented, “Today in New York City we celebrated the many victories of the international movement to boycott companies like Leviev’s that support Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. At the same time, we’re angry that our Palestinian colleagues, like Mohammad Othman from Jayyous, Abdallah Abu Rahmah from Bil’in and Jamal Juma’ from Stop the Wall, have been imprisoned by Israel for organizing nonviolent protests and boycotts. Still, the Israeli government’s desperate measures won’t succeed in crushing the growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Instead they just provide further proof to the world of why BDS is necessary.”

Groups worldwide have conducted a successful boycott campaign against Leviev’s companies due to their construction of Israeli settlements in violation of international law, and their human rights abuses in the diamond industry in Angola. With Leviev’s companies in freefall, New York human rights advocates, many wearing Santa hats, returned to his store for a third year of holiday caroling, and greeted Madison Avenue holiday shoppers with choruses like this, to the tune of “Jingle Bell Rock”:

So Lev as you, watch while your, stock goes kaput,
Think of the folks you’ve hurt,
And we’ll keep being the thorns in your side,
Til’ there’s justice for,
Palestinians,
And you’ve paid for your crimes!

In a new development, three heavyset, middle-aged men, seemingly employed by Leviev, videotaped and photographed the carolers from the storefront throughout the event.

Leviev’s companies Africa Israel and Leader have built Jewish-only homes on Palestinian land in the Israeli settlements of Zufim on the land of the village of Jayyous, Mattityahu East on the land of the village of Bil’in, and Har Homa and Maale Adumim, impoverishing Palestinian communities and violating international law. On December 12th in the middle of the night, the Israeli military arrested Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a leading organizer of Bil’in’s five year nonviolent protest campaign to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and settlements. Many other protesters from Bil’in and from the neighboring village of Ni’ilin, also campaigning to save its land, have been arrested recently in nighttime raids. The Palestinian organization Stop the Wall announced that its Coordinator, Jamal Juma’, was arrested on December 16th. Israeli authorities have jailed Jayyous protest and boycott organizer Mohammad Othman, also from Stop the Wall, without charges since September 22nd. This week, Israeli settlers from Zufim, built on Jayyous’ land, attacked Israeli soldiers who were attempting to slow settlement expansion there.

Leviev is facing a financial crisis, imperiling his control of his flagship company Africa-Israel, that appears to have been aggravated by the growing boycott movement. UNICEF, Oxfam, The British Government and major Hollywood stars have all distanced themselves from Leviev. The investment firm BlackRock, pension giant TIAA-CREF and the Swedish government recently sold off their shares of Leviev’s company Africa-Israel, though BlackRock and TIAA-CREF denied they did so due to his settlement construction. New reports indicate that the second largest Dutch pension fund PZVW divested from Africa-Israel. Eleven organizations have asked the Norwegian government to sell its pension holdings in Africa-Israel over ethical concerns.

More carol singing photos

Carol lyrics

Four houses raided in military incursion to West Bank villages Bil’in and Ni’ilin

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

19 December 2009

For immediate release:

The Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin have been invaded by the Israeli military in the early hours of Saturday, 19 December 2009. Soldiers entered both villages at 2.30am and raided houses of four families.

In Bil’in, 5 military jeeps carrying about 30 soldiers entered the village and invaded the house of Yassin Yassin. Family members, woken up by the armed soldiers at the dark of night, were forced to leave the house and stand outside in cold and rain. The raid was conducted in order to arrest Yassin Yassin, wanted for his participation in the village’s regular Friday demonstrations against the Wall and settlements. As Yassin was not present in the house at the time of the raid, the soldiers left a note ordering him to attend questioning at the Ofer prison. Soldiers then continued to conduct a search in a second house.

In a similar scenario, the army invaded two houses in Ni’lin, detaining all family members in one room while searching the houses, looking for a resident of the village. The only reason the military had for searching for this young man was his participation in Ni’lin’s weekly demonstrations.

Sasha Solanas, an American solidarity activist, who was sleeping in one of the invaded houses, said: “The army raided two Ni’lin homes in the middle of the night, looking for a villager suspected of participating in the demonstrations. The recent revival of night raids is part of a new campaign to quash unarmed demonstrations in both Ni’lin and Bil’in. The army has used night raids to scare the villagers into abandoning their just cause.”

Owner of second house raided in Bil’in, Wajeeh Burnat, was questioned by the soldiers about used spent tear-gas canisters and bullets, left on the village’s land by the Israeli military, who fire them at demonstrators. In a non-violent act of resistance, residents of the village collect the used munitions at the end of every demonstration, using them to create art and to showcase the violence used against them by the Israeli army. The Israeli military, however, consider such spent munitions illegal and has recently raised suspicions against a member of the Popular Committee for their possession.

Collection of tear gas and shock grenades that have been picked after a demonstration in Bil'in

Art created by Bil'in residents using spent munitions

Mohmmed Khatib, member of the Bil’in Popular Committee said: “The popular struggle is gaining momentum and its growing achievements both in Palestine and world-wide put Israel in a position which makes the military desperate to de-legitimize and stop us. Tonight’s raids are a part of an escalation in Israeli military’s failed attempts to break the spirit of the people of Bil’in and Ni’lin, their popular leadership, and the popular struggle as a whole – aimed at crushing demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall and settlements built on land stolen from both villages.”

Recently, Adv. Gaby Lasky, who represents many of Bil’in’s detainees, was informed by the military prosecution that the army intends to use legal measures as a means of ending the demonstrations. As a part of this strategy, the Israeli military investigators used intimidation techniques to coerce the young boys from the village to testify against the popular leaders. So far, all three detained coordinators of the Bil’in Popular Committee were released for lack of evidence, and, in the case of another member, Mohammed Khatib, the court even found some of the presented evidence to be falsified.

31 residents of Bil’in have been arrested since 23 July 2009, during a night raid and arrest campaign conducted by the Israeli military, targeted at boys accused of throwing stones at the Wall as well as participants and organisers of the weekly demonstrations. Amongst those arrested are Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a leading activist from the village and Abdallah Abu Rahmah, coordinator of the Popular Committee. Adeeb, who has been detained for over five months, is not suspected of committing any violence, but was indicted with a blanket charge of “incitement”, which was very liberally interpreted in this case to include the organizing of grassroots demonstrations.

Israeli army fires rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators celebrating the Arab Creativity Award for Bil’in

18 December 2009

This Friday the demonstration organized by the Popular Committee against the Wall was joined by dozens of leaders, members and supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking its 42^nd anniversary. As every Friday a number of international and Israeli peace activists and residents of Bil’in and neighboring villages took part in the protest.

After the Friday prayers, a joyful and wet group of demonstrators carried banners condemning the Israeli occupation and its repressive practices while they marched towards the Wall built on Bil’in’s land.

Slogans and speeches called for national unity and emphasized the principles of the Palestinian state. When the demonstrators approached the Wall the Israeli army fired sound bombs and tear-gas grenades and after a while the soldiers proceeded to fire rubber-coated steel bullets.

The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements just won the “Arab Creativity Award” for 2009, which was presented at a special ceremony held on 10 December in Kuwait. The Popular Committee is proud to receive this award, which is a celebration of their achievements in the 5-year long resistance against the occupation and is committed to continue in their struggle. It comes a year after another prestigious award, Carl von Ossietzky Medal for outstanding service in the realization of basic and human rights, awarded by the board of trustees of the International League for Human Rights in Berlin. Bil’in Popular Committee also received the Yasser Arafat award in 2007, the highest award associated with the late leader Yasser Arafat.

The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in also appealed to the international human rights organizations, UN Human Rights Council, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the General Assembly of the United Nations to intensify and co-ordinate their efforts and pressure on Israel in order to release of Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee, along with other political prisoners arrested during a night raid campaign conducted by the Israeli military over the last 6 months.

Just hours before today’s demonstration, Bil’in was once again invaded by the Israeli army. Five jeeps full of Israeli soldiers and immigration officers entered the village in the early hours of Friday, surrounding and invading a house which is used by international solidarity groups and activists. The soldiers ordered everyone to leave the house, checking the passports and belongings of activists from around the world who came to protest in solidarity with the residents of Bil’in. They declared the whole area a ‘closed military zone’, failing to present documents allowing them to do so.

The ongoing repression of Palestinian protesters

Jonathan Pollak | Huffington Post

18 December 2009

On a pitch black early December night, seven armored Israeli military jeeps pulled into the driveway of a home in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Dozens of soldiers, armed and possibly very scared, came to arrest someone they were probably told was a dangerous, wanted man – Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher at the Latin Patriarchate School and a well-known grassroots organizer in the village of Bil’in.

Every Friday, for the past five years, Abdallah Abu Rahmah has led men, women and children from Bil’in, carrying signs and Palestinian flags, along with their Israeli and international supporters, in civil disobedience and protest marches against the seizure of sixty percent of the village’s land for Israel’s construction of its wall and settlements. Bil’in has become a symbol of civilian resistance to Israel’s occupation for Palestinians and international grassroots.

Abu Rahmah was taken from his bed, his hands bound with tight zip tie cuffs whose marks were still visible a week later, and his eyes blindfolded. A few hours later, as President Obama spoke of “the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice” upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Abu Rahmah’s blindfold was removed as he found himself in a military detention center. He was being interrogated about the crime of organizing demonstrations. In occupied Palestinian territories, Abu Rahmah’s case is not unusual – about 8,000 Palestinians currently inhabit Israeli jails on political grounds.

After more than fifteen years of fruitless negotiations, which have done nothing more than allow Israel to further cement its control over the West Bank, even the moderate and mainstream West Bank Palestinian Authority now refuses negotiations with Israel. Despairing over the futility of perpetual negotiations, figures like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are openly supporting a resumption of the strategies of the first Palestinian Intifada. This being a grassroots uprising, saying “Those who have to resist are the people […] like in Bil’in and Ni’ilin, where people are injured every day.”

Yet, Israel’s occupation, like any other military operation, speaks only the language of violence and brutality when dealing with Palestinians, whether facing armed militants or unarmed protesters.

Fearing a paradigm shift to grassroots resistance, Israel reacted in the only way it knows – with violence and repression. And what places could better serve as an example than the symbols of contemporary Palestinian popular struggle – Bil’in and the neighboring village of Ni’ilin, villages where weekly demonstrations are held against the Wall, with the support of Israeli and international activists?

Israel’s desire to quash the popular resistance movement is no hidden agenda, nor should it come as a surprise. Recent acts by the Israeli army point directly to this goal.

Over the past six months, 31 Bil’in residents have been arrested, including almost all the members of the Popular Committee that organizes the demonstrations. A similar tactic is being used against protesters in the neighboring village of Ni’ilin, which is losing over half of its land to Israel’s wall and settlements. Over the past eighteen months, 89 Ni’ilin residents have been arrested.

Israeli lawyer Gaby Lasky, who represents many of Bil’in and Ni’ilin’s detainees, was informed by Israel’s military prosecutors that the army had decided to end demonstrations against the Wall, and that it intends to use legal procedures to do so.

The Israeli army also recently resumed the use of 22 caliber sniper fire for dispersing demonstrations, though use of the weapon for crowd control purposes was specifically forbidden in 2001 by the Israeli army’s legal arm. Following the killing of unarmed demonstrator Aqel Srour in Ni’ilin last June, Brigadier General Avichai Mandelblit, the Israeli army’s Judge Advocate General, reiterated the ban on the use of .22 caliber bullets against demonstrators, to no effect. In addition to Srour, since the beginning of 2009, 28 unarmed demonstrators were injured by live ammunition sniper fire in Ni’ilin alone.

Unlike the battlefield, in the realm of public opinion, where political struggles are decided, gun-toting soldiers cannot defeat a civilian uprising. Israel is clearly aware of this fact. The night raids on the villages, detention of leadership and shear brutality on the ground are all a desperate and failing attempt to nip the renewed wave of popular resistance in the bud.

Help get Abdallah Abu Rahmah out of jail

Jewish Voice for Peace

11 December 2009

Today the people of Bil’in are protesting in solidarity with Abdallah Abu Rahmah. Here’s how you can stand in solidarity with them:

Please contact President Obama and ask for Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s release.

On Thursday at 2 AM, the Israeli military surrounded the Ramallah home of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher and the Coordinator of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and arrested him. Abu Rahmah is among the leaders of the West Bank village of Bil’in’s nearly five-year nonviolent struggle of protests, lawsuits and boycotts (1) aiming to save the village’s land from Israel’s wall and expanding settlements. Abdallah Abu Rahmah joins Mohammed Othman (2) from the village of Jayyous, Adeeb Abu Rahmah (3) from Bil’in and many other Palestinians who are currently jailed by Israel for working for justice.

At the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, which came hours after Abu Rahmah’s arrest, President Obama said, “there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice… the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women – some known, some obscure to all but those they help – to be far more deserving of this honor than I.” (4) Abdallah Abu Rahmah is one of those people.

Tell President Obama about Abdallah Abu Rahmah and ask for his release.

In President Obama’s June speech in Cairo, he called on Palestinians to resist nonviolently, though Bil’in’s long and creative struggle has inspired tens of thousands of Palestinians, Israelis and people worldwide.

President Obama spoke in Cairo and in Oslo in front of the whole world. Whether you are American are not, contact U.S. President Obama and ask him to keep his promise.

Another Nobel Peace Prize winner, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, explained during an August visit by the Elders to Bil’in (see picture), “Just as a simple man named Gandhi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled.” (5)

Ask U.S. President Obama to stand by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and by Abdallah Abu Rahmah.

Abdullah Abu Rahmah’s arrest is part of an intensifying Israeli campaign to crush the growing Palestinian nonviolent movement of grassroots protests and boycotts against the Israeli occupation. Mohammad Othman (6) from the West Bank village of Jayyous has been held without charges since September 22nd. Othman is one organizer of Jayyous’ long campaign to save its land from Israel’s wall and settlements, and an advocate of the global boycott campaign against Israel, modeled on South Africa’s successful anti-apartheid struggle. Since June 23, 2009, 31 Bil’in residents have been detained by the military. A leading Bil’in activist, Adeeb Abu Rahmah has been detained for over five months for organizing grassroots demonstrations. Another Bil’in protest leader, Mohammed Khatib (7), was released on bail after an Israeli judge found that some of the evidence against him was falsified. The prisoners from Bil’in and Jayyous are just some of the nearly 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

In September, 2007, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the government had to move the wall in Bil’in to allow access to more of the village’s land (8). More than two years later, the Israeli government has yet to move the wall. Lev Leviev, the owner of one of the companies that has built settlements on Bil’in’s land, has been the subject of an international boycott campaign due to settlement construction (9). Another Leviev company is building the Zufim settlement on Jayyous’ land.

Israel’s efforts to crush all forms of Palestinian resistance and Israel’s continued settlement construction stand as a direct challenge to the US and to the entire international community.

Write to President Obama to tell them to demand that Israel free Abdallah Abu Rahmah, Mohammad Othman, Adeeb Abu Rahmah and all Palestinian political prisoners.

(1) http://www.bilin-village.org/english/
(2) http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_1237.shtml and http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/12/04/israel-end-arbitrary-detention-rights-activist
(3) http://www.bilin-village.org/english/articles/testimonies/Bilin-Demonstrates-in-solidarity-with-jailed-activist
(4) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/world/europe/11prexy.text.html?_r=2
(5) http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178&Itemid=1
(6) http://freemohammadothman.wordpress.com/
(7) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/khatib
(8) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html?
(9) http://adalahny.org/index.php/recent-successes

Thanks,