Tag: Arrests

Battle of Bil’in

Stefan Christof | Hour

16 July 2009

Palestinian activists from Bil’in village say the Israeli military has raided their village almost daily this week. They claim the early morning raids are linked to a recent lawsuit filed by the village in the Quebec Superior Court.

Last month Bil’in launched the lawsuit against two Montreal-based companies, Green Park International and Green Mount International, claiming they played a role in building Israeli-only settlements on Palestinian lands in Bil’in, an act they say is illegal under international law and under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, established in 2000.

“Israel’s military raids began exactly at the same time that we started court hearings in Canada,” says Mohammed Khatib of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in. “Israel’s army raids are aiming to stop our struggle, and our court case in Quebec. Israel is collectively punishing us for our efforts to resist [the] Israeli colonization of our lands.”

According to eyewitness accounts captured on video (such as www.youtube.com/user/haithmkatib), Israeli soldiers have been entering Bil’in with heavy weaponry to target Palestinian youth who attend regular demonstrations against Israel’s “separation wall,” built on Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

“Israeli military forces have arrested nine
Palestinian youths this week, some of whom are still in prison,” says Khatib from Bil’in. “These Palestinian youths have not been charged with anything. This clear detention of Palestinian children without charge is illegal under international law.”

An initial ruling on the Bil’in lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court is still pending. Justice Louis-Paul Cullen is expected to rule within the next six months. Palestinians in the village are bracing for further Israeli raids.

For more information, visit www.bilin-village.org.

Israeli forces arrest Palestinian resident of Beit Ommar

Palestine Solidarity Project

8 July 2009

Yunis Al Alami, a 20 year old resident of Beit Ommar, was arrested by the Israeli army at 2 AM this morning in a military house raid. 3 jeeps carrying approximately 12 soldiers arrived at his home in the middle of the night, arresting him without warrant, charges or explanation. No one knows where he was taken, or when he will be released.

Yunis is a student at Hebron University, and life-long resident of Beit Ommar. He was arrested in front of his parents and siblings, including three children. His 22 year old brother, Ahmed Al Alami, was arrested a year ago under similar circumstances, and is still being held without charges in Administrative Detention.

The arrest is just one more incident in a series of political arrests of Palestinian youth by the Israeli military in Beit Ommar, including several that lead to Administrative Detention, where individuals are held without charge or trial indefinitely. There are currently over 750 Palestinians being held in “Administrative Detention.” Most prisoners in Administrative Detention are males between the ages of 16 and 30, and are held anywhere from 6 months to several years. They are never told what they are accused of, and are only taken in front of rubber-stamp military courts where evidence is presented in a closed courtroom without the presence of defendant or their attorney. Many are tortured and held in solitary confinement for weeks or months on end.

The practice of Administrative Detention, as used by the Israeli government, is a blatant violation of human rights, and illegal under international law. The prospect of arrest from your home is just one more frightening reality of the occupation, and one more reason for Palestinian families to grieve.

Israeli forces arrest 6 solidarity activists in Beit Ommar

Palestine Solidarity Project

7 July 2009

On July 7, 2009 at approximately 5pm, an Israeli military official called the mayor of Beit Ommar/ Saffa, Nasri Sabarneh, and informed him that settlers had set fire to some trees in the Abu Jabber Soleiby land in Saffa, just under the illegal Bat ‘Ayn settlement. A group of internationals, including one who also holds Israeli ID, went down into the valley to investigate and document the destruction. When they arrived, a group of Israeli soldiers was already present. While the group of internationals quickly began surveying the area, one soldier, Phillip, crossed the valley to a group of 4 activists and told them to leave. The group, who did not find evidence of a new fire (other than the old destruction of June 19, 2009 and June 22, 2009) began leaving the area, accompanied by the one soldier. Meanwhile, two internationals who were further up the valley with the owner of the land and his family, were also told to leave, and they began to do so. At one point Phillip threw a sound grenade at the group of 4 activists as they were walking away, but the group continued. Half-way up the valley, however, the trap was sprung. Soldiers ran up from behind the group of 4, grabbing two men by the neck and one women by the arm, screaming at them to sit down, that they were being arrested. One activist managed to get away, going further up to the village from which they had come and ostensibly where the soldiers wanted everyone to go. She, along with the other two internationals and the farmers were then surrounded by soldiers at the entrance to the village, preventing the tractor from leaving the area. The three internationals were then attacked by soldiers. One was hit in the face with a gun, another kicked in the leg, and a third wrestled into handcuffs and dragged into an army jeep, in total contradiction to Israeli law that states only police can arrest foreign nationals. All three were brought to the police station in the illegal settlement of Etzion. They were never shown a paper declaring the area a Closed Military Zone, another Israeli law.

The other three internationals further down the valley, were held on the ground until a commander could run up and show them a paper, insisting it was a closed military zone order, though no one was allowed to look at it closely and the group was already detained and not allowed to leave, also in violation of military procedures. Phillip then said to Bekah Wolf, co-founder of Palestine Solidarity Project and married to Palestinian co-founder Mousa Abu Maria, “your father didn’t teach you what to do with your pussy so you went and f*cked Arabs.” Phillip also indicated that he knew Wolf from previous actions in Saffa, and that she was “famous” with that particular unit and the police of Etzion. What followed was clearly a series of planned harassment of Wolf and the other internationals, even though the arrest itself was totally illegitimate.

Police finally arrived and officially arrested the group of three, and began to transport them to the Etzion police station. The group with Wolf were paraded through the Bat ‘Ayn settlement. At one point soldiers transporting one of the men alone stopped the jeep in the settlement and opened the back doors in front of a group of settler youth. The two groups of three were then reunited at the police station.

While 5 of the internationals (all excluding Wolf) were first offered release on conditions to stay out of the area for 2 weeks, and then were eventually released without any conditions, Wolf was to be held over night and taken to court. A commander, who was not present until after the arrests, filed a complaint stating that Wolf had slapped one of his soldiers, though the soldier himself said he wasn’t sure if it was intentional or if he’d been hit while trying to grab Wolf during her illegal arrest.

After 23.5 hours (Israeli citizens can only be held for 24 hours before being brought in front of a judge), Wolf was taken to a court and after reviewing the evidence presented by the prosecution, including the assertion that “settlers have never entered the valley”, she was released only on the condition that she obey any closed military zone orders (which is already law) and sign a guarantee of 5,000 shekels.
Not pleased with the results, police, in collusion with the prosecution, refused to process her release, causing her to be put back into the Jerusalem prison for more than three additional hours. The attempt to prevent “left-wing activists” (as they were described in the police reports) from entering the area in the end was totally rejected. The next day, however, when farmers attempted to enter the land, which has been ordered open to them for the last 10 days, they were refused by the Israeli military, without cause or paperwork.

Fmr. Congressmember Cynthia McKinney back in U.S. after being detained and deported from Israel

Democracy Now

8 July 2009

Guests:

Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate.

Adam Shapiro, documentary filmmaker, human rights activist and Palestinian rights activist. Adam was a co-founder of the ISM in Palestine. He was filming the voyage of the Arion for the Free Gaza Movement last week.

AMY GOODMAN: Former Congress member Cynthia McKinney arrived back in the United States Tuesday following her deportation from Israel. McKinney was one of 21 activists seized by the Israeli military in international waters last week as they tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Also aboard the Free Gaza boat was Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire. Last week’s trip was the Free Gaza movement’s first since it aborted an attempt in January after the Israeli navy threatened to shoot the civilian passengers on board. That sailing had come just weeks after an Israeli Navy vessel deliberately rammed another of its boats, almost forcing it to sink. Cynthia McKinney joins us now in Washington D.C. We are joined here at the Firehouse by Adam Shapiro. He was filming the Free Gaza trip last week. He is a Palestinian human rights activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. Both former Congress member McKinney and Adam were detained for the past week and just deported back to the United States.

Cynthia McKinney why did you go? What happened to you in the Israeli jail?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: I went because there’s a gross injustice being carried out everyday. This is my second attempt to get into Gaza with the Free Gaza organization. And for the two times I attempted to get in, two times I have been thwarted by the Israeli military. The cause is the human rights of the Palestinian people. The world saw the operation Cast Lead where the United States supplied white phosphorus, depleted uranium, cluster bombs, DIME weapons, were rained down on the defenseless people of Gaza. Of course, we desperately wanted to get in to take humanitarian relief supplies. And both times I have tried to go with Free Gaza, they’ve been thwarted—we have been supported thwarted by the Israeli military.

AMY GOODMAN: Now were you on one of the boats that was rammed?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: I was on the Dignity. And yes it was rammed in international waters…

AMY GOODMAN: When was this?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: ..This was in December, just a day or so after the outbreak of Operation Cast Lead. I was contacted by Free Gaza and asked to go within 24 hours and I said, yes, I would go.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play a comment made last week by Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev who dismissed the humanitarian mission of the Free Gaza Movement.

MARK REGEV: Israel every day is allowing humanitarian support to reach the people of Gaza. Food stuffs, medicines, energy and so forth. This boat was not about that. This boat was about political activists who have been apologists for the Hamas regime who have nothing whatsoever to say about Hamas’s brutal treatment of the people of Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Former Congress member McKinney, your response?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: Well, clearly, we just had a visit to Gaza by President Carter, Former President Carter. Basically, he acknowledged that with the complete and utter devastation that the people of Gaza experienced at the hands of weapons that were supplied to Israel by the United States, he said that unfortunately the Palestinians are treated worse than human beings. I challenge the Israelis to respond to what President Carter had to say.

AMY GOODMAN: Former Congress member McKinney, tell us about the jail. Were you able to reach the Obama administration while you were there?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: Well, the jail was very interesting. In fact, the first most interesting thing I witnessed was the seemingly endless stream of people of color who are being processed as we were being processed. And on my cell block, there were women from Africa and Asia who thought they were going to Israel because Israel was the Holy Land. And many of them, not all of them, but many of them had United Nations refugee status. They have been certified by UNHCR as refugees, but what they were told as they faced the threats and intimidation from the police is that the United Nations is not in Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: Adam Shapiro, you are Palestinian rights activist long known for this. You were on the boat. You were roughed up, you were filming when the Israeli military came on board. Describe what happened.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Well, they boarded us, four zodiac ships as well as eight naval warships, they surrounded our boat and can immediately towards the wheel house where I was along with the captain and one other crew member. I was documenting the whole trip and filming as they boarded the ship. Two soldiers came after me immediately, recognizing I think that they don’t want any footage of what was happening and they don’t want the world to know how they behave. I tried to keep the camera as long as I could. But I was pummeled repeatedly in the back and arms and choked and eventually they got the camera out of my hands. They have since taken all of our tapes, all of our flashcards and all of that, so we don’t have a record to show the world of what happened on board. The rest of the time we were detained in one room of the ship as we spent the better part of six hours navigating back to an Israeli port where we were processed and ultimately jailed.

AMY GOODMAN: There was another Al-Jazeera reporter on board as well ?

ADAM SHAPIRO: There was an Al-Jazeera reporter and cameramen. They lost all of their footage and camera as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Their computer was taken?

ADAM SHAPIRO: Yes, it was taken, completely reformatted and erased. And so again, we don’t seem to have a record to show the world what happened.

AMY GOODMAN: Your response to Israeli Spokesperson Regev?

ADAM SHAPIRO: Well Mark Regev is known for his colorful descriptions of how great life is in Gaza as far as Israel is concerned. However, all of the reporting, including the most recent International Committee for the Red Cross, shows the number of trucks Israel is allowing into Gaza is completely insufficient for what is needed. And so yes, it is true, he can say Israel allows foodstuffs and medicines to get in, but two trucks a day or 20 trucks a day is far inferior to what is needed. And we have seen, since the international outcry following January’s attack has subsided the number of trucks Israel has allowed in has decreased. And so, what we are saying, Free Gaza is a humanitarian effort to bring in the kinds of medicines and foods that are needed. But the Free Gaza movement is also a political organization in the sense we are human rights organization, And human rights for Palestinians is inherently political. And we are challenging Israel politically too, and this week I think has been a success for those of us who are fighting for Palestinian rights. We were not able to get into Gaza but we have shown the world the true colors of the Israeli occupation, and the double standard by which the United States and other countries are dealing with Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: Former Congress member McKinney, we only have ten seconds. But, you’ve just been deported. What are your plans right now?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: Well, I would like to see the children of Gaza have the coloring books and crayons that we had on board with us. I would like to see the houses that have been destroyed rebuilt. I would like to see the lives rebuilt for the people of Gaza and I would like to see the people of Palestine have, and enjoy their human rights.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think president Obama is headed in that direction?

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: I think you can probably answer that as well as we can, because while we were in detention, the Foreign Ministry of Ireland made protests and asked the government of Israel to release its nationals, several Members of Parliament

AMY GOODMAN: …We have 5 seconds….

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: from the United Kingdom…

AMY GOODMAN: … 5 seconds….

CYNTHIA McKINNEY: …also wanted to censure Israel. Nothing from the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: Cynthia McKinney, Adam Shapiro, Thank you so much. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.

Israeli forces raid Bil’in, arrest one resident and one solidarity activist

For Immediate Release:

Israeli forces attack and arrest American solidarity activist.
Israeli forces attack and arrest American solidarity activist.

On July 7th at 3:30, soldiers disrupted the tranquility of Bi’lin by forcing their way into several houses. Israeli soldiers came with a list of 10 names for arrest . When Palestinian, international, and Israeli activists arrived at the scene they were subjected to violence and intimidation by the Israeli forces. The homes of Basem Yasin, Akhmed Yasin, Shauket Khatib and Abd AlMuamen Abu Rakhma were raided. Israeli forces arrested Majdi Abdel Muamer Abu Rakhma and an American solidarity activist. The American activist with the International Solidarity Movement had non-violently blocked the entrance to one of the doors when he was attacked by soldiers, forced to the ground, and subjected to pain compliance. It was at that time, that the American activist was arrested and carried by a group of soldiers into a military jeep. When activists and community members responded, they were beaten back with batons and forced to dodge a large number of percussion grenades.

Meanwhile, activists tried blocking the jeeps from leaving by erecting makeshift barricades in the street. The Israeli occupation forces responded with a number of percussion grenades and then rammed their jeeps through. They forced their way up the street and to several other houses. While there, they arrested a young man and issued nine summons to families of youths who were not present. This was done without explanation or warning. In the process of storming other houses, the soldiers were again confronted by activists and community members who refused to be dispersed even after repeated percussion and flash bang grenade attacks by soldiers. The jeeps had to make an escape through a second set of erected barricades and they exited into the night with their victims inside.