Abdallah Abu Rahmah (right) with Ela Bhatt, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Fernando H Cardoso, Mary Robinson and Gro Brundtland of the Elders during their visit to Bilin
Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s first trial from 2005 had reached conclusion yesterday, with his sentencing to two months of imprisonment and a six months suspended sentence for participating and organizing demonstrations and for walking the streets of his village during a curfew designed to prevent a demonstration. A verdict in Abu Rahmah’s main case for which he is already in jail since December is expected soon.
Bil’in Protest organizer Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced to two months of imprisonment and to a six month suspended sentence, after a five year long trial on charges clearly related to freedom of speech.
Abu Rahmah was convicted of two counts of “activity against the public order”, simply for participating in demonstrations, in one count despite the fact that “No evidence of violence towards the security forces was provided”. Abu Rahmah was also convicted of “obstructing a soldier in the line of duty”, for shouting at a police officer and refusing to leave the scene of a demonstration, of “breaking curfew”, for being in the street in front of his house when the army declared curfew on Bil’in to suppress a demonstration, and of “incitement”, which under military law is defined as “The attempt, verbal or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order”. Abu Rahmah was convicted of inciting others to “[…] continue advancing [to their lands during a demonstration in Bil’in], claiming that the land belongs to them.
Adv. Gaby Lasky, Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s lawyer said that “The military court threads a dangerous path of criminalizing legitimate protest in the West Bank. Abu Rahmah was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced with the clear intention of sending a message that the Palestinian struggle, even when of civic nature, will not be tolerated”.
Yesterday’s sentence joins a long line of recent military court decisions criminalizing Palestinian protest and effectively cracking down on the already limited Palestinian freedom of speech. The decisions are part of an Israeli campaign to suppress Palestinian grassroots resistance to the Occupation across the Occupied Territories.
Mohammed Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee said that “In my village we learned that when we fight for our rights, when we expose what is being done to us, we can achieve victories, and indeed the path of the Wall is now being moved. Israeli is trying to intimidate us, to dissuade from fighting for our rights – but what other options do we have? Both the Wall and the settlements on our lands are built in contradiction of international law and even of Israeli law, but it is us that end up in jail”.
Last night the Israeli army carried out a night raid in the West Bank village of Bil’in and arrested a seventeen year old boy.
At least 12 Israeli army jeeps entered the village at approximately 1.30 in the morning. Soldiers from two of the jeeps then closed off the house of Ahmed Abdul Fatah Burnat, 17, who was arrested during the course of the 40 minute raid.
Palestinian villagers and internationals were unable to prevent what seems to have been a targeted arrest. Ahmed is understood to have been accused of participating in an illegal protest and throwing stones.
Israeli authorities’ attempts to criminalize protest have in recent years become more fervent. Peaceful protests have been declared illegal and Palestinian residents prosecuted for being present in their own homes if the army has declared that area a ‘closed military zone’.
Both targeted and arbitrary arrests occur commonly, again symptomatic of Israel’s attempts to deter protest. Popular committee leaders such as Abdallah Abu Rahma and Adeeb Abu Rahma from Bil’in have been convicted of ‘incitement’ by military courts and imprisoned – despite their commitment to nonviolent protest. Ahmed’s older brother Ibrahim has also been jail for the last 2 months.
The justness of the Bil’in protestors cause has been reflected in judgments by both the International Court of Justice and Israel’s own Supreme Court who in 2004 and 2007 respectively ruled that the entire Apartheid Wall and specifically the route of the wall through the village was illegal.
On the anniversary of the French Revolution, the theme of the protest in Al Ma’sara on Friday was the destruction of the prison in which Israel holds Palestinians captive, redolent of the French storming of the Bastille in 1789. Around 50 demonstrators, both Palestinians and internationals, marched towards the main entrance of the village to call for an end to the construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and the illegal settlement of Efrat, which surrounds the village and severs the inhabitants from their land. The Israeli army, without any provocation, responded viciously to the non-violent protest.
During the demonstration the local popular committee leaders spoke powerfully about their right to the land of their ancestors and their ongoing non-violent struggle for freedom. They called for an end to the arbitrary imprisonment of Palestinian political prisoners
Despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration the soldiers responded by throwing sounds bombs and tear gas. A local popular committee leader Marwan was detained and threatened with a beating by soldiers, but later released without charge.
Palestinian and international voices urged the army not to shoot or use violent means, holding up their hands to symbolize non violent resistance. Despite this soldiers began to hurl sound bombes – one of which injured an international journalist – followed by rubber tear gas canisters. The group of protestors, which included women and the elderly, was subjected to several volleys tear gas and sound bombs, and dispersed as a result.
Construction and expansion of the illegal Gush Etzion settlement has already confiscated a large portion of village lands and construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall in the area cleaves roughly 3,500 dunams of land.
Throughout the history of the popular resistance, local leaders here have been arrested, imprisoned and threatened by soldiers; they face harsh fines or imprisonment for attending demonstrations. Night raids are often carried out in attempts to deter the inhabitants of Al Ma’sara from exercising their right to protest against the occupation, which they have been doing since 2005. However, it seems that the tactics of the soldiers in the hope of scaring demonstrators will have the contrary effect; strengthening future protests.
Bil’in (Friday 16 July)
On July the 16th around 200 people participated in the weekly demonstration against the wall in Bil’in – many of them where internationals. Huge amounts of tear gas was fired – unnecessarily – at the demonstrators and two people were injured.
The demonstration started in the center of Bil’in after noon prayers. One hundred Palestinians and almost as many internationals gathered and paid tribute to Fayyes Tanin, a leader of the Palestinian grassroots movement who passed away 6 weeks ago in an accident and was commemorated in numerous posters. The protestors marched as usual through the village and up to the wall, waving flags and chanting in Arabic and English as they went. The demonstration stopped some meters from the gate, where Israeli soldiers were waiting. Without warning and without a single stone being thrown, the soldiers started firing teargas, less than a minute after the demonstrators had reached the wall.
Demonstrators had hoped to quickly lock the gate from the Palestinian side – preventing soldiers from making incursions towards the village and trying to arrest people – but the large Israeli force pushed through and chased people back, all the time firing tear gas and stun grenades at the nonviolent protestors. One boy of 12 years old passed out from teargas inhalation and had to be taken back to the village. Another young boy was hit by a teargas canister in his stomach, and suffered painful but luckily not serious injuries.
About ten soldiers went on the offensive, advancing towards the village firing tear gas from among the olive trees so it was closer to the protestors who had retreated and regrouped. A big group of demonstrators who had gathered on another hill near the village were subjected to repeated teargas attacks which actually prevented them from returning to the village for some time.
The demonstration lasted over an house and no arrests were made, in spite of much effort from the Israeli army.
Bil’in residents have – since March 2005 – organized regular direct actions and demonstrations against the theft of their lands for the construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and illegal Israeli settlements such as Modi’in Illit. Although both the International Court of Justice (in 2004) and the Israeli Supreme Court (in 2007) have declared the route of the wall illegal – the latter stating that at least 25% of Bil’in’s 1964 dunums of confiscated land should be returned to the village – these rulings have to date been ignored and settlement construction continues.
Ni’lin (Friday 16 July)
A Danish student, 24, was arrested and detained for several hours by Israeli authorities yesterday for being in the vicinity the weekly peaceful protest in Ni’lin.
She was surrounded by ten soldiers armed with M-16 rifles while she was resting away from the main protest, suffering from tear gas inhalation.
She was transported away from Ni’lin, where she and other internationals were accompanying villagers on their weekly peaceful protest against Israel’s Apartheid Wall – declared illegal in 2004 by the International Court of Justice – which cuts through their land.
The nonviolent protest was met with severity by Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas repeatedly at protesters and also arrested one Israeli photographer.
She was interrogated at Shaar Benyaminpolice station in Jerusalem, detained for four hours, and told to sign a form stating that she had illegally been present in a ‘closed military zone’. However, when she refused to sign she was released without charge.
The village of Ni’lin is designated as ‘Area A’ under the Oslo Accords of 1993 signifying that it should be under full Palestinian control. But since May 2008 the Israeli army have killed 5 residents and critically injured American solidarity activist Tristan Anderson in the process of harshly repressing demonstrations against the occupation.
After noon prayers the villagers in An Nabi Saleh accompanied by international and Israeli activists joined together to protest against the lack of water resources accessible to Palestinians. The demonstration was carried off peacefully with chants and heated discussions with the soldiers who were present to stop the demonstration from reaching the nearby settlement.
About one hundred Palestinian villagers and internationals gathered in An Nabi Saleh to protest against the settlement annexing their land. The demonstration walked down towards the settlement chanting, but soldiers intervened and disrupted the demonstrators from walking ahead. The demonstration was peaceful until a shabab accidentally hit a journalist with a stone. A soldier then retaliated by shooting teargas at the shabab. This accident didn’t hinder the protest from continuing, as a large number of children and women started to chant and make noise in front of the soldiers. The children signaled peace signs and sang for the soldiers, making clear that they were not welcome. The children went on and on from soldier to soldier, who struggled to keep their cool.
After about two hours of passionate protesting the soldiers left the village and the demonstration ended. The theme of the demonstration was the lack of water given to the Palestinians compared to the excessive amount of water set aside for use only by the settlers, such as those living in the illegal settlement of Halamish (Neve Zuf). The people from the village, who have been demonstrating weekly since January 2010, this week expressed their anger by putting used tear gas canisters and sound bombs in plastic bags filled with water.
Wadi Rahhal(Friday 16 July)
Between 40 and 50 Palestinians together with 10-15 internationals protested against the illegal settlements near Wadi Rahhal. The demonstration started around one in the afternoon but was blocked by 6 Israeli soldiers and 6 border police. The demo was told to move to the side of the road because it was blocking traffic (even thou it was the military doing this). The local residents of Wadi Rahhal held speeches in Arabic and English, and told the soldiers to leave the area and called for an end to the occupation. The demo lasted for 45 minutes, and there were no serious incidents. Two settlers came by to watch and were chatting to the soldiers, demonstrating the ideological and strategic connection between the army and the settlers’ wishes.
Hebron (Saturday 17 July)
Around one hundred peaceful demonstrators gathered in Hebron on Saturday to protest against the illegal settlements in the city and to demand Shuhada Street be open to Palestinians again. The protesters consisted of approximately 40 internationals and 60 Palestinians and Israeli activists.
Falling on the day before Nelson Mandela’s birthday, the protest against Israeli Apartheid was especially pointed, with demonstrators and children carrying many banners and placards, some drawing a parallel between Israeli and South Africa’s Apartheid regime. The demonstration paraded down to Shuhada Street, where speeches were made by several Palestinians activists and one international. The Israeli army arrested one Israeli activists as he was mistaken for someone else the army claim they have reason to arrest. He was released after a couple of hours.
After the speeches and chanting the demonstration went into the souq. Surprisingly the demonstration went up a side street while which the Israeli occupation forces had not expected – and it allowed the protesters to avoid a confrontation with the soldiers who were waiting for them some one hundred meters away. The Israeli occupation forces have used increasingly violence against demonstrations in recent weeks and continue in attempts to make targeted arrests of activists, hoping to deter further protests. But the enthusiastic protestors made their point and continued through the streets. The demo ended in cheering.
Iraq Burin (Saturday 17 July)
The weekly Iraq Burin protest against the annexation of Palestinian owned land by illegal Israeli settlements was harshly put down by the Israeli army, who fired round upon round of metal and rubber tear gas canisters down the hill at protesters, to prevent them walking on their own land.
Soldiers positioned themselves on the brow of the hill, in between land that has been stolen for illegal Israeli settlements such as Bracha, and what the villagers can still call their own. As demonstrators approached the soldiers, around 30-40 in total, some villagers- who were accompanied by about 10 internationals, including journalists from American television service PBS – started throwing stones. This was concomitant with the initiation of tear gas volleys from the Israeli soldiers. The soldiers did not discriminate between the international observers and the locals in their aggression.
The internationals and villagers were forced to run down the steep, rocky hill face to escape the tear gas, which included potentially lethal metal canisters which were fired at ground level. The aggression continued for 45 minutes to an hour, until the soldiers disbanded, and left the villagers in peace.
Regular Saturday demonstrations in Iraq Burin began in response to the fatal shootings of Mohammad and Ussayed Qaddous, aged 16 and 19, on March 20th, 2010. The boys were shot while protesting the violent invasion of their village, a frequent Saturday occurrence.
Beit Ommar (Saturday 17 July)
Around thirty Palestinians and fifteen internationals met in Beit Ommar to march towards the settlement of Karmei Tsur which has already confiscated six hundred dunams of Palestinian land. Soldiers forcefully pushed back peaceful demonstrators including children, declaring the area a closed military zone. Despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration soldiers used sound bombs and tear gas; injuring two journalists and arresting one. Soldiers also made two attempts to arrest an international activist but were prevented by other activists.
Leaders of the popular and national committees called for the right to freely access and cultivate their land which has been under military and settler control since 2006. Demonstrators and children from the village of Beit Ommar proclaimed their non-violent protest and placed Palestinian flags on the razor fence which separates them from their farms. A group of five Israeli soldiers denied that it was Palestinian land, symbolically removing the flags and then proceeding to violently push back the protesters causing a Palestinian journalist to faint.
The soldiers, who seemed unsure about how to manage the situation, resorted as usual to unnecessary use of extreme force and deployed sound bombes and tear gas despite the presence of young children. Two Palestinian photographers from Reuters and Associated Press were injured as a result of the soldiers’ severe actions. The first was pushed from a wall, injuring his leg and was later carried away to a Red Crescent ambulance which took him for treatment at Beit Ommar medical centre. The second photographer received an injury to the head caused by a flying sound bomb also ripping his gas mask in half with the force of the explosion. The seriousness of his injuries shocked those present, including the soldiers, who had evidently misjudged their actions. He was later carried on a stretcher to the ambulance and we are still awaiting news of his treatment.
Soldiers also made repeated attempts to arrest an activist from the International Solidarity Movement. She said: “He asked me to leave the area and I said that this was a peaceful demonstration. He said he would arrest me if I didn’t leave, so I repeated that it was a peaceful demonstration, which resulted in him grabbing my arm and trying to drag me away”. The arrest was prevented by other activists on two separate occasions. Soldiers did however manage to arrest one Palestinian reporter, whose whereabouts is still unknown
Demonstrations have been taking place every Saturday at ten in the morning since 2006 and will continue until the locals receive the right to cultivate their land. Farmers refuse to participate in the arbitrary application process which only grants them very infrequent access to land which needs to be constantly cared for. In addition, farmers face attacks from extremist settlers whilst tending to their crops and so are calling for an end to the illegal settlements which have already confiscated a significant 600 dunams of their land. The villagers will continue to protest against the growing settlements which surround their village and threaten to consume grab even more land.
The Military Advocate General on Monday ordered the army’s criminal investigations unit to investigate the death of a Palestinian protester who was killed by a tear gas canister at a demonstration in Bil’in in April 2009.
The Military Advocate General had refused to open a criminal investigation into the death of Bassem Abu-Rahma, but on Monday changed its mind after expert testimony showed that the tear gas canister was aimed directly at Abu-Rahma and was fired in violation of military orders.
The Military Advocate General notified Abu-Rahma’s family and human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, who had planned to petition the High Court of Justice over the case.
The Israel Defense Forces first said Abu-Rahma was in a group of Palestinians hurling rocks at troops. But video footage showed him shouting, not throwing rocks, when he was shot.
Video footage filmed during the April 2009 protest against the separation fence in the Palestinian village of Bil’in also showed IDF troops firing tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators while in the presence of commanding officers.
Abu-Rahma’s family welcomed the decision. “We are extremely happy that an investigation is finally being opened,” said Ahmed Abu-Rahma, the victim’s brother.
“This should have happened on the day [he was killed], and it is clear that the army opened the investigation because it was forced to, and that in the past year and a quarter it has tried to cover up the shooting of a non-violent protester that it had no reason to harm, let alone kill,” Ahmed Abu-Rahma continued.
The original decision not to investigate Abu-Rahma’s death ignored the video footage and relied on IDF solders’ testimony that the tear gas canister hit wire along the separation fence and then ricocheted, striking Abu-Rahma. However, experts said that had the soldier who fired the canister followed IDF instructions, it would have landed hundreds of meters past where Abu-Rahma was standing.
Rights groups B’Tselem and Yesh Din said they were satisfied by the decision to probe the events surrounding Abu Rahma’s death, but stressed that the delay in reaching the decision was unjustified.
“We hope the amount of time that has passed since the event won’t affect the effectiveness of the investigation, and that today’s decision by the Military Advocate General will bring justice to Abu-Rahma’s family and the village of Bil’in,” the groups said in a statement.
Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem said the military informed the group on Monday of the decision. The military had no immediate comment.
Michaeli said there was no justification for the army taking 15 months to investigate the death, which she said was recorded on three video cameras.
Al Ma'sara residents destroy a fake wall. Photo: Kara
The Popular Committee of Al Mas’ara supported by a number of Internationals and Israelis constructed and then demolished a symbolic wall to mark the sixth anniversary of the decision by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s Apartheid Wall is illegal.
After afternoon prayers the villagers and internationals gathered to march towards the the illegal Israeli settlements that encroach on Palestinian land, while chanting “The wall must fall”. They set up the Styrofoam wall at the intersection of roads 356 and road 3157 which link these settlements to Jerusalem and each other. Though Palestinians can at present use the road to get to Ramallah, Israel soon plans to block Palestinian access, making it a settlers-only road, explained Mahmoud Zahwre of the Al Ma’sara Popular Committee .
The makeshift wall blocked traffic and Israeli army jeeps arrived and tried to intervene in the protest, telling demonstrators that they were in a closed military zone and must leave, but without success. Speeches were held in Arabic and English calling for an end to the occupation and the continuation of the struggle for peace and justice. The demonstration culminated in the destruction of the Styrofoam wall by protestors.
This fake wall measured four meters wide and demonstrators who tore it down said they were implementing the decision of the International Court of Justice. The actual wall that Israel continues to build despite the ruling of the ICJ will be some 760 km when completed and already illegally annexes huge swathes of the West Bank.
The popular committee of Al Ma’sara was established in November 2006 and has held weekly nonviolent demonstrations since that time.
Bili’in: the scales of justice
Bilin villagers carry scales labelled Israel and World
This Friday, as usual, the village of Bil’in held its weekly protest against the Apartheid Wall and the illegal occupation. Bil’in has had 70% of its farm land annexed by the wall and an expansion of the large illegal settlement Modi’in Illit – and the village has for that reason become one of the main sites of the Palestinian resistance. This particular Friday was also the 6th year anniversary of the verdict of the International Court of Justice that the wall is illegal and must be removed – a verdict that has yet to be enforced.
Approximately two hundred locals and internationals participated in the non-violent action. The Israeli army responded by raining tear gas down on protestors from two directions – causing one young Palestinian to collapse and lose consciousness for some minutes due to inhalation. Nineteen year old Taher from Tulkarm who was visiting Bili’in with the Freedom Theatre group, had to be carried by locals back towards the village and away form the wall which was the target of the protest. There were cheers when he eventually came to. Last year Bili’in resident Basem Abu Rahma was killed by soldiers who shot a high-velocity tear gas canister directly at him.
Bil’in protests, over 300 of which have been held in the last 5 years, are known for their imaginative and highly visual demonstration props, and this Friday was no exception, as the protest was dominated by an enormous weighing scale carrying signs saying “Israel” on one side and “The World” on the other to symbolize the imbalance of Israel’s power compared to the rest of the world. The scale was planted in a fake coffin with the inscription “International Law – RIP” as an unmistakably clear comment on the Israeli government’s disregard of the verdict of the ICJ on the wall as well as its flouting of a number of other international laws, according to which the occupation and the West Bank settlements it continued to expand are wholly illegal.
A teenager lost consciousness after inhaling tear-gas
As the demonstration approached the wall, Israeli soldiers from behind the fence fired repeated volleys of tear gas at the non-violent protestors, with some of cannisters setting the dry grass on fire, endangering the olive trees. Many of the young locals kept returning to the fence, despite the tear gas bombardment. Some threw stones over the wall, where their farm land used to be. The response of the Israeli army was typically disproportionate but since no arrests were made the protest ended in high spirits.
An Nabi Saleh: the struggle continues
In the hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh around 70 Palestinian men, women and children, 10 Israeli activists and 15 internationals gathered in the main square and marched down the hill, blowing paper trumpets and waving flags, towards the Israeli soldiers who were waiting at the crossroads, where the main protest usually occurs. Following last weekend, when soldiers entered the village dressed as civilians and arrested one of the young men, many of the local youth were lying low and did not join in the demonstration.
When the group were about 10 metres away, the soldiers started throwing sound bombs, and tear gas canisters were fired directly at the group at head height. Although this is against their rules of deployment, tear gas canisters are regularly used as missiles as well as for crowd dispersal. Two internationals narrowly missed being hit, and a member of the popular committee was arrested, and his wife and four-year-old child briefly detained. Some of the demonstrators made it to the crossroads and the group (mainly women and children) stood chanting at the soldiers. Two Israeli activists were grabbed from the crowd and wrestled into jeeps, amid scuffles with female activists who were roughly pushed away by soldiers.
The demonstration continued around the village for a few hours, as soldiers and border police in five jeeps pursued the young men around the area in an attempt to arrest those they had pictures of. Their presence in the village lasted for just two hours, as the usual spirit of the children and women had been dampened by the violent repressive tactics of the Israeli army, and the young men had fled over the hills towards a neighbouring village. The three men who had been arrested were released after three hours.
Protests against the theft and annexation of Palestinian land to the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish (Neve Zuf) have taken place in the village every Friday since January 2010. Although Israel’s courts ruling that An Nabi Saleh residents owned the valuable agricultural land, nearly half of it has been seized by settlers who also uprooted hundreds of olive trees in January 2010.
Ni’lin: army repression fails to deter protest
A group of around 75 people – locals and internationals – marched on the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin yesterday for the village’s weekly protest. When demonstrators reached the Wall, the Israeli army – who since May 2008 have killed five people in the village and critically injured one American solidarity activist – fired multiple volleys of tear gas, forcing the protesters to run for cover. This was then followed by incursions by Israeli soldiers onto the Palestinian side of the wall; they pursued fleeing protesters across the hilly terrain, intermittently firing tear gas at them. This week the army did not capture or injure anyone and refrained from storming the village. In the past they have used tear-gas projectiles, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition.
Since May 2008, a total of 112 Ni’lin residents have been arrested in relation to anti-Wall protest in the village. Constituting nearly 10% of the male population of Ni’lin aged between 12 and 55, the arrests are part of Israel’s campaign to suppress grassroots opposition to the wall. As a result of the Wall construction, Ni’lin has lost 3,920 dunams, roughly 30% of its remaining lands, and due to illegal settlement building is nowadays only 56% of its original size. Ni’lin is sliced in half by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to Israeli government plans, this will be made into a segregated setter-only road and Palestinian access and freedom of movement severely restricted as a result.
Ni’lin presents yet another example of Israel’s disregard of the rule of law. As well as the International Court of Justice ruling the wall illegal almost exactly six years ago today, Israel’s own Supreme Court issued an injunction in 2004 briefly halting construction of the wall, and subsequently rejecting a second proposed route as equally illegal. However it resumed again in May 2008 and since then Ni’lin residents have staged regular demonstrations calling for Israel to respect its own and international laws.
