Jab’a Villagers Hold Action Demanding Right to Farm Land

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 17, between 9am and 2pm, Jab’a villagers will demand the right to farm their land. They will be joined by Palestinians from nearby villages, and international and Israeli activists in this action against the apartheid wall and the settlements surrounding Jab’a. The villagers will be planting on land that is threatened to be annexed by the wall.

Recently farmers have been denied access to their land by agressive settlers. Violence by settlers is commonplace in this area. This support action will attempt to allow villagers to access their land without that fear of settler violence.

The demonstration will meet at Om Al Jamjoum, in front of the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Ain. Jab’a is just south of Bethlehem.

This action is supported by the Popular Committee from nearby Beit Ummar. Recently newly planted olive trees in Beit Ummar were uprooted by settlers only 10 days after they were planted.

Jab’a is a Palestinian village of 900 people, which has 4000 dunams of land, 200 of which will be de-facto annexed to Israeli after the building of the illegal apartheid wall there.

For more information contact:
Mohammed Zaqiq: 050 564 8627
Mosa Abu Mariya (Arabic speaker): 054 583 8925

Destruction and Defiance in the Shadow of Bethlehem

The Rabah family, including 8 children, are now homeless, after the Volvo earth-movers tore through the back of their dwelling while family members scrambled desperately to remove furniture and other items. Another home nearby was also levelled, two more examples of an ugly Israeli tradition that occurs on average 2-3 times each month. A teacher in Bethlehem, Hadr Rabah tells me that the village is very united against the Occupation, so there is no shortage of people offering to take in family members temporarily at least. When I asked why the earth-movers left the front of the home intact, his reply was “they were afraid of the electric”.

It’s not hard to see why Israel desires this land that overlooks Jerusalem and a couple of illegal settlements that used to be parts of Beit Jala and Walaja. As one neighbour -himself in receipt of a destruction order- said…”This land is beautiful, so Israel needs it”. Another neighbour
explained that the Israeli government …”needs to have the ground without the people”. In the distance towards Jerusalem, I could see the zoo, complete with giraffes wandering in their pen. After a couple weeks in Hebron, listening to Tel Rumeida settlers refer to Palestinians as pigs,
dogs, and animals, I couldn’t help but see the parallel: The Israeli government sees the West Bank as their zoo for Palestinians, complete with walls, fences and gates…except they would rather you did not visit. I realize the comparison is primitive and unflattering, but I think it
reflects the unwillingness of Israel to see the Palestinian people as teachers, doctors, shop-owners, students, mothers and sons.

I stood with the Rabah family as they explained how Israeli officials had been out repeatedly to photograph and survey the area around their home and many others in al-Walaja. I felt awful, but was encouraged to take pictures to record and report the flattened home and the young people sifting through the rubble for household goods. Another local teacher added her thoughts
about the effects on young children when they witness such events at a young age. She told me that it is very difficult for the children of Walaja to sit in their classes and focus on education while there is such upheaval in the community at the hands of the occupying authorities. “Imagine what a two-year old will grow up like”. Why is not the entire village crowded
around the ruins, embracing the family? “It happens so often. If they stand here now, will that change things? People still have to go to school and to work. If I stand here until 12:00 tomorrow, will it be any different?”

When homes in al-Walaja are destroyed, it often means olive and orange trees
fall as well, but what is left standing is defiance.

Christmas in jail for peace campaigners

An Italian peace activist was hospitalized Thursday after refusing to be deported from Israel.

Italian, Vittorio Arrigoni, 34, was injured yesterday evening when Israeli authorities tried to deport him and two other detained UK residents,from South Africa and Ausralia, by force, according to Israeli lawyer Gaby Lasky. Lasky added that the authorities failed to notify her or the consulate of Vittorio’s injury and originally instructed their guards not to allow the three detainees to communicate with their attorney or concilate representatives.

Vittorio was returned yesterday to the detention centre at Tel Aviv airport. The three are being held after they were refused admission to Israel to attend a peace conference in Bethlehem. They will be spending their Christmas holidays in Israeli jail.

The three are experienced peace campaigners who were on their way to the “Celebrating Non-Violence” conference that starts on 27 December in Bethlehem. But when they tried to pass through Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on December 20, when the authorities detained them.

Only quick legal action by an Israeli lawyer prevented the three from being forcibly deported Thursday morning. They must now await the outcome of an appeal hearing, the date for which has yet to be set.

All three have worked previously as international observers in the Palestinian territories. All are members of Access for Peace in the Middle East, a pressure group that intends to challenge the criminalisation of peace workers and the deliberate isolation of Palestinians from international observation and assistance.

One of the detained activists, Robin Horsell, a UK-based South African who formerly campaigned against apartheid gave his reasons for fighting deportation: “Israel gives spurious grounds for deportation or refusal of entry. But the real reason is our support for human rights and justice. We hope this legal challenge sets a precedent that in future will allow international citizens full access to Palestinian lands.”

Many prominent peace campaigners support Access for Peace in the Middle East including Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Nonviolence International, European Jews for a Just Peace., Clare Short, George Monbiot, AngieZelter, and Jeremy Hardy.

For more information contact:
Attorney Gaby Lasky: 054 441 8988
Charlotte: +44 (0) 7768 305897, charlotte@ism-london.org

For details of the conference: http://www.celebratingnv.org
Access for Peace in the Middle East

Peace workers denied access to Bethlehem

In the early hours of this morning the Israeli authorities at Tel Aviv airport stopped a group of international observers who were en route to a Christmas peace conference in Bethlehem.

After lengthy interrogations, two (UK) were allowed to enter the country and three were denied entry on ‘security grounds’. The three (S Africa, Italy, Australia) intend to challenge this decision in the Israeli courts. Now they expect to spend Christmas in jail, rather than in Bethlehem.

The group are experienced peace campaigners who were on their way to the “Celebrating Non-Violence” conference to be held in the Palestinian town early next week. All five have worked previously as international observers in the Palestinian territories.

Spokesperson Charlotte Carson states: “Our colleagues are being stopped from attending a conference about non-violent activism because they are non-violent activists. Clearly, Israel is afraid of the power of non-violence.”

The detained are all members of Access for Peace in the Middle East, a pressure group that intends to challenge the criminalisation of peace workers and the deliberate isolation of Palestinians from international observation and assistance.

Robin Horsell, a UK-based South African who formerly campaigned against apartheid gave his reasons for making this legal challenge:

“Israel gives spurious grounds for deportation or refusal of entry. But the real reason is our support for human rights and justice. We hope this legal challenge sets a precedent that in future will allow international citizens full access to Palestinian lands.”

This campaign is supported by many prominent peace campaigners, including Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Nonviolence International, George Monbiot, AngieZelter, Jeremy Hardy and European Jews for a Just Peace.

Notes:

Since 2000, the Israeli authorities have denied entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to hundreds of international citizens who intend to work with grassroots organisations such as the International Solidarity Movement, Christian Peacemaker Teams, the International Women’s Peace Service, and many other NGOs that provide humanitarian assistance to the occupied civilian population.

Israel calls itself ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’, yet its practice of obstructing the passage of hundreds of observers and peace activists calls its democratic credentials into question.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent organisation (the equivalent of the Red Cross), during the last five years 3754 Palestinian men, women and children have died from Israeli military action. The vast majority of these casualties have been civilians.

For more information, contact: Charlotte: +44 (0) 7768 305897 charlotte@ism-london.org
or Roger +44 (0) 7785 792107 info@ism-london.org

AP: Israel Raids Offices of Activist Group

Israeli soldiers arrest a volunteer of the International Solidarity Movement in Beith Sahur Town, east of the West Bank town of Bethlehem during a raid on the ISM office.(AFP/File/Musa Al-Shaer)
Israeli soldiers arrest a volunteer of the International Solidarity Movement in Beith Sahur Town, east of the West Bank town of Bethlehem during a raid on the ISM office.(AFP/File/Musa Al-Shaer)

Jason Keyser | Associated Press

JERUSALEM – The Israeli army raided the West Bank offices of a foreign pro-Palestinian group yesterday, confiscating computers and documents and arresting an American and an Australian, witnesses and a group spokeswoman said.

Israeli troops also demolished eight Palestinian homes yesterday in the Gaza Strip near the site of an earlier car bomb explosion, while Palestinians fired six crude rockets from Gaza into Israel, lightly injuring a 10-year-old girl.

The actions came on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to support the ”road map” peace plan, which is aimed at ending 31 months of fighting and creating a Palestinian state.

The actions also followed declarations Thursday by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, who praised his new Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, as a ”partner” for peace and said he is ready to renew peace talks with Syria without conditions.

About 22 Israeli army jeeps surrounded the offices of the International Solidarity Movement in the village of Beit Sahour, and soldiers entered and confiscated six computers, said George Rishmawi, a Palestinian close to the group. A spokeswoman for the pro-Palestinian organization, Laura Gordon, also confirmed the raid.

The Israelis arrested Christine Razowsky, 28, of Chicago, and an Australian woman who did not want her name released, as well as Palestinian Fida Gharib, 22, a secretary for the organization, said police spokesman Gil Kleiman and other group officials.

The military said it arrested several people who ”violated the law” in Beit Sahour, but declined to elaborate. Kleiman said the foreigners were in police custody and were being questioned for entering a restricted military area.

The interrogation documents and other evidence, including the computers, will be used by the Interior Ministry to decide whether the foreigners should be deported, Kleiman said.

The International Solidarity Movement is a pro-Palestinian organization of volunteers who often act as ”human shields,” placing themselves between Palestinians and the Israeli army.

In the past two months, an American member of the group, Rachel Corrie, 23, of Olympia, Wash., was killed and two other foreign activists – an American and a Briton – were seriously wounded in separate events. One of the wounded, Tom Hurndall, 21, of Britain, is on life support in an Israeli hospital.

”The aim is to deport any foreigner who supports us,” said George Rishmawi, a Palestinian official close to the group. ”We consider these people to be international witnesses to the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

Early Thursday, Israeli security forces arrested two British members of the group who were trying to enter the Gaza Strip, the group said in a statement. Alice Coy and Nick Durie were taken for questioning at the border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, the statement said.

The army declined to comment.

Also Friday, Israeli army bulldozers demolished eight homes and damaged two others in the Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Balah, leaving 45 people homeless, the mayor said. The homes are close to the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, where a Palestinian suicide bomber rammed his car into an Israeli tank late Thursday.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia linked to the ruling Fatah movement, claimed responsibility. Abbas, a senior Fatah leader, has denounced such violence.

Palestinians, meanwhile, fired homemade Qassam rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, hitting the Negev Desert town of Sderot and spraying debris that lightly injured a 10-year-old girl, who was taken to a hospital, police said.