Tag: Bil’in

Weekly demonstrations against the Annexation Wall

Spent live ammunition shells found after weekly Bil’in protest

On the 8th of February, around 70 Palestinian, Israeli, and international gathered in the village of Bil’in to demonstrate against the Annexation Wall. The illegal wall steals more than 60% of Bil’in village land. People marched peacefully to the gate in the wall, able to see their stolen land but not access it. On the 4th of September there was a Supreme Court decision which said the wall must move back, and give back half the land it took. This has yet to be implemented, and people are left at the gate to hold signs and chant.

Activists opened the two gates before soldiers, unprovoked, began to shoot rubber-coated steel bullets nearby. Demonstrators were forced back down the hill, where they continued their demonstration. The army continued to fire volley after volley of rubber bullets. Later, as the demonstration wore on, the army came inside the wall and position themselves on the hill, then the tear gas began.

It was not long after that they began to chase activists up the hill, still firing rubber-coated steel bullets dangerously close. Sometime after, people moved back to the village, but one person found spent live ammunition shells nearby where the soldiers were, after they had retreated up the hill. They were not only firing rubber-coated steel bullets at the demonstration, but sometimes live.

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Six injured at mass demonstration against Israeli separation wall near Bethlehem

Bethlehem – Ma’an – About 500 Palestinian demonstrators, joined by a handful of Israeli and international supporters, marched towards the construction site of Israel’s separation wall in the village of Al-Khadr on Friday, in what organizers say is one of the largest weekly demonstrations in the West Bank.

At least 30 heavily armed Israeli soldiers and riot police in six jeeps had already blocked the road with barbed wire. At the conclusion of the Friday prayer and just two minutes into the demonstration, the soldiers fired tear gas and sound grenades, dispersing the vast majority of the protesters and injuring six people.

Among the injured was 60-year-old Khalil Salah, who was hospitalized after a sound grenade exploded next to him. Abdullah Khalil was also injured by a sound grenade. Witnesses said three young children were hit by teargas canisters. Their names could not be confirmed at the time of writing.

Organizer Samer Jaber said that his intention was to keep the march peaceful, so as to avoid a confrontation with the Israeli military, but, he said, “[the soldiers] don’t even need an excuse,” to start shooting.

The Israeli government says the wall is intended to keep Palestinians out of Israel for security reasons, but in many cases, the 8-meter concrete barrier keeps Palestinians from other Palestinians, and from their own land. In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled the wall illegal under international law.

Al-Khadr’s mayor, Ramzi Salah said that the completion of the Israeli wall will be devastating, resulting in the confiscation of 90% of the village’s land. Salah said 65% of Al-Khadr residents rely on farming for their livelihood. The wall will also cut off the main road linking Bethlehem to Hebron, affecting a half million Palestinians in both cities, by Salah’s estimate.

Salah said he is proud of the people of his village for “defending our land. Land represents something major for us—something sacred.”

The mayor estimates that the barrier is about one month away from completion in Al-Khadr.

Asked whether he thinks peaceful demonstrations will succeed in stopping the wall, organizer Jaber paused for a second, then answered, “We will do whatever we can—it is a duty.”

Earlier, men and boys from Al-Kadr attended the Friday Muslim prayer on the road leading to the construction site. In a passionate sermon, the Imam denounced Israeli occupation, and also called on the Palestinian Authority leadership, who are currently engaged in peace negotiations with Israel, to visit the village and witness the confiscation of their land. He also chided Arab leaders for “staying silent” in the face of the oppression of Palestinians.

Dany, a 27-year old Jewish Israeli from Tel Aviv said that he and 10 other Israelis attended the protest because “we feel that what is happening in the Occupied Territories is cruel and wrong.”

PNN: Bilin honors the Spirit of the late George Habash and calls for naitonal unity

Three citizens were injured during a weekly demonstration in Bil’in. This Friday’s was organized in honor of the spirit of George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Bil’in residents have actively resistance the Israeli Wall and settlement expansion for years.

Bil’in residents left the western Ramallah village after Friday prayers in a massive march which included journalists and foreign and Israeli supporters. The Popular Committee to Resist the Wall carried flags alongside members of the leftist PFLP holding posters of the late Habash who died last week in a Jordanian hospital. They all called for defending the Palestinian cause, ending the occupation, and for national unity.

The demonstrators marched in the streets of the village chanting slogans for national unity, and condemning the policy of occupation and construction of the Wall and settlements. They headed toward their lands under confiscation where Israeli forces had been waiting since the morning.

As close to the Wall as they could get, demonstrators began speeches, including Ahmed Abu Rahma of the Popular Committee. He spoke words of praise for the work of George Habash and his defense of Palestine, while also calling for more resistance to the Wall.

Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets, gas and concussion grenades into the nonviolent protest, injuring several people. Some suffered periods of suffocation from the noxious gas, while three others were severely injured and transported to hospitals.

Soldiers shoot bullets and gas at Bil’in villagers

On Friday, January 25th, around a hundred Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists gathered for the weekly demonstration against the Annexation Wall in the village of Bil’in.

The demonstration coincided with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands have surged through the Egyptian border after the walls were leveled by explosives. Activists held banners stating “Gaza 3ala Bali (Gaza On My Mind)”, as well as “Boycott Israeli Apartheid”.

Activists marched toward the gate at the Annexation Wall, but were blocked by Israeli soldiers who became aggressive and confrontational. While forcing demonstrators backwards towards the village, soldiers proceeded to throw a barrage of around 20 sound bombs in a matter of minutes in an attempt to disperse the protest. At one stage soldiers threw three sound bombs directly at a man in a wheelchair, who was unable to escape the bombs which landed less than one metre from him.

The demonstrators were showered with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets while they left, which injured several Palestinian and Israeli activists. Medics were present and were called numerous times to provide first aid to injured activists.

During the demonstration, two Bil’in residents were detained for several hours and one international was arrested and brought to the police station, but released later in the day.

The Arab American News: New York activists take on Israeli settlement builder

New York activists take on Israeli settlement builder

By Will Youmans
The Arab American News
Saturday, 01.19.2008, 02:49am

http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=USA&article=538

A network of pro-Palestinian organizations in New York is working hard to expose Israeli businessman Lev Leviev’s sponsorship of Israeli settlement construction. The groups have engaged in creative protests and organized boycotts and pressured those linked with Leviev. Their boycott campaign is gaining strong momentum.

Leviev is a real estate magnate and diamond dealer. He is building strategic settlements in the occupied West Bank. These settlements violate international law, including U.N. resolutions and the Geneva Conventions.

Many are joining the movement against Leviev because his real estate projects in New York expel local, low-income residents from their communities, violate laws, and exploit underpaid laborers.

Leviev, who is one of Israel’s wealthiest businessmen, is building the Mattityahu East settlement on the lands of the village of Bil’in, and the Zufim settlement on the lands of the village of Jayyous. He is also involved in construction on the West Bank settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim around Jerusalem. The settlements are designed to divide the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank, and encircle and disconnect Jerusalem.

Notably, the people of Bil’in, Jayyous and the surrounding areas are mounting intense nonviolent protest campaigns against the settlement construction. Last Friday, villagers of Bil’in were joined by around 70 Israeli, international, and other Palestinian human rights activists in a protest against the Apartheid Wall.

The demonstration began as a march towards the gate in the Wall, where soldiers were standing with guns drawn. At the front of the march was the banner, “Leviev turns these rocks of apartheid into diamonds.” The soldiers opened fire with rubber-coated bullets and shot tear gas at the unarmed protestors, injuring several of the protestors badly.

These encroachments come at a time when Palestinian statehood is being held out as a possibility. Leviev’s activities undermine these prospects.

Leviev’s diamond trade topped Israel’s 30 Leading Exporters list in 2007, with net exports of $522 million. He deals in diamonds mined in Africa, has them polished in Israel, and uses the profits to help finance the illegal settlement construction.

Leviev’s diamonds are cleared through the Kimberley process, in which NGOs and the United Nations certify diamonds as “conflict-free.” However, New York activists allege his company benefits the repressive Angolan government and has been tied with the military junta in Burma. Funding clear violations of international law in Israel and Palestine is enough for them to protest.

When Leviev opened a jewelry store on Madison Avenue in New York, activists mobilized. They protested during a cocktail party in November, chanting “you’re glitz, you’re glam, you’re building on Palestinian land,” and, “occupation is a drag, just say no to your gift bag.” They wrote and performed political Christmas carols, and have held five protests in front of the store.

The Jewish Voice for Peace group called out movie star Susan Sarandon after she crossed its picket line to attend the cocktail party. The group asked her to “publicly sever ties” with the jeweler. Sarandon, a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, denies being connected with Leviev.

Recently, media reports surfaced claiming that Leviev was a financial supporter of Oxfam, a major “group of non-governmental organizations from three continents working worldwide to fight poverty and injustice.” It was claimed on the website of a Jewish community group group Leviev heads.

The coalition group Adalah-NY heard from Oxfam that “Leviev has not been a donor to Oxfam.” Oxfam explained that it does not “knowingly accept funds from any business involved in any illegal activity, or operating in any illegally occupied territory, including settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Adalah-NY spokesperson Ethan Heitner commented, “We are unable to explain why articles praising Leviev and touting his charitable contributions, including an article on the news site of an organization he heads, claimed a link with Oxfam which Oxfam has now verified doesn’t exist. We are gratified that Oxfam has reiterated its longstanding opposition to Israeli settlement construction and refusal to accept donations from businesses like Leviev’s that are involved in violations of international law.”

Adalah-NY is a leading force behind the boycott campaign. Adalah-NY is joined by the U.S. organization Jewish Voice for Peace, Israel’s Coalition of Women for Peace, and leading Palestinian civil society organizations.

The group formed as a response to the escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip at the end of June, 2006.

For more information on Adalah-NY visit www.mideastjustice.org.

Adalah-NY: Film screened in front of Leviev New York about Palestinian village protesting Leviev’s settlements

Adalah-NY contact: justiceme@gmail.com

New York, NY, Jan 21, 2008 – Twenty-five New York protesters and dozens of Madison Avenue passers-by braved sub-freezing temperatures Monday evening to watch the award winning documentary “Bil’in My Love” on the sidewalk 20 feet from the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev. Leviev’s company Danya Cebus has been building the Israeli settlement of Mattityahu East on the land of the West Bank village of Bil’in, threatening the village’s survival. The film, by Israeli director Shai Pollak, documents the first two years of Bil’in’s three year creative, nonviolent struggle to save its land from Israel’s wall and Leviev’s settlements.

Adalah-NY spokesperson Ethan Heitner explained, “The screening tonight brought images of the impacts of Leviev’s violations of international law in Palestine and the courageous resistance of his victims to his Manhattan doorstep, in one of wealthiest neighborhoods in the world.” The protest, organized by the New York activist group Adalah-NY and calling for a boycott of Leviev, was the sixth held at LEVIEV New York since the store opened in November.

“Bil’in My Love,” won Best Documentary at the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival, and a special award at the 2006 Rotterdam film festival. On the US holiday honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds of passers-by received flyers with photos juxtaposing the Palestinian struggle for freedom with the struggle against Apartheid South Africa and the US civil rights struggle of African-Americans.

The Israeli military has injured over 800 Israeli, Palestinian and international protesters in more than 200 demonstrations in Bil’in over three years. 49 Bil’in residents, including some protest leaders, have been arrested. Some spent months in prison. The flyer quoted Mohammed Khatib from Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, and Sharif Omar of Jayyous’ Land Defense Committee explaining that, “We are engaged in a struggle for justice, for our freedom – indeed, for our very lives . . . . Leviev is destroying the olive groves and farms that have sustained our villages for centuries, and is profiting from human rights abuses.”

In addition to Mattityahu East, Leviev’s company Danya Cebus is building homes in the illegal settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim, surrounding East Jerusalem. Leviev’s company Leader is building the settlement of Zufim on the land of the village of Jayyous, the site of another long Palestinian nonviolent campaign. Leviev has been a major donor to the Land Redemption Fund, an Israeli organization that uses dubious means to secure Palestinian land to expand settlements. All Israeli settlements are widely deemed illegal under international law.

Dor Energy, a company which is 26% owned by Leviev’s company Africa Israel and is the monopoly fuel supplier to the Gaza Strip, has plunged Gaza City into darkness by participating in a cut of the fuel supply to Gaza with the Israeli government. In Angola, where Leviev mines many of his diamonds, a security firm he employs has been accused of brutal human rights abuses against Angolans. In New York City, Leviev, along with his former New York business partner Shaya Boymelgreen, was the target of a campaign by the ACORN and the Laborers Union in Brooklyn for their use of underpaid non-union labor to carry out sub-standard development projects.

Leviev has recently been caught up in a controversy—covered by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ma’ariv and The Chronicle of Philanthropy—over media reports that he supports the charity Oxfam. Oxfam has reviewed its records and denies these claims, noting that Oxfam refuses donations from businesses that violate international law.

Issa Mikel of Adalah-NY noted that, “We’ll be back at LEVIEV New York with a bigger protest on Saturday, February 9 to tell New York shoppers that buying Leviev’s jewelry for Valentine’s Day supports the abuse of marginalized communities in Palestine, Angola, and right here in New York City.”

Jan. 21 photos: http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=73

Jan. 21 Video: http://www.mideastjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=72