Tag: Bab al Karama

Two ISM activists facing deportation after new protest village ‘Canaan’ update

Update on 10 February:

All Palestinian activists arrested at protest village ‘Canaan ‘ released

ISM activist on huger strike!

Dave and Marco are being held in Givon prison and are expecting deportation.

One of them, Marco Di Renzo (54), has decided to start a hunger strike from tonight in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners and to protest against his illegitimate deportation. He will also stop taking his blood pressure medication, which is life threatening for the condition he lives with, Thyroidectomy.

The charges against him are being in a closed military area and assaulting a soldier with his camera, which is completely untrue.

10 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

dave — Dave being arrested by Israeli soldiers (Photo: ISM)

Two activists from ISM (International Solidarity Movement) were arrested at the Canaan protest village and are now facing deportation proceedings. They are expecting to be in court in Jerusalem later today.

Israeli occupation forces yesterday thwarted two attempts by Palestinian activists to establish a new camp village near Yata in the Southern Hebron Hills, protesting Israel’s illegal settlement policy. The outpost, named “Canaan Village”, is the fifth in a series of protest encampments that was launched with the establishment of Bab Al-Shams last month. The aim of these tent villages is to confirm Palestinian ownership of the land through concrete actions and to protest against Israel’s illegal settlements by mirroring its strategy of “creating facts on the ground”.

Very early on Saturday morning, around 30 activists were interrupted in their attempt to set up tents near Karmel settlement by Israeli soldiers who arrived on the scene to remove the steel framing and confiscate part of the material. “We came here to build a Palestinian village upon Palestinian land, and to freely use our land in the way we want. As Palestinians we have rights and own this land,” activist and coordinator of the popular committees in the southern West Bank, Younis Araar, stated.

marco — Marco being handcuffed (Photo: ISM))

Undeterred by the army’s quick intervention and demolition of the tents, activists reorganised themselves and moved to rebuild the camp outside At Tuwani village at around 9am. Around 40 activists used the remaining material to set up one tent, as well as building stone circles and placing the Palestinian flag on the land. Thus Canaan Village was re-established on Palestinian-owned land that is under threat of confiscation due to planned extensions of the nearby settlement of Ma’on.

The number of protesters gradually grew as nearby residents and other activists came to join in the action, eventually reaching about 120. Within half an hour of the protesters arriving to set up the camp, the army had arrived at the scene too, and soon declared the area a close military zone amidst loud chanting of the Palestinian activists. The army then used large amounts of skunk water against the protesters. After successfully dispersing the crowds, it directed the water-jet directly at the tent and the handful of activists that had refused to leave it despite the appalling odour, causing the tent to fall together under the force of the water. The activists fled the tent and the army took over the part of the land with the destroyed tent on it.

Nevertheless, the protesters refused to leave and continued chanting and facing up the line of soldiers. Various journalists, photographers and videographers were standing to the side documenting the events. For no apparent reason, the soldiers suddenly lept forward, seizing a Palestinian videographer in an attempt to arrest him, which sparked an outcry among the crowd and caused activists as well as other media personnel to come to his help in an attempt to de-arrest him. Clashes ensued between dozens of protesters and soldiers, which lead to several arrests, including at least three journalists and an ISM volunteer from Italy. Soon after, a woman was injured after soldiers tried to arrest her, causing further clashes between the army and fellow protesters trying to protect her, and leading to the arrest of another Palestinian and an ISM volunteer from Britain. All together, five Palestinians were arrested during the action, according to an army spokesperson.

With the only tent taken over by the army earlier, and several photographers and videographers now arrested causing both intimidation and a lack of media attention, the protest seemed to loose its focus and structure after around 11am. Although villagers and other activists continued to join, no-one took charge to co-ordinate further actions such as chanting or sit-ins, and neither did the army move to disperse the protestors. Over the next 3 to 4 hours, people were mostly sitting around, spread out across the field and down the street leading up to it, chatting to one another, with the army standing around watching. Only a couple of dozen people remained up front, facing the line of soldiers. They did manage, however, to re-gather people to pray the Dhuhr prayer in two long rows right in front of the soldiers, in a beautiful and powerful act of non-violent resistance.

Despite the short existence of Canaan Village, its establishment is part of an encouraging series of protest villages over the last month or so. Whilst the West Bank has witnessed a surge in direct-action grassroots activism in recent weeks, the international community has become increasingly critical of Israel’s illegal settlement policy and other actions in violation of international law, all of which are signs of hope for the Palestinian people as they continue their struggle for justice and dignity.

canaan1 — Palestinian activists setting up a tent structure (Photo: ISM)

canaan2 — Palestinian tent at Canaan protest village

canaan3 — Residents of Canaan raising Palestinian flags

Canaan protest village

10 February 2013 | Beit Ommar Popular Movement, South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

Today, the South West Popular Committee along with international activists embarked on a new effort to establish a village, Canaan, on Palestinian land in South Hebron Hills. The village’s name was not accidental. We wanted to declare that we are the indigenous people of Palestine. We are the descendants of the Canaanites and our ties to the land can never be broken or taken away. Early last night, various Palestinian activists from a wide array of villages in the South West Bank area along with international activists met in a home to discuss plans for the coming day.

Residents of Canaan just after they erected the tent (Photo: Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Signs were prepared which stated ‘Our Land is Our Right’, ‘Canaan Village’ and a declaration of intent which stated that “we are the sons and daughters of the Cananites, we establish Canaan Village on endangered Palestinian land.” “We declare that it is our natural right to develop, reclaim, improve, use and live on all our lands free and without threat from occupiers/colonizers.”

In the early morning hours, following a night of planning, we established Canaan as our first attempt, in the south of Yatta (the entrance to Twani). Within less than a minute, while we barely managed to establish the tent, an occupation jeep arrived. The occupation soldiers encircled us and told us we must leave. We refused to obey such a racist demand. An officer of the occupation army then went on to demolish our tent, steal our additional tents and equipment and violently prevent us from reclaiming our land and our belongings.

Several hours later, we went on with a much larger group of activists, international supporters and an especially large number of journalists, to the east Yatta, near Ein Mai’in, Hazawai, we established a large tent and began building a room from stones of the land. Within half an hour, we were heavily encircled by at least 6 jeeps of the occupation forces. A large military vehicle which fires skunk water was brought in. We were told that we have 10 minuets to leave the area and that the land was a ‘closed military zone’. We did not yield of course and were immediately showered upon by heavy skunk water.

Canaan tent being skunk watered (Photo: ISM)

Occupation soldiers then went on to attack journalists and arrest them. They beat an elderly woman and other activists. In several instances, activists jumped in and prevented with their bodies the arrest of two people. After several hours of struggling with the occupation soldiers which numbered more than 50, 4 journalists, 8 Palestinians and 2 international activists were arrested, our tent was destroyed and we were prevented from returning to our land. For many hours during the hot afternoon, hundreds of activists remained in the area and demanded the right to return to the Canaan Village.

Residents of Canaan praying at the camp site (Photo: Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Palestinian activists erecting the tent (Photo: Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Israeli army and border police trying to arrest Palestinian activists (Photo: Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Israeli border police arresting a Palestinian activist (Photo: Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Beit Iksa’s residence standing strong after the forceful eviction of Bab Al Karama

by Team Khalil

26 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Iksa, Occupied Palestine

The people of Beit Iksa were joined by other Palestinian activists on Friday morning to make their way to the site of the recently demolished Bab Al Karama camp, bringing with them a number of young olive trees to plant for the future.

A large group of enthusiastic men, women and children made their way from the village of Beit Iksa to the hill top that hosted Bab Al Karama, in a convoy of vehicles while waving Palestinian flags from the windows. They gathered to pray alongside the ruins of the mosque, demolished alongside Bab Al Karama.

With over one hundred people to help, a number of olive trees were then planted around the hill top; which is classed as area C and in Israeli control. This same area was picked by the council of Beit Iksa for the site of the camp protest which was assembled the previous Friday and then destroyed by Israeli forces just two days later in the early hours of Monday morning.

The people of Beit Iksa are planning to plant more olive trees at the site every Friday. At this Friday’s demonstration of resistance the desire for a peaceful existence in the village shone from the faces of young and old alike.

Prayer alongside the ruins of the mosque in Bab Al Karama

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Beit Iksa’s peaceful camp protest evicted and destroyed by Israeli forces

21 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Occupied Palestine

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Israeli forces stormed into a peaceful Palestinian camp protest in the small village of Beit Iksa to demolish a half built mosque and tear down four large tents that had been erected since Friday.

Israeli occupation forces surrounded the camp after giving only 6 hours notice to the organisers that the building of a mosque and erection of tents was illegal due to the fact it was in Israeli controlled area C. The land on which the camp was set up on belongs to local Palestinian villagers and was a communally organised event to protest against the annexation of land by the Israeli government.

After forcing young and elderly civilians into the centre of the camp, Israeli forces then dragged and pushed the group down a rocky valley to check each individuals ID.

The group of peaceful locals and international and Israeli activists were then made to wait in cold temperatures as the mosque was destroyed and the tents were ripped down and confiscated. At the time of the eviction there were around 40 Palestinians and six Israeli and international activists.

After one and a half hours Israeli forces told the group to stay at the bottom of the valley until they had left the area with their vehicles and bulldozer which was used to demolish the mosque and remove the confiscated belongings.

Beit Iksa has a long history of being victim to the aggressive and forceful tactics used by the Israeli government to capture legally owned Palestinian land.

The long road to Bab al-Karama

20 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Bab al-Karama, Occupied Palestine

The road to Bab al-Karama, the new tent neighborhood created by Palestinians on land that will be separated from the village of Beit Iksa by the Apartheid wall, exposes a landscape of Apartheid.

To reach Bab al-Karama from Occupied Ramallah one needs to take the “Palestinian only” road that runs under the “Israeli only” 443 Highway between Ramallah and Beir Naballah.

Beir Naballah used to be a suburb of Jerusalem. Affluent Jerusalemites built their homes in Beir Naballah to escape from the housing crisis imposed on Palestinians by Jerusalem’s municipality housing polices. It sits on a road that connected the villages in the area with Jerusalem and continued on to Latrun. Now Beir Naballah is completely surrounded by an Israeli wall. The old road was widened and transformed into an Israeli highway called 443. The highway now connects Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and the Palestinian residents of the area are barred form using it. The Jerusalemite residents were forced to abandon their homes and many businesses dependent on clientele from Jerusalem have closed.

We exit Beir Naballah through a second tunnel that connects the Beir Naballah enclave to another enclave where 8 Palestinian villages are also isolated by Israeli walls. This tunnel is even more surreal than the first. Not only does it run under two Israeli only roads but as well as under the Apartheid wall and through the Givaat Zeev settlement bloc. High cement walls with razor wire on top of them hug the sides of the road.

We drive in Biddu and drive through the villages that had been since their creation connected to Al Quds but are now cut off from it and artificially connected to Ramallah. True to the Orwellian tradition of Israel’s military language they call the Palestinian network of roads they have built under their highways “fabric of life roads”. The landscape is beautiful and almost idyllic. Goats grazing on green hills, old stone houses…, but this ideal setting is surrounded by walls, gates and settlements.

The last village we reach, the one closest to Jerusalem is Beit Iksa. But to enter it we need to pass a military checkpoint. At the edge of the village we finally reach Bab al-Karama overlooking a network of Israeli highways and the city of Jerusalem. In the valley right below Bab al-Karama one can see two tunnels that will be connected by a bridge on which a fast track train connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv will run. The train will run on the village’s land but not only will the villagers be barred from accessing it, Israel’s Apartheid wall will be built between the village and the train separating the villagers from over 4500 dunams (60%) of their agricultural land. More than 1300 dunams had already been taken in the 70s for the construction of Ramot Allon settlement.