Tag: Beit Ummar - Page 6 - International Solidarity Movement

Attempts to tend to farmland result in arrests

13 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On the 12^th of July 2011, 4 ISM members with a group of international activists, including Israeli, French, Belgian, Portuguese and a 5 Palestinians attempted to enter the illegally, occupied farmland of a Palestinian landowner in Beit Ommar. The initial plan was to try to farm and clean the land of litter near the military placed fence, which separates the remaining Palestinian land because of an illegal settlement. We attempted to enter the area through the road path leading to the farmland but we were blocked by 20 military men from the Israeli army. The following actions involved heavy discussions between an Israeli activist and what seemed to be the official of the military Israeli unit. We tried to attempt another route but we were blocked again by the same military Israeli unit. The group was then shown a document in Hebrew from the commander of the unit that this was a closed military zone and that we had 10 minutes to leave the area before they arrested any of us. The collective decision was then to back-off and set up a plan to start cleaning the nearest farmland.

The ISM team decided to accompany the civil disobedience action remaining between other activists. When the 10 minutes were over, the Israeli army pushed us backwards physically, and as we moved backwards, I saw one Belgian activist getting grabbed from the back and getting arrested. There were other activists who were arrested at this time but which I couldn’t see since the Israeli army began to throw sound bombs at us. After the first wave of arrests, the Israeli army began throwing more sound bombs at the activists that still remained on the farmland. At this time I managed to observe one Israeli activist getting arrested in the front area. We moved backwards slowly while a number of soldiers commanded us to leave the area. I didn’t witness any further arrests.

Later at a debriefing at the Palestine Solidarity Project center/ Friends for Freedom and Justice Center we were told that 2 international activists and an Israeli activist had been arrested.

Background information:

In 2006 two fences were built in Beit Ommar confiscating Palestinian land. The Palestinian landowners had to either pass through entrances controlled by the Israeli army or were either prevented at all from entering their farmland. Demonstrations started in 2006 against the fence. Farmers succeeded to work on the land legally but were not allowed to enter or farm by the illegally occupied military zone. 2006-2008 2 Palestinian farmers made it through and in 2008 heavy military occupation began around the zone. A curfew was imposed, mass arrests and hence demonstrations began again. ThevillageofBeit Ommaris surrounded by three settlements, one of them being Karmei Tsur. The way settlements expand is done through the creation of buffer military zones, stating that the Israeli government has the right to “protect” the illegal settlements around the area. With the expansion of areas around settlements many Palestinian farmers and residents have been shot and arrested.

‘Welcome to Palestine’: Israeli court challenges deportation orders

13 July 2011 | Welcome to Palestine

Bethlehem and Jerusalem, July 13, 2011. Court dates have been set for noon today and tomorrow at 9 am for the court challenges of “Welcome to Palestine” participants against the deportation orders of the Israeli government that they and their attorneys consider illegal. The hearings will take place at the Central District Courthouse in Petah Tikva.

The hearing at noon today concerns two Australians who flew from Athens to Ben Gurion airport yesterday to join the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative: Sylvia Hale, a retired member of the NSW Parliament and Green Party Member, and Vivienne Porzsolt, a member of Jews against the Occupation, both 69 years old had, been aboard the Freedom Flotilla II Free Gaza ship, the “MV Tahrir,” which the Greek government prevented from sailing to Gaza. Other members of Flotilla II have decided to come visit Palestine and contacted the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign, including the US activist Kathy Kelly. “We are now inundated with requests to visit Palestine which is the opposite of what the Israeli authorities had tried to do by their brutal denial of travel to a few hundred activists” said Mazin Qumsiyeh, one of the organizers and the campaign’s local media spokesperson.

Tomorrow at 9 am Angelica Seyfrid of Berlin, Germany, will challenge deportation orders. Ms. Seyfrid, an artist and translator, worked for many weeks to raise money for travel costs so that unemployed persons and students in Germany could join “Welcome to Palestine.” On July 8th, Ms. Seyfrid flew from Berlin to Tel Aviv with members of the German ,Austrian, French and Belgian delegations of “Welcome to Palestine.” All were immediately detained upon arrival to Ben Gurion airport and most were deported without opportunity of legal counsel. Members of the German and Austrian delegation were deported on Sunday, July 10th via Lufthansa Airlines, and on Monday, July 11th, via Australian Airlines respectively. According to the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Israeli authorities denied access to attorneys seeking to represent the incarcerated Germans.

“Israel denied the entry of Noam Chomsky because he wanted to have a talk with students from Nablus,” said Attorney Omer Shatz. “Israel denied the entry of Ivan Prado the famous clown just because he wished to make Ramahalla’s kids happy. Israel denied entry to anyone who wants to visit Palestine. Such a regime that doesn’t let people to visit millions of Palestinians living under oppressing military occupation for 44 years now.”

“Our hearts go out to Angelica, and we fully support her courageous refusal to accept the illegal Israeli deportation orders,” said Elsa Rassbach, a US citizen living in Berlin and member of CODEPINK and the German section of the War Resistors International, who helped organize the German delegation and is coordinating the international media for the initiative from Berlin. Together with members of the French and UK delegations to “Welcome to Palestine,” Ms. Rassbach visited Palestine during an earlier campaign of support during Christmas last year. However, the French activist, Olivia Zémor, was denied entry and deported during the same time.

While Israel succeeded in preventing hundreds of people from entering Palestine, many others did enter to join this week’s program of activities. Israeli forces have incarcerated at least two supporters, including a young man from Belgium who participated in yesterday’s peaceful attempt to enter the Palestinian villages of Beit Ommar (now off-limits due to Israeli colonial activities). Israelis also decided to join the activities and several were also arrested.

“The local organizers of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ campaign, while sad about the continuing attempts at isolation from the international community, are pleased that this episode of brutal Israeli assault removes one of the last illusions about ‘Israeli Democracy’,” said Dr. Qumsiyeh.

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Palestinian man still under arrest after demonstration in Beit Ommar on Saturday

29 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Two international activists are released following their arrest and court hearing in Jerusalem, while a Palestinian man is still under custody following a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ommar that occurred on June 25th.

The two international activists and a 22 year old Palestinian were brutally arrested during a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ommar, in the southern region of the West Bank. The non-violent demonstration took place there and was nearing its end when approximately ten Israeli soldiers and border police arrested the 22 year old Palestinian man with force. The man’s t-shirt was ripped into pieces as he was being arrested. He was restrained to the ground and kneed in the chest. A soldier later twisted his handcuffs aggressively, contorting the man’s wrists, cutting the man on both wrists. When trying to reach the Palestinian man and assist him, an international activist was violently thrown to the ground by a border police. The activist, from Sweden, landed on her back and a soldier pinned her to the ground, laying heavily on top of her and making it hard for her to breathe. Another activist, also from Sweden, identified him as the captain in charge of the soldiers that day. A sound bomb was thrown next to the activist, after which she was handcuffed and arrested. In the tumult occurring after the sound bomb, another international activist was grabbed and arrested while trying to help the other from the ground

Both activists were blindfolded for three hours at a military base, and then taken to a police station. One of the activists was released after 12 hours, and the other was released after 24 hours, after being taken to jail and court in Jerusalem. They were both released without charges. The Palestinian man, however, is still under custody awaiting his trial in court, which has been postponed until Thursday, June 30th.

Beit Ommar is located to the south of Hebron, with a significant amount of village land usurped by the “security fence” of the neighboring illegal settlement Karmei Tzur, built about five years ago.

Israeli forces arrest three in Beit Ommar demonstration

25 June 2011 | Palestine Solidarity Project

On Saturday June 25, about 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered in Beit Ommar to demonstrate against the Israeli Karmei Tsur settlement, which has annexed hundreds of dunams of Palestinian land. As demonstrators attempted to enter land belonging to Beit Ommar farmers, Israeli soldiers announced that the area was a closed military zone and said they would not allow anyone to pass. Several Palestinians and internationals then attempted to circumvent the military blockade. At this point, at least 6 soldiers assaulted Mohammed G., a 22 year old Palestinian man from Surif. During attempts to rescue him from the attacks, two international activists were also arrested. A sound grenade was thrown by the soldiers into the midst of the demonstrators attempting to rush to his aid. When the smoke and dust cleared from the scene, Mohammed laid motionless on his back surrounded by soldiers, his shirt torn to shreds. He was arrested and taken to a police station in Kiryat Arba. He remains in custody as of 5 pm the next day.

Karmei Tsur is an Israeli settlement built in the 1990s, primarily on land privately owned by residents of Beit Ommar. A secondary fence was recently constructed around the already existing primary fence of the settlement, confiscating an additional several hundred meter circumference of Palestinian farmland in Beit Ommar.

Beit Ommar in “defiance of instruction”

18 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

On June 18 2011 the weekly Beit Ommar demonstration proceeded towards a fence which encircles the nearby settlement of Karmei Tzur and separates the village from some of its land. A number of protesters reached the fence and planted a Palestinian flag. Local women walked home across the land “in defiance of instruction” made by the occupational forces. During the ensuing army response an Israeli protester and an international protester were detained and later released, and other protesters were hit.

The aim of the demonstration was to show resistance to the theft of Palestinian land, following the erection of a “security fence” erected nearly five years ago. The fence encircles the Karmei Tzur settlement , but also usurps a significant amount of village land.