Tag: Bil’in

It takes a village

Stefan Christoff | Hour

7 May 2009

Montreal’s ties to illegal Israeli settlement

In April, Palestinian activist Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme was killed by Israeli military forces after being shot at close range by a teargas canister, becoming the 18th Palestinian to have been killed for protesting against the Israeli wall being built in Bil’in, a farming village.

“Bassam was a leader from the Bil’in movement against Israeli apartheid. Everyone in the village loved Bassam, who regularly worked with Israeli activists,” remembers Abdullah Abu Rahme, a Bil’in resident and activist.

Local residents have held weekly demonstrations every Friday in attempts to alert the world to their cause.

Rahme says Bil’in has been severely impacted by the construction of the security wall, which will annex around 50 per cent of village lands, mainly farm lands. In some areas, the wall towers over eight metres high and is fortified by armed military watchtowers. The village is also battling Israeli attempts to build illegal settlements on the land, a project with ties to Montreal.

Bil’in has launched a lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court against two companies registered locally, Green Park International and Green Mount International, who are currently helping to build an Israeli-only settlement on land within Bil’in’s municipal jurisdiction.

“Israel is colonizing our land and stealing it for future generations. They are trying to erase Palestine,” explains Rahme.

In June 2009, Bil’in village is scheduled to have a series of court dates that will determine if the lawsuit filed with Quebec Superior Court will be heard.

A solidarity protest with Bil’in village is scheduled for Friday, May 8, at noon outside Indigo bookstore (corner of Ste-Catherine and McGill College).

Villages and organizations ask Norway to divest from Leviev’s Africa-Israel over settlements

Adalah-NY

6 May 2009

The West Bank Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Jayyous and 11 national and international networks from Europe, Palestine, Israel and the US have sent letters calling on Norway to comply with its ethical guidelines and divest from its pension fund holdings in the company Africa-Israel, owned by the controversial diamond magnate Lev Leviev. The villages of Bil’in and Jayyous cited the devastating impacts of the construction of Israeli settlements by Africa-Israel and another Leviev-owned company, Leader Management and Development, on their villages’ agricultural land.

The letters to Norwegian officials follow controversy in Norway over pension investments in Africa-Israel and other Israeli companies involved in human rights abuses, statements by Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen supporting a review of pension fund investments, and an April 28 article in the UK’s Guardian by Abe Hayeem of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine urging the governments of Norway and Dubai to “emulate the example set by the UK and sever their relationships with Leviev’s companies.” In March, the UK announced that it would not rent its new embassy in Tel Aviv from Leviev due to concerns over settlement construction. UNICEF and Oxfam have also publicly renounced all connections with Leviev.

A May 4 letter to Norwegian officials signed by Jayyous’ Municipality, Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Committee, and Land Defence Committee noted that, “Leviev is the co-owner of Leader Management and Development, the company that is building the Israeli settlement of Zufim on our village’s land… Today, many families from our village live in poverty because they can no longer reach their farmland due to Israel’s construction of a wall on our land, a wall intended to annex Jayyous’ land for the expansion of Zufim settlement.” The letter closed by noting, “In Jayyous, we are engaged in a struggle for justice, for our freedom – indeed, for our very lives. We call on the government and people of Norway to divest from Leviev’s companies and stand with us in our struggle to save our land, our communities and the dreams of our children.”

In an April 21 letter, Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements expressed “great dismay” “that Norway, a strong supporter of human rights and peace in the Middle East, has invested its citizens’ pensions in a company, Lev Leviev’s Africa-Israel, that is building Israeli settlements on our village’s land, and is destroying our olive groves and any hope for justice and peace in Palestine.” Bil’in highlighted its long “nonviolent campaign to prevent the seizure of 57.5% of our village’s land for the construction of the settlement of Mattityahu East,” “more than 250 creative protests over the last four years,” the April 17th killing by Israeli soldiers of Bil’in nonviolent protester Bassem Abu Rahma, the injuring of 1300 civilian protesters, and the arrest of 60 more. The letter summarized, “We are sure that the people of Norway do not want to support the seizure of our farmland, and violence against our community.”

In a May 5th letter, Adalah-NY, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, Association France-Palestine Solidarite, Norway’s Electricians and IT workers Union, European Coordinating Committee of NGOs on the Question of Palestine, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Norwegian Association for NGOs for Palestine, Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign wrote to Norwegian officials supporting Bil’in and Jayyous. The organizations asserted that investing in Africa-Israel “violates government guidelines which require the exclusion of ‘companies from the investment universe where there is considered to be an unacceptable risk of contributing to… serious violations of individuals’ rights in situations of war or conflict’ and ‘other particularly serious violations of fundamental ethical norms.’” They also noted evidence of Africa-Israel’s settlement construction in Maale Adumim and Har Homa, the sale by Africa-Israel subsidiary Anglo-Saxon Real Estate of Israeli settlements homes, Leviev’s donations to the settlement organization the Land Redemption Fund, and Leviev’s companies’ involvement in serious human rights abuses in Angola’s diamond industry.

Police negligent in probing fence protest casualties

Dan Izenberg & Yaakov Katz | The Jerusalem Post

5 May 2009

The death of Palestinian Bassem Ibrahim in Bil’in two-and-a-half weeks ago might have been prevented had the police carried out orders to investigate previous incidents in which protesters against the separation barrier were hurt by grenade canisters, a senior Justice Ministry official told the police on Monday.

Ibrahim, 30, died when a border policeman fired a canister directly at him and hit him in the chest during a protest at Bil’in on April 17.

The protest was one of the weekly protests held by villagers, Israelis and pro-Palestinian demonstrators from abroad against the route of the fence that separates the villagers from much of their agricultural land.

According to a statement issued by the Justice Ministry, Yehoshua Lemberger, deputy state attorney for criminal affairs, has asked the police to review the guidelines for dispersing protesters.

Lemberger said Ibrahim was one of several protesters in the recent past who have been hurt by gas bombs or grenades “which have aroused suspicions of illegal use of means to disperse protests.”

According to a knowledgeable source, the Justice Ministry asked the police to investigate four incidents that occurred in Nil’in, another Palestinian village that holds weekly protests.

In one case in September 2008, a Palestinian suffered head injuries when shot by a border policeman.

In January, a Spanish journalist and an Israeli protester were injured. On March 13, an American citizen, Tristan Anderson, was shot in the face and critically wounded by a tear gas canister.

Lemberger added that even if it was right from an “operational point of view” to use gas grenades, bombs and other ordinance, it was wrong to aim directly at protesters.

IDF sources said that the direct fire of gas grenades at demonstrators had always been against official military regulations. Military forces operating at Bil’in, the sources said, would continue to use gas canisters since it was an “effective tool” in dispersing violent demonstrations.

The sources said that the IDF has always made a distinction between “direct fire” of the canisters at specific demonstrators as opposed to “indirect fire” in the nearby vicinity.

“There is nothing wrong with firing gas canisters,” one source said. “The problem is with direct fire but that has always been against military regulations.”

Lemberger also pointed out that investigations of border police conduct in the West Bank are conducted by the police, rather than the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Unit, which does not investigate incidents of shooting involving border policemen unless they take place in Israeli population centers in the administered territories.

Release the Palestinian activists arrested in al-Ma’sara

4 May 2009

After arrests and injuries on Workers Day, Palestinian workers and activists call on trade unions around the globe to increase solidarity

On May 1, people from the village of al-Ma’sara and the neighbouring villages in Bethlehem area commemorated Workers Day with a march in protest against the Apartheid Wall. The Wall continues to encroach on their land and isolates their villages. The demonstration and Workers Day festival was organized by the popular committees of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign in al Ma’sara and Bethlehem district, in cooperation with the Bethlehem branch of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU).

Israeli Occupation forces repressed the mobilization and fired on the crowd with tear gas, sound bombs and rubber coated steel bullets. Nine people were injured, among them the head of the PGFTU, Shaher Sa’ad. Soldiers arrested ‘Azmi Sheukhi from Hebron, Mustafa Fawagreh from Um Salamoneh and Muhammed Brajiya, Mahmoud Zawahreh, Hasan Brajiya, all members of the popular committee in al Ma’sara. They are still held in prison.

The events of May 1 are the latest of a strategy of escalation implemented over the last months by the Occupation forces and which has lead to increased arrests, injuries and deaths among the coordinators and activists against the Apartheid Wall.

Several weeks ago, Basem Abu Rahmeh was shot and killed in the village of Bil’in while last week, 37 people were injured in similar protests. Ni’lin suffers regular invasions and arrests. This Friday, Occupation forces took over several homes as military bases. In February, Occupation forces staged a full day raid detaining 75 youth and arresting 16. The occupation forces regularly impose curfews and other collective punishment measures.

International trade unions must act in the face of these attacks on trade unionists, workers and villagers.

The popular committee against the Apartheid Wall of al Ma’sara and Bethlehem district, the Bethlehem branch of the PGFTU and the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign call upon trade unions across the globe to:

  • Demand the release of the Palestinian activists arrested on Workers Day.
  • Raise awareness about the land theft and ghettoization of Palestinian communities through the Wall and the grassroots resistance against it.
  • Support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and promote concrete BDS actions to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and force it to respect Palestinian rights.

Popular committee against the Apartheid Wall of al Ma’sara and Bethlehem district
Bethlehem branch of the PGFTU
Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign

Bil’in residents and activists gather to mark May Day

Bil’in Village

1 May 2009

The residents of Bil’in gathered today after the Friday prayer along with international and Israeli activists and marched in recognition of May Day. The protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners calling for labor rights. The Israeli occupation doesn’t give even the simplest rights for workers and the Wall prevents workers from getting to their jobs and farmers from reaching their land. Protesters also carried posters for the martyr Bassem Abu Rahmah.

Protesters marched towards the wall calling for the end of the occupation and to stop construction of the Wall. Protesters placed flowers next to the martyr’s memorial for Bassem Abu Rahmah and stood there for a minute of silence out of respect for his spirit and those of other martyrs.

The Israeli army had gathered in big numbers behind cement blocks and used razor wire to prevent the crowd from going through the gate. The army fired tear gas canisters to disturb the crowd, causing dozens to suffer gas inhalation and four were shot with rubber coated steel bullets, the four: Abdullah Aburahma,Yaseen Mohammed Yaseen,Mahmud Al’a Smara,and Nashmi Mohammed Aburahma.