Tag: Beit Jala - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Weekend demonstrations commemorate Flotilla massacre

International Solidarity Movement

8 June 2010

Bil’in

On Friday June 4th, the village of Bilín’s own Freedom Flotilla ship was attacked by soldiers from the Israel military, after it had been driven to the site of the Apartheid Fence which separates the village from much of its lands. The ship had been accompanied by large numbers of Palestinian and international supporters, including a delegation of 12 from Brazil, who were forced to retreat hastily when the military, out in force and spoiling for a fight, fired repeated salvoes of tear gas canisters into the crowd. The sight of youth attempting to fasten a Palestinian flag and an Israeli flag adorned with a piracy symbol to the fence proved too much of an incitement for the brave troops, who added stun grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets to the rain of terror.

Fadi Jayyousi, a cameraman for Palestine TV was seriously injured and had his camera equipment destroyed. A Norweigan journalist, Karina Lapua, appeared to have suffocated by teargas inhalation but was, fortunately, revived. Several people were struck by teargas cannisters and many others were gassed but soon recovered their equanimity.

Three activists were arrested, including Huwaida Araf, a co-founder of ISM, who had just been released from detention in Israel following her participation in the most recent Gaza freedom flotilla, and a 72 year old Israeli activist, Ilan Shelef, who managed briefly to break free from his captors and legged it away down the hillside with soldiers in hot pursuit. After a good chase the septuagenarian was finally captured and taken back into custody.

The brave spectacle of Mr Shelef, and the attendance at the demo of Dr Mustafa Barghouti (highly appreciated by the swarms of press) buoyed the morale of the villagers of Bil’in, whose resolve and resistance after five years of repression has not waned.

An Nabi Saleh

Roughly sixty Palestinians gathered with Israeli and international activists for the village’s weekly Friday march towards confiscated village land. Flags were displayed from a diverse group of nations, commemorating the Gaza Freedom Fleet. Soldiers met the demonstrators on the main road, and immediately arrested an Israeli activist.

Tear gas was then fired straight at the heads of demonstrators, in direct violation of international law, which dictates that tear gas must be fired in high arcs. The purpose of gas canisters is to release an unpleasant gas which forces demonstrators to move away. It is not designed, nor is it legal, for tear gas to be fired directly at people. This use disregards the original purpose of tear gas, instead using the cans as extremely dangerous projectiles. Monday 31 May, ISM activist Emily Henochowicz was struck in the face by a gas canister fired in such a manner. The blow claimed her left eye and fractured cheek and jawbones.
In An Nabi Saleh, soldiers continued firing in such a manner for an extended period, causing grave danger to villagers who had begun by marching peacefully against the extreme violence against international activists earlier this week. The demonstration ended when participants chose to conclude, although soldiers continued to block the village’s intersection for the next five hours.

Hebron

In commemoration of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Saturday, demonstrators in Hebron carried a boat with flags from countries represented on the flotilla as well as a coffin draped with a Turkish flag, bearing the names of the Turkish activists killed on Monday. The demonstration was contained to the entrance of Shuhada Street where protesters gather weekly, as police and soldiers blocked the procession from its normal route, threatening to shoot anyone who attempted to go further into the old city. Israeli soldiers destroyed the flag-draped coffin as demonstrators attempted to carry it past them.

Iraq Burin

This past Saturday, the village of Iraq Burin demonstrated against Israeli soldiers. Marching out to annexed farmland in recognition of the Israeli inflicted massacre of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, men, boys and International Solidarity Movement activists continue local resistance despite recent settler caused property damage.

The demonstration ended within two hours, A success: no injuries, no arrests. While the Israeli soldiers retreated to their jeeps, locals feasted on unripe plums picked prematurely in celebration. Locals paid homage to those whom died in the flotilla massacre by showing increased vigilance in the face of the oppression. Men and boys stood their ground despite tear gas canisters raining down and the imminent threat of arrests. This past week, however, marked the first time in several months that local settlers have invaded the village and caused property damage. A disgruntled local farmer showed me where settlers had entered and burned viable farmland, this solidifying the need for persistence, resistance, and justice.

Beit Jala

Sunday morning, fifty Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists demonstrated in the village of Beit Jala against the “Freedom Flotilla” massacre and the construction of the Apartheid wall.

The demonstrators, who were waving flags of the countries whose citizens were on board the boats, tried to reach the village when they were stopped by the Israeli military. After chanting some songs and unsuccessfully trying to move forward, demonstrators moved to the area where bulldozers were working. Soldiers began firing tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators’ heads, again, in direct violation of international law. When the crowd was dispersed, soldiers chased all nonviolent demonstrators and pushed them violently to the main road. One Israeli activist was arrested and taken to the police station.
When all demonstrators were in the main road soldiers threw more sound bombs and pushed them out of the area. After fifteen minutes internationals, Israelis and Palestinians left the village.

Al Walaja, Beit Jala protest illegal wall construction

International Solidarity Movement

25 May 2010

Al Walaja

Al Walaja village, close to Bethlehem, faces the threat of being totally isolated from the surrounding countryside by an apartheid wall which is currently under construction. When it is finished the only access villagers will have to the outside world is through a tunnel which can be opened or closed at the whim of the Israeli authorities. This nightmarish prospect is being protested each Sunday by the villagers, supported by Israeli and international sympathisers.

This Sunday, 23 May, approximately 70 protesters attempted to march from the village to the site of the wall’s construction. Before they could reach their objective they were met by a squad of a dozen border police who ordered them to disperse. They chose instead to sit in the roadway, where they were addressed in English and Arabic by a resistance leader, who emphasised the justness of their cause.

On this Sunday the Israeli troops did not resort to the use of tear gas or other violent methods of crowd control. Unfortunately for them, they were standing upwind of the demonstrators and ran the risk of gassing themselves rather than their prospective victims. One of them, “The big Russian with the red hair” – as he was described to me by a nearby Israeli journalist – appeared anxious to wreak some havoc. One of his companions, by contrast, seemed to indicate by his body language that he wished he could have been somewhere else.

Finally, the need to be somewhere else motivated the protesters to peacefully disperse. The only casualty of the day was the magnificent landscape as the bulldozers continued to rip apart the earth for Al Walaja’s unwanted and illegal prison wall.

Beit Jala

A small group of protestors was successful in interrupting construction of the illegal apartheid wall

Beit Jala’s weekly demonstration against the illegal apartheid wall also took place this Sunday. Despite having to clamber down a precipitous terraced hillside to reach the site, a group of committed activists managed to seat themselves in the path of the leading bulldozer. By clinging determinedly to one another they managed to resist being dragged away into detention for upwards of an hour. They hung on even when the operator of the bulldozer put their lives at risk when he resumed excavating within a metre of them.

The exasperation of the troops at failing to remove the demonstrators
found its expression in detonating percussion grenades and throwing tear gas canisters amongst the assembled journalists and photographers. Nevertheless, the most determined of them managed to hang in and record the event until the last demonstrator had been arrested, handcuffed and carried to the waiting police vehicle.

The six activists- all Israeli nationals- who were arrested were
released the same day. The final act of violence by the Israeli
military was to enter the village and tear gas a group of
Palestinian children who had taken no part in the demonstration. I
suppose it helped to relieve their frustrations.

Eight arrested in Beit Jala bulldozer action

International Solidarity Movement

17 May 2010

UPDATE: All eight of the activists arrested yesterday during the demonstration in Beit Jala were released last night at 11:30 p.m. Each arrestee was individually interrogated, and required to give the police his or her phone number as contact information “in case further investigation is needed”. No other conditions were stipulated.

Demonstrators obstructed construction of the illegal apartheid wall in Beit Jala

The Christian village of Beit Jala, in the Bethlehem governorate, lies next to the path of the apartheid wall at a point where it cuts deep into Palestinian territory. The objections of the villagers have been ignored and, for the past two months, a regular Sunday protest demonstration has been called at the instigation of the Beit Jala National Committee. This Sunday, May 16th, demonstrators gathered at the site where a bulldozer was clearing agricultural land for the walls’ construction a mere 30 metres from the nearest houses. The protesters’ numbers were constrained as Palestine Authority police prevented local Palestinians from joining the protest.

A core group of international and Israeli activist supporters succeeded in clambering aboard the bulldozer, forcing the clearing work to stop. When Israeli soldiers and border police arrived in numbers half an hour later the activists then sat on the ground in front of the bulldozer, linking arms with the intention of resisting their removal.

Military and border police violently removed the peaceful demonstrators

After an order to leave the site had been issued and ignored the soldiers and border police then proceeded to drag the protesters forcibly over the rocky terrain towards a waiting personnel carrier. Those who chose to walk fared better than those who continued to resist – despite the threat of the use of pepper spray from close quarters. Eight young resisters, five females and three males, including two from the International Solidarity Movement and two from the Palestine Solidarity Project, were taken into police detention at the Gilo settlement.

Israel’s treatment of international activists, aid workers and human rights workers has become increasingly draconian as it attempts to stem the flow of uncensored and first-hand information which flows to the West. Quite simply, “the only democracy in the Middle East” cannot afford the truth to be told and will brook no opposition to its inhuman and illegal policies and practices.

Weekend demonstrations continue the struggle

International Solidarity Movement

10 May 2010

Demonstration in Bil'in symbolizing the Nakba and Palestinian refugees' inability to bury loved ones on native soil. — Demonstration in Bilin symbolizing the Nakba and Palestinian refugees inability to bury loved ones on native soil.

Bil’in
Today’s demonstrators, Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals, marched from the Bil’in mosque towards the illegal apartheid wall. Halfway along the route, the procession picked up several men dressed entirely in black, carrying a coffin with a man inside. The grim scene symbolized the Palestinians’ loss of land during the Nakba and their inability to return to these lands. Most importantly, the coffin symbolized the fact that Palestinian refugees are not allowed to bury their deceased loved ones on their native soil.

The Israeli army fired tear gas and many aluminum canisters into the crowd not long after they gathered at the wall. The army aggressively entered through the wall’s gate and chased protestors up the route, as other soldiers fired tear gas canisters into the retreating crowd. Several were grabbed and arrested: Haitham al-Khatib, cameraman from Bil’in; Stormy, an American activist; Ashraf Abu Rahme from Bil’in; Abdul Fattah Burnat from Bil’in; and two Israeli demonstrators. One Palestinian man was injured with a gas canister to his chest, and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation. The procession finally retreated after these arrests and after being forced back up the hill into the village.

An Nabi Saleh
Fifty Palestinian, Israeli and international activists demonstrated Friday against land confiscation in An Nabi Saleh . The demonstration started at 1:30 pm in the center of the village and lasted roughly 400 meters, where demonstrators were met by the Israeli military which immediately shot tear gas at the crowd. After being dispersed, demonstrators hid among the houses of the village. The Israeli military continued throwing sound bombs and firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets for three hours. When the military retreated, demonstrators again tried to reach the lands which have been stolen by settlers but soldiers started again to launch tear gas and live ammunition (three warning rounds).

Near the end of the demonstration, plainclothes police officers who had infiltrated the demonstration grabbed eleven year-old boy, and two Israel activists who attempted to prevent his arrest. A 19-year-old demonstrator was arrested and beaten by plainclothes police officers. Four Israelis and one international were stopped and detained while driving on a road towards An Nabi Saleh. All were later released. The demo finished at 7pm.

Ni’lin
Approximately 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators gathered outside of the town of Ni’lin Friday, attending midday prayers in a quiet olive grove before marching towards the illegal apartheid wall. Chanting and waving flags, the demonstrators fanned out upon reaching the wall, where they were met with volleys of tear gas. Protestors marched east along the wall before returning to the village. Several cases of tear gas inhalation were reported.

Al Ma’asara
The demonstrators of Al Ma’asara achieved a rare victory this week, reaching the farmland which falls on the illegal wall’s route. In more than two years, this is the first time demonstrators have reached the land, though this is the objective each week. Approximately 35 demonstrators, Palestinian, Israeli and international, were surprised when, upon reaching soldiers and razor wire blocking the road, their request to continue the march was considered and then granted. Demonstrators sang and listened to speeches upon reaching the land, and then returned peacefully to the village.

Soldiers watch protest near Shuhada Street

Hebron
Twenty-five Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals attended this newly-begun demonstration, gathering at an entrance to Shuhada Street, the main street in Hebron, now closed to Palestinians. After lively chants which lasted nearly an hour, the protest filed through the narrow streets of Hebron’s old city. Settlers poured water on demonstrators from the occupied second story of market buildings. Demonstrators returned to the Shuhada street gate without incident.

Beit Jala
Marching from the central square towards construction of the illegal wall, 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators were met with Israeli military, who had blocked the road with razor wire. A demonstration was staged at the barbed wire and numerous speeches were delivered, before protestors turned back. The illegal wall cuts through a family’s front yard in Beit Jala, coming within meters of their home. Numerous ancient olive trees have been uprooted in the construction, which veers wildly off a linear path in order to snake around Route 60.

Journalist and Two Protesters Hurt in Beit Jala Demo

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

3 May 2010

Abu Michel cleans the front of his Beit Jala home after bulldozers destroyed his family's patio and playground. Anne Paq/Activestills.org

Over 150 people participated in the weekly anti-Wall demonstration organized by the local Popular Committee in Beit Jala on Sunday. The protest march, which set out towards the Wall’s construction site, was attacked with tear-gas and concussion grenades as soon as it reached a razor-wire barricade erected by soldiers on the road leading to village’s lands.

As demonstrators were forced to retreat, soldiers continued to shoot tear-gas projectiles directly towards them. Local youth responded to the attack by throwing stones and clashes ensued. Two protesters were hit by rubber-coated bullets and Muammar Awad, an freelance cameraman, was hit in the head by an aluminum tear-gas projectile shot directly at him. According to eye witnesses, Awad was evacuated unconscious to the Sheari Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem, with blood gushing out of the back of his head.

Beit Jala is a predominantly Christian town located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem. Once completed, he Wall will Isolate 3,200 Dunams of the town’s lands, including almost 3,000 Dunams of olive groves and the only recreational forest in the area, the Cremisan monastery and the Cremisan Cellars winery.

According to a military confiscation order handed to the villagers, the path of the Wall will stretch over 4890 meters between Beit Jala and alWallaja, affecting 35 families, whose homes may be slated for demolition.