Tag: Bil’in

Bilin: Four Detained as Military get Physical with Demonstrators

Bilin 10th August 2007

About 100 international, Palestinian, and Israeli activists, and demonstrators, gathered in Bil’in village on the morning of August 10th 2007 for what was to be the 131st demonstration against the illegal Apartheid wall and the Israeli settlement of Modiin Ilit.

It would be the first demonstration since the illegal squatting by Israeli settlers on unfinished homes in the settlements, a consequence of the bankruptcy of Heftsiba – an Israeli real estate company. The bankruptcy came about as a consequence of a court order delaying the construction of homes in the settlements of Modiin Ilit, Matityahu Mizrah, Betar Ilit and Maleh Adumim.

On a normal Friday, the demonstration would take place at approximately 1pm following midday prayers, however today organizers had decided on a new strategy. The original idea was to initiate the demonstration at 10am, approaching the Apartheid Wall at a time when there would be fewer soldiers which would enable the demonstrators to do essentially what they came to Bil’in to do: demonstrate. This seemed to be an increasingly difficult task as week after week soldiers fire tear gas, sounds grenades and gas canisters before demonstrators get anywhere close to the Wall. Unfortunately, the military were well informed of the demonstrators time change and were prepared at 10:00am to disperse the demonstration. The demonstration began shortly after 11am, later than the soldiers had expected, but also much earlier than usual.

Demonstrators marched enthusiastically towards the Apartheid wall, chanting and shouting, expressing to the world and media about their hopes for an end to the occupation, their desire to see the Apartheid wall brought down, and wish for the soldiers to go home. As with most demonstrations in Bil’in, things didn’t stay enthusiastic for very long as Israeli soldiers and border police quickly released a hail of tear gas canisters and sound grenades upon the demonstrators.

As demonstrators moved back to avoid the gas, the army began to encroach upon them, moving through the olive groves from the road and from the flanks. When they came upon groups of demonstrators, with their hands held to the sky in order to show they had no weapons, there was still no hesitation by the soldiers in throwing further tear gas canisters and firing sounds grenades.

When the soldiers and border police saw that some demonstrators refused to leave the area they attempted to arrest a local Palestinian man known as Abdullah. Several international activists came to his assistance, helping to prevent the army from taking him in an arbitrary arrest. The soldiers were not willing to give up so easily and grabbed and kicked at activists trying to get them to let go of Abdullah. However the demonstrators managed to hold onto Abdullah and he was not arrested.

The army continued to attempt to arrest a number of other international and Palestinian demonstrators in a form of harassment designed to beat them down and break their confidence, but due to many quick actions on the part of the demonstrators many were able thwart the army in their attempts to disperse the demonstration.

It seemed that the demonstration was going well, for the demonstrators, until the Israeli soldiers managed to take a British activist. The activist was asthmatic and was struggling to breath when the soldiers grabbed him and, between four soldiers, carried him away while he was still desperately trying to gasp for air.

Several activists followed, as the soldiers carried the asthmatic demonstrator away, calling out to the soldiers to address his medical condition and the need for treatment as it was a life threatening condition. As the demonstrators pushed forward, desperately trying to ensure the health of one of their fellow activists, they were instead met with aggression as the soldiers responded by firing more tear gas and sound grenades on the demonstrators.

A local Palestinian man offered to speak Hebrew with the soldiers, trying to alert them to the arrested demonstrators condition, but was arrested. A further Palestinian man was grabbed and detained, for no apparent reason, along with another French activist present. Beyond this, many of the activists suffered various injuries varying from tear gas inhalation, through to cuts bruises and grazes from the military as they pushed, shoved, beat and kicked demonstrators; attempting to arrest many more. The most serious injury was a severe cut to the head of a female demonstrator who was hit by an Israeli soldier as a group of them tried to arrest her. In total were five people were arrested (though later found to just have been detained): two internationals and three Palestinians.

For some time after the soldiers continued to fire tear gas at the demonstrators and eventually after some time demonstrators appeared to be given sufficient space and time amidst the tear gas to enable them to retreat. Demonstrators walked back to the village, hands held in the air in a gesture of non-violence, yet as what appears to be a last glance round, the military began throwing tear gas once more towards the demonstrators with no apparent regard for the fact that they were retreating anyway.

Demonstrators re-grouped at the International House in Bil’in and after a period of rest, and refreshment, activists were called to begin the demonstration once again. There was a decision to go back once more in order to get as close to the apartheid wall as possible, and hopefully convince the soldiers to release their detained friends.

When the demonstrators once again approached the apartheid wall, which the soldiers again stood in front of, the soldiers again quickly fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. About fifteen demonstrators managed to evade the tear gas and stay in front of the soldiers who also shot rubber bullets to ensure that the retreating crowd would stay away. The remaining activists quickly sat on the road, hands in the air, in front of the soldiers in order to show that they were still unarmed and just wanted to peacefully demonstrate.

After about fifteen minutes, with the demonstrators inching closer and closer to the soldiers, an officer came to speak with the crowd. An Israeli activist, present with the remaining demonstrators, negotiated with the army officer that they would be able, three at a time, to approach the apartheid wall; which had been the goal of the demonstration at the beginning. The Israeli activist also managed to convince the soldiers to release their detained friends. However Palestinian youth, unaware of the negotiations, and angry at the military aggression in their village, threw some stones on the soldiers, who were, at the time, distracted by the demonstrators. This managed to effectively cease all negotiations, and the detained demonstrators were held for a longer time as the soldiers chased after these Palestinians youth: firing rubber bullets as well as tear gas on them.

At around 12 PM, an international observer was detained by border police while trying to obstruct the passage of around 20 soldiers and police involved in arbitary violence towards a Palestinian man. This man had become separated from the rest of the demonstration because of sound bombs and tear gas being thrown by the police, and was subsequently being pushed, kicked, and punched by police and soldiers.

The observer chose not to walk and was carried away by 6 border police. The arresting party was followed by a camera with a live feed to Israeli TV. When the camera left the soldiers began to kick and punch the detainee. They tried dragging him along the ground by his hair and then one officer stood on his face, while another twisted his arm, and another kicked him in the side. The observer also had asthma which was being triggered by the attack. Needless to say he agreed to walk.

However, when he stood up one solder grabbed him by the throat and began to strangle him. When this officer released his grip the observer attempted to use his inhaler but was prevented from doing so. One officer actually pulled his hand away from his face while he was trying to use it and broke the inhaler. A second observer, seeing what was happening ran after the soldiers shouting to them that they needed to allow him to use his medication. The officers detained him also.

They tied both the detainees wrists with plastic cable ties and took them to a razor wire pen where there were already two detained Palestinian men. The pen, on the ‘Israeli’ side of the annexation wall, was around two meters in diameter, in the sun with no shade. After a few minutes the asthmatic detainee was finally seen by a medical person and was given medication, before being returned to the pen. All four detainees remained there for for over 3 hours,leaving the detainees with sunstroke and sunburn. One of the detainees shirts was ripped off his back in his arrest making detention in the sun even more dangerous.

After around 3 hours all 4 detainees were escorted back through the annexation wall and released without being given a reason for their detention.

The detained demonstrators were all released between 3:30 and 4:30pm into the village of Bil’in, and fortunately none were arrested.

Haaretz: A visit to the jungle

By Akiva Eldar

Last week the prime minister congratulated Ariel College for being elevated by the Judea and Samaria Council of Higher Education to university status. Today, Ehud Olmert is traveling to Jericho, in order to hold talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on an agreement of principles (and perhaps even “agreed-upon principles”) for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

According to all maps, including those of our American friends, the land on which the new university sits is supposed to be an inalienable part of the new Palestinian state. How, then, should the common Palestinian citizen interpret the news about the upgrading of the large Israeli college in the very heart of the West Bank? What value could Olmert’s promise to Abbas, that he will further a peace accord that will bring about an end to Israeli occupation, have in the Palestinians’ eyes?

It is conceivable that the prime minister had no ill intentions. Olmert, like most Israelis, has become accustomed over the past 40 years to living in a world of double meanings. Throughout history, Israeli governments have extended one hand “to peace with the Arabs” while the other hand lays further claim to the occupied territories. In order to maintain the industry of contradictions between what is said and what is done, legal experts constructed a splendid system of overpasses for the politicians. These allow the de facto annexation of Palestinian land, without the need to annex Palestinian residents.

The Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria is one of these inventions. It is meant to enable the establishment and development of an Israeli academic institution outside the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. On the one hand the Ministry of Education recognizes the degrees the council grants and the educational programs it approves. On the other hand, the education minister declared recently that the council’s decision to upgrade the college is not valid.

The collapse of the Heftsiba construction company sheds light – more precisely, casts a heavy shadow – on the method that enables Israel to talk of peace while continuing to settle the territories. The system of planning and construction regulations was created in line with the requirements of dubious Jewish land salesmen, real estate companies owned by the settlers’ leadership, and Palestinian front men who are ready to sell their homeland for a money. The petition to the High Court of Justice filed by the residents of the village of Bil’in and Peace Now stopped the construction in Matityahu East, a new neighborhood in the settlement of Modi’in Illit. The case brought to the fore a terrible phenomenon, in which the State Prosecutor’s Office, the local authority and the Civil Administration cooperated – some of them actively and others by turning a blind eye – with a well-oiled system that stole and “laundered” Palestinian properties. Several dozen meters away, inside Israeli territory, no contractor would have gotten away with building hundreds of apartments without the necessary blueprints, building permits, and a basic examination of land ownership documents.

The politicians’ mixed signals are complemented by the double standards of law enforcement that enable the settlers, the true rulers of the territories, to make talk of “a political settlement” appear ridiculous. Only there is it possible for a GOC Central Command to authorize a convicted murderer, someone like Menachem Livni, a member of the Jewish underground – convicted to life imprisonment but released after seven years – to carry an M-16 rifle. Only in this land of free-for-all can the vice president of the Magistrate’s Court exonerate Livni, who shot at a Palestinian truck. In the recent Supreme Court ruling affirming Livni’s conviction by the District Court, Justice Edmond Levy wrote that “this reality should not be accepted, even though it takes place far from the eyes of the general public, in areas beyond the Green Line, and where it is often regarded with unacceptable forgiveness. After all, no one would allow someone within the territory of the State of Israel to carry out such an act against his neighbors, irrespective of their national identity, and remain impervious to the law.”

This rare observation reminds us of Ehud Barak’s cute metaphor, that Israel is a “villa in a jungle.” Regarding the comparison to a villa, one can argue one way or the other, but so long as the defense minister and others in the defense, political and legal establishments continue to relate to the territories around Ariel as a jungle – the prime minister can save himself a trip to Jericho in the burning August heat.

AFP: Israel settlement builder in dire straits

Published August 3, 2007 By AFP

Heftsiba, one of Israel’s largest firms building settlements in the occupied West Bank, is in danger of closing, according to media reports Friday.

The company, which specializes in constructing inexpensive accommodation for ultra-Orthodox families, is in debt to the tune of $200 million, the reports said.

Heftsiba has now had to halt work on thousands of homes at the settlements of Betar Ilit, Modiin Ilit, and Ma’aleh Adumim in the West Bank, as well as at Har Homa in East Jerusalem.

Because they fear that their new homes may now be seized by creditors, some buyers have already moved into unfinished apartments.

In January 2006, the supreme court ordered a halt to building work on 1,500 homes at Modiin Ilit, following an application by the Peace Now movement. The court ruled that Heftsiba had encroached on private Palestinian land in the nearby village of Beilin and also doubled the number of homes that it had been authorized to build.

“What has happened to Heftsiba shows that those who steal land from Palestinians end up stealing from Israelis,” Peace Now chief Yariv Oppenheimer said.

Goliath comes tumbeling down

update:
The Goliath real Estate Company Heftsiba who is the company (together with Canadian company Green Park) that was building the settlement of Matityahu Mizrah as well as the settlement of Beitar elite and settlements in occupied East Jerusalem has started showing signs of bankruptcy. The Haredi population who have bought apartments from the company broke into the unfinished apartments in various building sights including Matityahu East. Heftsiba has existed since 1968 and executes 10% of Israel’s real estate. In Israeli channel’s 2 news a financial expert explained that the reason for the companies downfall was the stop work order and the inability to sell more of the apartments in Matityahu east. He called it “Modiin Elite next to Bilin”. It is still not clear how this will effect the continuation of the building of the settlement, the ban on Building, or the courts decision. But in the struggle of who would outlast the other between Heftsiba and the Bil’in villagers. Bil’in’s resistance has endured!.

Setters break Supreme Court ban on populating Matityahu Mizrah
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Last night, hundreds of Israeli settlers occupied buildings illegally erected on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil’in, despite an order from the Israeli Supreme Court forbidding them to do so. The takeover came amidst rumors relating to the imminent bankruptcy of real estate giant Heftsiba.

Earlier today, Mohammad Khatib, a member of Bil’in’s popular committee against the wall and settlements stated that: “The settlers are above the law. The organized takeover of the Matityahu Mizrah settlement is in defiance of the Supreme Court’s ban, it is a continuation of the Modi’in Elite local council’s policy to work illegally and create facts on the ground. This time Modi’in Elite’s local council are taking advantage of Heftsiba’s rumoured bankruptcy to commit yet another crime intended to pressure the Israeli Supreme Court.”

In January 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a temporary order in one appeal case (143/06), freezing the building and population of the Matityahu East settlement after the illegal building of 42 residential buildings. Twenty of the buildings were built with no permit and 22 others with permits illegally issued by the Modiin Elite council.

Khatib reports that Yaacov Gutterman, head of the Modi’in Elite local council and the man who, according to the civil administration, is responsible for “large scale illegal building” in the Matityahu East settlement is on site distributing food to the invading settlers. According to a report in today’s Ha’aretz Metityahu Mizrah is the largest West Bank settlement project that is illegal under Israeli law.

The route of the wall in Bil’in is designed not only to protect Matityahu Mizrah but according to a master plan allowing for future expansion. For more details see B’tselem Report “Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank“.

Bilin: Soldiers show no restraint towards Peaceful Demonstrators

Bilin, 28th July 2007.

Approximately 300 international, Palestinian and Israeli non-violent demonstrators came together for the 129th Bilin demonstration against the illegal Apartheid wall. The demonstrators came from all backgrounds and included children as young as five through to women, men and elderly internationals, Israelis and Palestinians.

The demonstration took a different route than usual and entered the olive groves from the far left hand side through a small road close to the wall. Upon entering the Olive groves, the soldiers almost immediately began firing tear gas canisters and sound grenades at the demonstrators who were peacefully walking towards the Apartheid wall. Despite demonstrators being hundreds of meters away from the Wall and not posing any threat to the soldiers or the Wall itself the soldiers used severe aggression without just cause. Demonstrators made significant attempts to avoid the tear gas however due to the direction of the wind, many of the demonstrators were severely affected by the gas, including one international male who required attention by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Despite initial attempts by the soldiers to disperse the demonstrators, the non-violent activists persevered in getting their message across that the Apartheid wall must fall and that the people of Bilin and the internationals say No to the Occupation. The peaceful demonstrators faced rubber bullets being fired seemingly without reason and in a completely indiscriminate manner, as well as tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators. It was only through great fortune that there were no reports of serious injury as a consequence.

Due to the heat of the day and the excessive use of tear gas, fires were started within the Olive groves. Unfortunately due to the direction of the wind, a large fire took hold in a section of the groves and approximately ten Olive trees were severely burned and damaged. Demonstrators were keen to preserver the trees however the fire was too strong for them to overcome and they had to retreat.

Due to the recent death within the village of a local Palestinian woman who died whilst giving birth, there was a conscious effort by organizers to reduce the length of the demonstration out of respect to the family and friends of the deceased. As such after approximately an hour, the organizers brought the demonstration to a close.