Tag: Arrests

Three hospitalized, one arrested as An Nabi Saleh celebrates Land Day

International Solidarity Movement

02 April 2010

Israeli forces fire excessive amounts of tear gas at demonstrators in An Nabi Saleh
Israeli forces fire excessive amounts of tear gas at demonstrators in An Nabi Saleh
On Friday, the village of An Nabi Saleh combined Land Day celebrations with their weekly demonstration against the illegal expansion of the Hallamish settlement onto village land. Speeches were held before the demonstration, and activists marched and resisted Israeli forces until sunset. Three demonstrators were injured and hospitalized, and another was arrested.

Land Day celebrations delayed the start of the demonstration for nearly two hours, as speeches of liberation, anti-occupation and perseverance were given by Popular Committee members, PLO and Fatah representatives in the town square. Hopes were high that the military would be fooled and not make their weekly, violent appearance in the town. After the celebrations ended, a crowed of over 100 people marched through the town and towards the illegally confiscated land and spring. Demonstrators succeeded in coming within 50 meters of their land and spring before Israeli forces rained tear gas onto the nonviolent crowd. The military then began their ascent of the road leading to the village. Clashes broke out along the road as the demonstration tried to stop the military invasion of An Nabi Saleh. Israeli forces used rubber coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas to advance their attack. Soldiers surrounded the village, indiscriminately attacking homes, demonstrators and village residents.

Ten Palestinian demonstrators were hit with rubber coated steel bullets, hospitalizing three. Walid Abdullah Barghouthi, 20, was arrested during the invasion of the village.

The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstrations protest the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the uprooting in January 2010 of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located opposite An Nabi Saleh. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settlers’ attempt to re-annex An Nabi Saleh land despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Saleh residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Saleh is located on the Hallamish side of Highway 465 and is just one of many expansions of the illegal settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.

Settlers Destroy Al-Kurd Property: Two Palestinians Arrested

International Solidarity Movement

7th April 2010

Update: The Palestinians who were arrested last have been released without charge. No settlers have been questioned or detained in connection with the property destruction they undertook, despite photographic evidence proving their culpability.

Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem, Israel, 12AM – Right-wing settlers began to dismantle a fence the Al-Kurd family erected around their garden shortly after midnight Wednesday morning. Palestinians and internationals in the Al-Kurds protest tent, where the family has have lived in for four months, placed themselves between the fence and the settlers. Police arrived soon after and arrested two young Palestinian men of Sheikh Jarrah. No settlers were taken into custody. Despite pleas by the Palestinians and internationals who witnessed the event, officers refused to look at the destroyed section of the fence.

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Settlers destroy Al-Kurd fence

The Al-Kurd family, assisted by residents across east Jerusalem, recently reclaimed their garden during a commemoration of Land Day. The reclamation included the seeding and transplanting of plants and erecting the fence that the settlers attempted to destroy this evening.

“The settlers actions in Sheikh Jarrah are a perfect example of the total power disparity between the Jewish and Palestinian populations of Israel and Palestine,” said Nina Mackay. “With the police behind them, the young settlers can make up any story in an attempt to incarcerate Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah,” the Scottish ISM volunteer concluded.

Approximately 475 Palestinian residents living in the Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes. All 28 families are refugees from 1948,, whose houses in Sheikh Jarrah were built and given to them through a joint project between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956.

So far, settlers occupy four Palestinian families, displacing around 60 residents, including over 40 children. they have all been left without suitable housing but only some protest on the street continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular harassment from the settlers and racist police forces.

Ryan Olander – Media Coordinator

International Solidarity Movement

054-883-8369

www.palsolidarity.org

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Palestinian police arrest Beit Ommar resistance leaders in night time raids

National Committee of Beit Ommar

5th April 2010

UPDATE: Mousa Abu Maria was released at 2am Tuesday morning without charge. He was not ill-treated or harshly interrogated. The PA’s involvement in the raid stemmed from a unfounded suspicion that Mousa was a part of ring of car thieves. Mousa was released after it was discovered they had apprehended the wrong person.

In night time raids on the houses of the organisers of popular protests against the Israeli occupation and the theft of Palestinian land, Palestinian police officers came in the early hours of this morning to arrest a number of Beit Ommar residents in collaboration with the Israeli occupation forces. Mousa Abu Maria was arrested at 01.40 this morning from his house by 8 heavily armed Palestinian police. Police attempted to arrest another member of the National Committee tonight, Younes Arar, but he was not at home. His wife and young children were left distressed and crying at the raid. Reports have been received that there are up to 20 police vehicles involved in the operation tonight.

These arrests are aimed at the community leaders who organise against the occupation, land theft, violations of religious freedoms and are supported by their communities. Yesterday the PSP and the National Committee of Beit Ommar carried out a sit down demonstration against the settlement expansion in Beit Ommar on Route 60 for the third time in a month.

Military Judge Criticizes Police; Releases the Bethlehem Ten

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

01 April 2010

Activist arrested on the freedom march from Bethlehem to Jerusalem
Activist arrested on the freedom march from Bethlehem to Jerusalem
Judge Dahan of the Ofer Military Court in the West Bank ordered the release of the ten peaceful demonstrators arrested in Bethlehem last Sunday, among them PLO Executive Committee’s Abbas Zaki. The judge criticized the police and prosecution saying that the protest was nonviolent, and that the only force used in it was that used by police to apprehend the demonstrators.

After five long days in an Israeli military prison, the Bethlehem Ten were finally brought in front of a judge today at the Ofer military court. After hearing the arguments of both the military prosecution and the defense, the judge, Amir Dahan, decided to release all ten on bail and without posing restrictive release conditions. The judge also voiced his criticism of the police and prosecution by asserting in his decision that “There is no dispute that the march was not violent, and that no harm was done to anyone or to property, except for the force used by police officers during the arrests”.

The Bethlehem Ten were arrested together with four Israeli activists and an international activist, during a march marking Palm Sunday and the Christian tradition of pilgrimage to Jerusalem on that day last Sunday. Demonstrators hoped to highlight Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement and freedom of religion in Jerusalem. Despite having been arrested under the exact same circumstances and suspicions, the Israelis and international were released that same evening, in a clear example of racial discrimination.

“When referring to the repression of demonstrations, Israel always claims that it is the demonstrators’ so-called violence that compels the Army to use such mesures”, said Mohammed Khatib of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee. “But today even their own judge, in what is most clearly the court of the Occupation, acknowledged that any protest, any form of resistance, is met with an iron fist”.

The arrest of the Bethlehem Ten, especially that of Abbas Zaki, motivated the Fatah movement to declare an escalation in the use popular struggle strategies during these tense times. It has also brought hundreds of people to demonstrate at the Bitunya checkpoint yesterday, where demonstrators tried to break through the Separation Barrier in order to reach Ofer prison.

For more details:
Jonathan Pollak +972.546.327.736

Background

Fifteen demonstrators were arrested by Israeli forces during a peaceful demonstration near Rachel’s Tomb last Sunday, protesting Israeli violations of Palestinian freedom of religion and lack of access to Jerusalem. The demonstrators marked Palm Sunday and demanded to exercise the centuries old Christian tradition of pilgrimage to Jerusalem on that day. In a clear act of racial discrimination, the Israelis and international were released with a slap on the wrist that same night, while the police extended the arrest of all ten Palestinians by 96 hours.

After soldiers tried to stop the procession at a checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem near Rachel’s Tomb, demonstrators overwhelmed the few soldiers positioned there with their numbers, and peacefully continued to march towards Jerusalem. They were, however, stopped by a large contingent of Israeli Police officers a few hundred meters into Jerusalem. When the crowed could not advance farther, a number of Palestinian dignitaries held speeches, after which the protesters began retreating back towards Bethlehem.

It was at that point, that the police began its unprovoked assault at the demonstrators, making fifteen arrests, including those of Abbas Zaki of the PLO Executive Committee, four members of local popular committees and an AP photographer. Abbas Zaki is one of the most prominent Palestinian leaders to have been arrested in grassroots demonstrations in recent years. His arrest has stirred vocal protest by PA officials in this already tense period.

All demonstrators were arrested under the exact same circumstances, and on the same suspicions. The four Israelis and one international detained during the incident, were released that same evening. The Palestinians, however, were subjected to much harsher treatment. The police extended the arrest of all ten of them by 96 hours, which are likely to be extended by another 96 hours even before they will be brought before a judge.

While Israelis and internationals are, as a matter of policy, subject to Israeli law, which only allows for a 24 hours detention by the police, Palestinians are subject to Israeli Military Law, which allows for their detention for a period of eight days before being brought in front of a judge. This blunt policy of racial discrimination is applied even in cases where Palestinians and Israelis are arrested together and under the same circumstances, and despite the fact that both Palestinians and Israelis are, in theory, subject to the Israeli Military Law when in the Occupied Territories.

Demonstrators Demand Prisoners’ Release

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

31 March 2010

Hundreds of people gathered at the Bitunya checkpoint near Ofer Military prison to demand the release of ten demonstrators arrested in Bethlehem last Sunday, among them Abbas Zaki of the PLO Executive Committee. Two demonstrators were arrested.

Hundreds of demonstrators, among them Jubril Rajoub, Jamal Muhsein and Mahmoud alAloul of Fatah’s Central Committee, gathered today in front of the Bituntya military checkpoint leading to Ofer Prison, where the ten demonstrators who were arrested in Bethlehem last Sunday are held. The demonstrators demanded the immediate release of those arrested in Bethlehem and of all the prisoners of the popular struggle. They also denounced the racial discrimination the ten were subjected to in their arrest, as the Israeli activists arrested with them were released with a slap on the wrist that very same day.

After a few short speeches, the demonstrators intended to continue to the Ofer military court, where the ten’s hearings were scheduled to be heard. Once refused passage, protesters tried to topple the fence near the checkpoint in order to get to the court. Border Police officers responded with concussion grenades, tear-gas and rubber-coated bullets. Clashes between officers and local youth continued for about two hours before the demonstration was dispersed.

Two Palestinian protesters were arrested during the demonstration. One of them, a 16 year old, was nabbed from within his father’s car, through the window, after Border Police officers broke it using a rifle butt.

The Bethlehem Ten’s remand hearing, which was supposed to be held today, did not take place, and was postponed to tomorrow.

Today’s demonstration, which was organized jointly by West Bank popular committees and the Fatah movement, follows a press conference held yesterday in Ramallah, in which Fatah announced an escalation in the movement’s use of popular struggle strategies.

For more details:
Jonathan Pollak +972.546.327.736

Background:

Fifteen demonstrators were arrested by Israeli forces during a peaceful demonstration near Rachel’s Tomb last Sunday, protesting Israeli violations of Palestinian freedom of religion and lack of access to Jerusalem. The demonstrators marked Palm Sunday and demanded to exercise the centuries old Christian tradition of pilgrimage to Jerusalem on that day. In a clear act of racial discrimination, the Israelis and international were released with a slap on the wrist that same night, while the police extended the arrest of all ten Palestinians by 96 hours.

After soldiers tried to stop the procession at a checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem near Rachel’s Tomb, demonstrators overwhelmed the few soldiers positioned there with their numbers, and peacefully continued to march towards Jerusalem. They were, however, stopped by a large contingent of Israeli Police officers a few hundred meters into Jerusalem. When the crowed could not advance farther, a number of Palestinian dignitaries held speeches, after which the protesters began retreating back towards Bethlehem.

It was at that point, that the police began its unprovoked assault at the demonstrators, making fifteen arrests, including those of Abbas Zaki of the PLO Executive Committee, four members of local popular committees and an AP photographer. Abbas Zaki is one of the most prominent Palestinian leaders to have been arrested in grassroots demonstrations in recent years. His arrest has stirred vocal protest by PA officials in this already tense period.

All demonstrators were arrested under the exact same circumstances, and on the same suspicions. The four Israelis and one international detained during the incident, were released that same evening. The Palestinians, however, were subjected to much harsher treatment. The police extended the arrest of all ten of them by 96 hours, which are likely to be extended by another 96 hours even before they will be brought before a judge.

While Israelis and internationals are, as a matter of policy, subject to Israeli law, which only allows for a 24 hours detention by the police, Palestinians are subject to Israeli Military Law, which allows for their detention for a period of eight days before being brought in front of a judge. This blunt policy of racial discrimination is applied even in cases where Palestinians and Israelis are arrested together and under the same circumstances, and despite the fact that both Palestinians and Israelis are, in theory, subject to the Israeli Military Law when in the Occupied Territories.