Tag: Al Ma’asara - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

New Israeli military tactic: Headbutting in Al- Ma’asara

by Alistair George

28 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Israeli military violently obstructed a peaceful demonstration against the Israeli separation wall in Al-Ma’sara, near Bethlehem, today.

Around 25 Palestinians and a similar number of international observers marched from the village at 12:20 PM today and attempted to reach olive groves on Palestinian land just outside of Al-Ma’asara in time for this year’s olive harvest. A line of thirteen soldiers, backed by reinforcements in three armoured vehicles, pushed and shoved protesters, including a small Palestinian boy, in order to prevent them from leaving the village.

As demonstrators attempted to walk around the line of soldiers, one officer snatched a Palestinian flag from a protester and then head-butted him.

Mahmoud Alaaelddin, President of Al-Ma’sara local council and member of the Popular Resistance Committee, said “Every Friday we try to go to our land and the soldiers always prevent us from going. They don’t care if there are children at the demonstration; they use more and more violence every Friday.”

After being prevented from peacefully marching to Palestinian land, protesters chanted, sang and remonstrated with the Israeli military for around 30 minutes. The protest dispersed at 1:00 PM, with Mahmoud Zawahra, member of Al-Ma’asara’s Popular Committee of Resistance, alerting the soldiers of their continued persistence.

“Next Friday we will come with more people and we will fly kites with Palestinian flags. And for the hundredth time we tell you – you are not welcome here. You are killers and occupying forces,” he said.

Around five minutes after today’s protest ended, a small group of Palestinian youths threw stones at the military, who responded by firing a tear gas canister, causing billowing gas to enter a house and garden at the edge of Al-Ma’asara.

Demonstrations take place in the village every Friday in protest against the separation wall – illegal under international law – which has been used by the Israeli military to expropriate much of the village’s land since 2005. Work had ceased on the wall near Al-Ma’asara in 2008 after an Israeli court ruling, but it is scheduled to re-commence on 1 January 2011.

If completed, the barrier will expropriate more Palestinian land and will result in the closure of the main road that links Al-Ma’asara to nearby cities in the West Bank. Al-Ma’sara residents will be forced to take alternative routes, tripling the length of time it takes to drive from the village to Bethlehem or Hebron.

Alaaeldin says that over the past few years Israeli soldiers have come into the village late at night before the Friday’s protest; forcing entire families – including children – to stand in the cold, often for 2-3 hours.

According to Alaaeldin, the Israeli military “wants people to be afraid [to protest]. They say ‘we will arrest you, we will kill you ‘but more people come to the demonstrations and refuse to be scared.”

The Israeli military has not carried out such incursions into the village for three months, but Alaaeldin is concerned that they may start again as soldiers have taken advantage of the cold winter nights to harass people in previous years.

Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Interviews from Al Ma’asara resistance

13 June 2011 | Al Masara Resistance

Interview with Hasan Brijia, a member of the Popular Struggle Committee

I am Hasan, 43 years old and father of 7 children. I currently work in the Ministry against settlements and the Wall, which was established a few years ago. I, Mahmoud and Juma started to organize some resistance activities in Al-Ma’sara in 2006. The popular committee is really a grassroots organization. When we started we had a lot of different actions during the weekly protests; we planted trees, acted out the crucifixion of Jesus and had a Santa Claus (“Baba Noël”) in the demonstration. The Santa Claus was a big success: 63 magazines published pictures of the demonstration! What makes Al-Ma’sara different from other villages though is that it was the first one where children participated in the marches. We achieved this by going to schools and universities, talking about our case.

Can you tell more about the struggle and the situation in Al-Ma’sara?

We started our struggle when Israel started to build the Apartheid Wall in Al-Ma’sara and we heard about the actions in Bi’lin (a village near Ramallah). We started thinking about actions that we can do here, and tried to involve others from the village. Slowly the number increased. The minimum amount of people who joins us on Friday is 40, including international and Israeli activists, as well as Palestinians not only from Al-Ma’sara but also other places of the Bethlehem district.

The village of Al-Ma’sara in build in Area B and Area C; the houses on the other side of the main street in front of our house are in area C. Many of those houses don’t have a building permit and are in danger. In total 35.000 km2 will be annexed by the Wall going around the Guz Etzion settlement block. Of those only 15.000 are from Al-Ma’sara. I think this is because we resisted. They wanted to invade more, but didn’t do so. The village of Um Salamone lost much more land, but many people of this village work in Israel and are afraid to join us.

It has been five years since you started, do you see any change?

Yes! I see that the Israeli soldiers have changed; they are more scared of us, or actually they are scared of our cameras. When they shoot at us we can record all of that now. One time I was in jail for ‘petting soldiers’, it was the longest time they kept me: 30 days. Thanks to the camera’s we could show there was no evidence for this charge and so they had to release me. By our experiences we know now that the soldiers can arrest us, but we fall under the responsibility of the police and the Ministry of settlements. This way we gained a few rights and we know now what they are. We ask for a lawyer and remain silent when they try to interrogate and intimidate us. Lastly, during the years we also gained the public support of the government. So we feel happy about all these successes.

Do these changes also affect your own motivation?

Yes of course! When I first went to prison the others were laughing about me; “What are you doing here?!” they asked. From the people in Al-Ma’sara I have been in jail the most times: 9 in total. And now, after I was jailed a few times, they started to respect me and take the popular struggle more serious. But I also feel motivated by the foreigners who come here and support our struggle. When I see them I know that I am not alone. Sometimes we think that people in the rest of the world ignore us or don’t care about us. But when we see people from other countries trying to learn about Palestine and participating with us in the demonstrations side by side we feel more strong. And this is important, because sometimes it is hard. The soldiers came to take me from my house in the middle of the night one time. They woke up the whole family and took me out of my bed. They brought me to the living room and started asking questions “who is this?” they asked me while pointing at a picture of my brother who was killed in Germany. I think they just wanted to scare me that the same thing could happen with me.

Why did you choose nonviolent resistance?

We don’t call it nonviolent resistance but ‘popular resistance’, because it is a form of resistance in which all people can join. Palestinians have tried armed resistance and we saw that it was very damaging. Palestinians are the victims and people start to see that now. Even when we didn’t have any weapons and were throwing stones, the Israelis used bullets. More Israelis are joining us now, and they also believe in our right of return. This makes the government angry; they know that they will lose. You will see, we will prevail in the end and have a nonviolent revolution!

What do you think is needed to further develop the popular resistance movement?

Besides the demonstrations we have to think of other activities too. For example, there was an area which Israel wanted to use for settlement building, but it was prevented by an environmental organization because there were endangered plants on it. We should know about such species and plant them in different places and then try to appeal to the environmentalists around the world to support it. In this framework we can also have a project about water, because right now Israel is controlling almost all the water. Finally it is important to attract more tourists to Palestine, and inform them about the situation. Right now the majority of the tourists come with Israeli companies and they only visit the holy places in Bethlehem, without learning anything about occupation.

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Interview with Fatima Brijia

My name is Fatima, or Umm Hasan (mother of Hasan). I have four sons, one was assassinated in Germany in 1999 and another one is 15 years in prison. I am a farmer; I work on the land four hours a day. In the morning I go to the school to make meals for the children and I am active in the women association in the village.

How did the Israeli occupation affect your live?

It is the worst occupation in the world! They stole our land, our water. It is inhuman, unjust. All we can do is to resist. Sometimes the army came at 1AM in the night and took the whole family outside the home shouting “you can’t go to the demonstration tomorrow!” So we resist even more. We will have our freedom! Everyone in the world who believes in freedom is with us. Israel wants us to shut up. That is very undemocratic… We have the right to speak up and give our opinion.

So how did it affect your personal life?

My son was killed by the Mossad, we believe. He was first studying in Italy and then got a scholarship to go to Germany. He studied physics and wanted to continue in nuclear science. He was the only person from the 3rd world. We all advised him not to do this, but he insisted. Then he was taken for investigations and later he was dead. The police did an investigation, but we still don’t know what the official cause of his death is. I sometimes had 4 children in jail. There are 11.000 Palestinian political prisoners, but no-one gives it attention. On the other hand, there is Gilad Shalit, who was a soldier on mission, and he gets all the attention. It was in 2009 that all of my sons were arrested. Then the women of the village decided to go the demonstrations on Friday, to show that we can continue without the men. We are also able to lead demonstrations! We celebrated Mother’s Day, Prisoners Day and even Christmas.

How many women were you, and why are there so few these days?

We were about 70 women. I think the women want to avoid the violence during the demonstrations. Teargas and bullets do not differentiate between men and women.

What motivates you to join the demonstration?

Injustice motivates me. I call for freedom. It is the same as what motivated Rachel Corrie and Vittorio Arrigoni; they are lovers of freedom. I want peace for the children of Palestine. They don’t have the same opportunities as children in Israel. They are much richer, they can have good education and travel abroad.

When do you think that the children of Palestine will see peace?

The international policy is against our liberation. This is the longest occupation in history. There were many UN resolutions, but they are not implemented. The UN General Assembly is with the Palestinians, but governments have made secret agreements with Israel. All the surrounding countries are allies of the US. But they will change under public pressure. That’s what happened in Egypt. One day we will all have our Human Rights.

One last thing: I want to tell you that we are happy you are here. It is easier to face Israel when we have international support. We can also show you what is happening here. I want to ask you to send others our message and explain our situation.

Israeli bulldozers destroy farmer’s land in Al Ma’asara

30 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Yesterday private Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village of Al Ma’sara in the West Bank and destroyed a section of farm land belonging to the Brijia family, uprooting five grape trees and an abundance of wheat. The bulldozers who were accompanied by Israeli military jeeps belonged to an electrical company who were installing an underground cable to provide electricity to the nearby illegal settlement of Efrat. The family of farmers, who have legally owned the land since 1964 had been given no prior warning of the destruction and neither the workers nor the army could provide any paperwork when asked. This latest destruction of property is a sad blow to a family who have already lost four dunums of their land to illegal Israeli construction.

Al Ma’sara, 13 km south of Bethlehem, is home to about 900 people. The village is situated in a mountainous and fertile rural area which enjoys an abundance of natural water resources. Construction and expansion of Gush Etzion – one of the nearby illegal settlements – has already confiscated a large portion of village lands. Villagers believe that this latest destruction of land is part of the Israeli government’s bigger plan to expand the illegal settlements around Bethlehem and link them together, isolating Palestinian villages, who are already a minority in the area and strengthening Israel’s hold on the West Bank

Teen critically injured as Israel cracks down on Nakba demos

13 May 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Updated 14 May 2011: Milad Ayyash died of his injuries reported below.

17 year-old was critically injured from live fire in East Jerusalem. An American protester suffered serious head injury after being hit by a tear-gas projectile shot directly at him from close range.

Israeli military and police forces responded violently to demonstrations commemorating 63 years to the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 today all over the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Milad Sa’eed Ayyash, a 17 year old from the Ras el-Amud neighborhood was shot in the stomach with live ammunition. He has reached the Muqassed hospital with no pulse and the doctors are now fighting for his life.

Tension also rose in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where 19 protesters have been injured and 11 were arrested. During the evening hours, large police forces raided houses in Silwan and carried out additional arrests.

In the village of Ma’asara, south of Bethlehem, two protesters were arrested during a peaceful demonstration that was attacked with tear-gas for no apparent reason. One of those arrested is a member of the village’s popular committee. In Nabi Saleh – a regular target for military aggression recently – soldiers and Border Police officers injured no less than 25 protesters, including a Palestinian women in her 50s who was beaten up so badly that her wounds required her removal from the Salfeet Hospital to the bigger and more advanced Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus. A 25 year-old American demonstrator suffered a serious head injury and an Israeli activist was diagnosed with two open fractures in his hand. Both were injured by tear-gas projectiles shot directly at them from short range, in violation of the Israeli Army’s open fire regulations. Four protesters were arrested in Nabi Saleh, including two Palestinian women.

Israeli forces attack weekly West Bank demonstrations

22 October 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Today in the village of An-Nabi Salah, the weekly non-violent demonstration took place against the illegal settlement Hamish. Unlike other villages taking part in non-violent resistance, many women, young girls and children participate in the protest. Today, there was a child demonstration. A commemoration also took place in order to remember the massacre during the second Intifada in a village where the children went to school.

The soldiers and border police started out by shooting teargas into the village to prevent people from going to the demonstration. They also entered the village and shot at the child demonstration.

Every Thursday the soldiers walk around the village in preparation for the Friday demonstration. Yesterday they looked for one house which they occupied today, because it’s a good location for watching what’s going on in the village and shoot easily. The people asked the soldiers not to enter the house, and eventually they agreed not to enter. However, a teargas canister was shot into another house, starting a fire. Thankfully, nobody was in the house.

They also shot some gas into a houses in the middle of the village. One woman was made to vomit and could only move her arms and legs in a strange way, . Afterwards, people resumed the demonstration and started singing and shouting slogans against the Israeli occupation. When the demonstrators went back into the village, teenage boys started to throw stones . Teenage boys started a riot and the army proceeded to throw an excessive amount of tear gas. Some people were injured by the gas and had problems with breathing. Three Palestinians were arrested for some hours but then released.

Al Ma’asara

The demonstration held today in Al Ma’asara marked four years of weekly protests as part of the popular struggle against the Israeli occupation, the confiscation of land through construction of settlements and the Apartheid wall. Hundreds of participants from France, Italy, Spain, England and other countries stood alongside Palestinians peacefully protesting Israel’s failure to comply with international law. Also present were Israeli activists from Anarchists Against the Wall, Active Stills and Ta’ayush as well as Luisa Morgantini, former vice President of European Parliament.

The Israeli forces stopped the demonstration long before reaching its destination and immediately made use of sound bombs and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the activists, despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration. An older French activist was injured when a high velocity tear gas canister shot into the air by the Israeli forces struck him in the head.

Two Israeli activists were detained after crossing the line formed by the soldiers. The demonstrators held fast and refused to leave for another hour until the two activists were released.

The residents of Al Ma’asara together with international supporters declared their intentions to continue the struggle to defend their rights.

Bil’in

Three protesters were injured from tear gas inhalation today at the weekly Bil’in demonstration against the Apartheid wall. The march, called for by the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in, included dozens of Palestinian villagers, alongside Israeli and international solidarity activists.

The participants in the march waved Palestinian flags, and held pictures of prisoners of the popular resistance, whilst chanting slogans condemning the Israeli policies of occupation, settlement and the repression of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The demonstrators also chanted in condemnation of Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing Palestinians from Jerusalem, as can be seen in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, as well as calling for the siege on Gaza to be lifted.

The Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in also denounced the persecution of its activists, led by Abdullah Abo Rahma and Adeeb Abo Rahma. It considers the trials against them biased as they are defenders of their land which was illegally annexed by the Apartheid wall. The Popular Committee considers the struggle against the wall a legitimate and legal one and calls upon the international community and international human rights organizations to stand next to the leaders and activists of the Popular resistance.

The march headed towards the wall, where the Israeli Occupation Forces were waiting. When protesters attempted to cross to the land behind the wall, which belongs to the villagers of Bi’lin, the Israeli army fired sound bombs, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at the crowd. This led to the wounding of three marchers, including 8-year old Lama Abdullah Abo Rahma who suffered from severe difficulty in breathing. Mohammed Shawkat Al-Khateeb,17, and Ahmed Abdel Fattah Bernat ,17, were among the worst affected of dozens of others suffering from tear gas inhalation.

Before the march delegations from Spain, France and Britain met with the members of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and settlement at the headquarters of the International Solidarity Movement in Bil’in. The delegations listened to a detailed explanation by the Popular Committee about the experience in Bil’in of non-violent popular resistance in the past five and a half years and the role of international solidarity in the popular resistance in Bil’in.