Tag: Al Nakba

Victory for Iraq Burin as demonstrators commemorate the Nakba

Today fifty demonstrators from Iraq Burin, together with international activists, marched in commemoration of the Nakba’s 62nd anniversary, and to protest to the illegal Israeli occupation of the village’s lands. Israeli occupation forces enacted their policy of violent “crowd dispersal” techniques in an effort to thwart the protest, proving no match for the village’s spirit of resistance.

The demonstration commenced at Iraq Burin’s southern tip, the assembled Palestinian and international protesters holding 62 black balloons to the sky in memory of the 62 years of Israeli occupation that has passed since al-Nakba (“the catastrophe”) that saw the ethnic cleansing of over 500 Palestinian villages and the founding of the Israeli state in 1948. Facing the illegal Israeli settlement of Bracha, whose residents have executed countless attacks on the residents of Iraq Burin, the demonstration set off.

Weaving a haphazard route through the valley that carves a line between Iraq Burin village and her farmland, the demonstration began its ascent of the mountain deemed off-limits by the Israeli military. For local protesters, reaching these lands represented far more than the sum of its parts – the assertion of the right to exist on their land, and the right to defend those same lands from the usurping forces of a foreign state. Further up the mountain the demonstrators forged, at each moment expecting to be met with the dull thud of sound grenades and the smoke of gas canisters propelled from the end of a soldier’s M-16 – yet pushing ahead nonetheless.

The victory of reaching the mountain’s summit – a first for the demonstration, and many of its individuals – was significant. The crowd drew to a halt 20 meters from where some 15 Israeli occupation forces were waiting and, continuing to chant and wave flags, protesters stood their ground on the soil that is rightfully theirs, but has become all but impossible to access. The first rounds of tear gas were soon fired by soldiers, causing the demonstration to spread out across the mountain. Residents observing from their vantage points in the village served as the protesters’ eyes and ears amidst the confusion, calling across the valley to alert demonstrators to the soldiers’ movements.

An additional force of soldiers soon descended to the valley, aiming to encircle and isolate the protesters on the slopes of the mountain. Most protesters managed to reach the other side of the valley before the occupation forces began firing off rounds of gas in to the village. As the young men of Iraq Burin rushed forward once again to defend their lands, the soldiers were driven back, to the calls of victory of the protesters that echoed out through the hills.

Locals cheering on the exit of Israeli soldiers from their land

It was last year that the people of Iraq Burin began gathering to defend their village each Saturday due to the violent attacks instigated by settlers of Bracha each week, during the Jewish holiday of Shabbat. Now, with the village’s pro-active – and non-violent – resistance to the aggression, no settlers have been sighted on the land of Iraq Burin for over four Saturdays now. The result is clear evidence of popular resistance in action, and what successes it can achieve in Palestinian communities living under occupation.

Israeli Arab committee slams ‘racist, fascist’ bills

Jack Khoury | Ha’aretz

28 May 2009

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee has scheduled an emergency meeting on Saturday in light of recent law proposals submitted by right wing Knesset members, in particular a bill proposing to outlaw the marking of the Nakba, or catastrophe, on Israel’s Independence Day.

The Nakba is observed by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians who mourn the dispersal of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who were forced to leave their homes during the 1948 War of Independence.

Palestinian refugees around the world and Israel’s Arab citizens mark the Nakba on May 15, the day after the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948. Nakba Day is often observed by the Arab population in Israel with marches through destroyed villages.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s ultranationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu has proposed legislation for a ban on the practice and a jail term of up to three years for violators.

Just this last Wednesday, the Knesset plenum gave initial approval to a bill that would make it a crime to publicly deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, punishable by a sentence of up to a year in prison.

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee voiced its harshest criticism over the recent spate of bills it described as “racist and fascist proposals aimed against the Arab public in Israel, and there is no doubt that these proposals must be dealt with.”

A third bill that will likely be brought before the ministerial legislative committee on Sunday for a vote is a proposal to require anyone seeking Israeli citizenship to take an oath of loyalty to Israel, renouncing loyalty to all other nations. This bill, proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu’s MK David Rotem, requires that “those seeking citizenship will be required to declare commitment to be loyal to the state of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state, to its symbols and its values and to serve the state as required in military service or an alternative service.”

MK Rotem wrote in the explanation accompanying the bill that “during recent years, it has emerged that citizens of the state of Israel are not loyal to the state, its symbols or values, and they avoid serving in the military. This bill aims to link loyalty to the state, its symbols and values, and mandatory military service, to being a citizen of Israel.”

More bills in the same spirit are in the works, including a proposed amendment to a basic law that would add to the current oath taken by Knesset members the words “as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state, and to its symbols and values.” A similar amendment seeks to add these words to the oath taken by ministers as well.

Nakba demonstration held in Aneen village

15 May 2009

Jenin residents demonstrate against the Apartheid Wall
Jenin residents demonstrate against the Apartheid Wall

In commemoration of the 61st year of al Nakba, residents from all over the Jenin area went to Aneen to demonstrate against the Apartheid Wall built on Palestinian land. About 300 woman, children, and men marched together in a peaceful protest towards a gate in the Wall, chanting in Arabic and English.

When the crowd reached the gate, the chanting increased and people fixed posters and Palestinian flags on the razor wire. Several speeches were held at the scene; amongst the speakers was the founder of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The non-violent demonstration went on for an hour. Then everyone walked back to the village without incident. Three military jeeps were parked by the gate even before the demonstration had started, and about a dozen soldiers were standing on the other side of the gate with their weapons pointed at the crowd initially.

Aneen is a village northwest of Jenin, with a population of 12,000 inhabitants. The Wall was built on Palestinian land in 2002 during the massacre at the Jenin refugee camp.

11,000 dunums of Aneen’s land were appropriated for construction of the Apartheid Wall Wall. Even more land is unreachable for the farmers, because it is situated on the other side of the wall. The Palestinians need permits to enter the gate to go to their land.

For the olive harvest last year, 1,600 farmers received permits. This year, only 30 farmers where granted a permit to go to their land, mainly elderly and often sick farmers who are not able to work their land themselves. Last year, two of the permits that were handed out to the villagers were in the name of individuals who had already died more than two years ago.

Even those who receive a permit are not sure that they will be able to pass the gate. The people who want to pass have to stand in line from 4 o clock in the morning to have a chance of passing since the gate is only open until 7 am. After that, they are closed until the afternoon.

The Israeli army only lets one person at a time pass the gate. There are four doors to be passed, the third door has electrical sensors so it alerts the Army if someone tries to pass the gate unattended.

Arabs slam bill to criminalize ‘nakba’

Brenda Gazzar | The Jerusalem Post

17 May 2009

Arab activists and politicians are slamming proposed legislation that would criminalize commemorating the establishment of the State of Israel as a day of mourning.

The bill, which has been submitted by MK Alex Miller (Israel Beiteinu), would punish citizens with jail terms of up to three years for commemorating what Palestinians and Arabs consider their nakba or catastrophe. The bill, which is still in a preliminary stage, is expected to be discussed by the cabinet in the coming weeks, Miller said.

“We think this is another step to limit freedom of speech and political activity” of Arab citizens, said MK Hanna Swaid of the Arab-Jewish party Hadash.

Such a proposal, he said, was an attempt to deny Arab citizens their right to commemorate a very important chapter in their history and identity. While it is considered unlikely to pass, Swaid said he feared that such a bill could stir up a “dialogue of hate” against Arabs in Israel.

“To deny the right of the Palestinians to commemorate this is very limiting and very frustrating,” Swaid said.

But Miller of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beiteinu Party argues that the bill could contribute to coexistence and unity of the state.

“From my perspective, it very much harms me, as a citizen, when citizens… mourn the establishment of the State of Israel when they themselves have equal rights in this country,” Miller told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

“If we really want to achieve coexistence, the time has come that we stop this absurd theater,” he said, noting that some demonstrations commemorating “Nakba Day” have turned violent.

Some of the community’s leaders, he said, “try each year to incite citizens in the state and I want to stop this through this law.”

According to Prof. Avishai Braverman, the government’s minister of minority affairs, the bill would infringe on one’s inherent right to protest and “is a danger to democracy and is liable to strengthen the extremists.”

He also added, however, that “the deligitimization of the State of Israel by an extremist part of Arab citizens does not contribute to building coexistence.”

A “responsible and moderate” attitude needs to prevail both in Israeli politics and in the Israeli public, he said.

There were no disturbances or problems on Friday, when Arabs in Israel commemorated “Nakba Day” with events throughout the country, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Sunday.

Similar proposals have been introduced into the Knesset in previous sessions but have not passed.

However, Jafar Farah, director of the Haifa-based Arab advocacy organization Mossawa, said he would not be surprised if the law did pass given the current political climate vis a vis Arabs in Israel.

“The ongoing efforts of extremists in the government to complicate the Middle East conflict with confrontations with our community are alarming,” Farah said.

“Thoughts and feelings will soon be forbidden in the State of Israel,” he said. “It reminds us of the McCarthyism in the US and it’s about time to show the leaders of the extreme right wing how humanity treats civilians.”

MK Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsour (UAL-Ra’am Taal) said that such a proposal would not stop Arabs from commemorating the nakba, even if it meant they would all be put in jail because of it.

“Israel’s insistence on a formal and public denial of its responsibility of the Palestinian Nakba… and its constant desire to erase the memory of Palestinian generations in all possible ways, all this will not change reality and will never reduce the complete rights of the Palestinians in their homeland,” he said in a statement issued on Friday.

Ni’lin holds demonstration to honor the Nakba

15 May 2009

Palestinians, accompanied by international and Israeli solidarity activists, gathered to demonstrate against construction of the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin. During the demonstration, a home of an elderly couple was occupied by soldiers, who used their roof to shoot at protesters. Several people were injured with tear-gas inhalation, tear gas canisters and a 12 year old girl was shot in her home with live ammunition in the arm.

To prepare for a demonstration meant to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Nakba, several members of the Ni’lin Popular Committee against the Wall went to hang posters on their land. The Israeli army, already present in the olive fields, forced the members back into the village with the use of sound and tear-gas grenades.

“In the morning before the prayer, we were out in the fields to put up posters about the Al Nakba. Then the army came and started to shoot teargas and sound bombs at us” Mohammed Amira, member of the popular committee against the wall.

Later that day, Ni’lin residents marched towards their olive groves to hold the weekly prayer on their land. Israeli soldiers prevented them from reaching their land with the use of tear-gas and sound grenades. The prayer was then held in the centre of the village, near the municipality building.

Around 100 Palestinian protesters, along with Israeli and international solidarity activists, marched from the centre of town towards the construction site of the Apartheid Wall. Before reaching their olive fields near the clinic, Israeli border police fired upon the demonstrators with tear-gas and sound grenades until they dispersed. Demonstrators were pushed back into the village and several young men threw stones in response to the Israeli army’s violence.

For the second time in May, Israeli soldiers occupied homes in order to shoot at demonstrators. The home of an elderly couple, Miriam and Azmi Khawaja, was occupied with only Miriam inside. Only after 30 minutes were 2 activists able to enter her home to accompany to her son’s house while soldiers remained in her home.

Around 4:30, Israeli soldiers shot Summer Amira, 12, as she stood on the roof of her home.

The demonstration ended at 5:30pm.