Tag: Demonstration

Popular resistance expands in An Nabi Salih

International Solidarity Movement

5 February 2010

For immediate release:

10 people were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas cannisters in today’s demonstration in An-Nabi Salih village, in the north Ramallah region, against the expansion of the illegal Halamish settlement on to village lands.

The storm clouds and cold temperatures did not deter demonstrators, as some 100 locals (approximately a fourth of the village), both male and female, were joined by 20 Israeli and international activists in the village square following the midday prayer. Protesters then marched towards the lands south of the village where stands Halamish settlement, built on the stolen lands of An-Nabi Salih, and where Israeli occupation forces awaited their arrival. Demonstrators chanted songs of protest and carried baby olive trees in the hopes of planting them on the seized land as a peaceful assertion of their rights to be there. These hopes were squashed as the first volleys of tear gas grenades were fired, causing protesters to disperse to the fields either side of the road. A barrage of tear gas, sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets were fired on demonstrators from soldiers positioned to the south and south-east of the village.

Protesters carry baby olive trees to plant on the annexed land.

The demonstration quickly became an exercise in organized community resistance, as demonstrators created makeshift barricades on the roads, pre-empting an invasion of military jeeps to the village. Dumpsters wheeled down the road towards the soldiers served as an effective road block, and doubled as shelter to the volleys of tear gas, .22 caliber bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets whizzing past their heads. Several tires were positioned in the centre of the road and set ablaze, the black smoke it exuded mingling with that of the gas canisters landing amongst the protesters.

10 young local protesters were injured in the attack launched by Israeli occupation forces, including Omar Tamimi, hit 5 times by rubber-coated steel bullets, and Risat Tamimi, hit twice. 8 more were struck by rubber-coated steel or tear-gas grenades, fired from soldiers’ M-16 automatic weapons and causing severe injury when fired directly at people. Those injured were removed from the scene by Red Crescent medics.

Flaming tires lit by demonstrators

Despite the overwhelming use of disproportionate brute force by the Israeli military, the village’s youth showed remarkable courage in what has become the weekly struggle to defend their village from violent occupying forces. Previous demonstrations in An-Nabi Salih have culminated in targeted military attacks on village children, tear gas fired in to homes from short range and violent arrests when Israeli soldiers entered the village. Demonstrators succeeded in keeping military forces at bay today, and preventing the possibility of arrest. The demonstration came to an end around 4pm as the soldiers appeared relinquish their positions near the village and retreat to the road that split Halamish and An Nabi Salih.

The weekly Friday demonstrations in An-Nabi Salih commenced in December 2009, in protest to the uprooting of hundreds of olive trees by settlers from Halamish settlement. Construction of Halamish settlement began on farmland belonging to An-Nabi Salih and neighbouring villages in 1977. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settler’s attempt to re-annex An Nabi Salih land despite the December 2009 Israeli court case that ruled the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Salih residents. Despite the Israeli District Co-ordination Office’s promise to allow the village unrestricted passage to the land, farmers have been barred and violently assaulted when they attempted to access the land in question. An Nabi Salih’s resistance mirrors the ongoing resistance in Bi’lin, Ni’lin and the burgeoning popular struggle in Sheikh Jarrah, Iraq Burin, Burin and Al-Ma’asara.

Dozens suffer tear gas inhalation during the weekly Bil’in protest

Bil’in Popular Committee against the Wall & Settlements

5 February 2010

An EU delegation for monitoring Israeli army violations against protesters, lead by Mr. Thierry Vallat, along with international and Israeli activists joined a demonstration in Bil’in village on Friday. Protesters carrying Palestinian flags and banners called for an end to the Israeli occupation and the release of all Palestinian political prisoners.

The protesters marched on the streets of the village chanting slogans and singing national songs. Protesters called for national unity against the Israeli occupation, the release of all prisoners and specifically the release of the Coordinator of the Popular Committee of Bil’in, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, and Bil’in residents Adeeb Abu Rahmah and Ibrahim ‘Amera.

When protesters reached the wall, an Israeli army unit was situated behind a block of cement. The gate that leads to the confiscated land was already closed with barbed wire. The army immediately fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets when the protest reached the gate, causing dozens to suffer gas inhalation.

The head of the Israeli District Coordination Office informed the village council of the new route of the Israeli wall last week. The Popular Committee of Bil’in condemns the Israeli army kidnaps of activists and leaders of Popular Committees in the West Bank. Last Wednesday, Feb 3rd 2010, Ibrahim Burnat (27 years old) was kidnapped from his house in Bil’in.

The Israeli authorities issued a conditional release of a member of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlement building, Mohammed Khatib, on bail of 10,000 Israeli Shekels and with the condition of not participating in any of the protests by appearing at the nearest Israeli police station every Friday between 12:00- 5:00pm.

Attorney Sfard: Israeli police investigation of shooting of Tristan Anderson “gravely negligent”

Alternative Information Center

1 February 2010

Yesterday’s announcement by the Israeli Ministry of Justice not to indict anyone in the March 2009 shooting and critically injuring of American activist Tristan Anderson at a non-violent demonstration in the West Bank village of Ni’ilin was based on a “gravely negligent” investigation by the Israeli police, says Israeli attorney Michel Sfard, who represents Tristan and his family.

“We were notified two weeks ago that Israel decided to close this case, and our subsequent study of the investigation file led us to call this press conference,” noted Sfard, who met with local and international journalists in Jerusalem at the office of the Alternative Information Center (AIC).

“The investigation of the Judea and Samaria District Police into the shooting of Tristan Anderson was gravely negligent,” stated Sfard. He noted that the police investigation team did not even interview the officers located in the center of Ni’ilin, one of three companies of border police operating in the village that day and the ones almost certain to be directly involved in shooting Anderson, according to the ballistic evidence. “I am embarrassed to say that the investigation team did not even go to Ni’ilin, the scene of the shooting,” added Sfard. “If a Jewish man had been shot and wounded, there is no doubt that the entire village would be under curfew and Israel would do everything possible to investigate.”

Seven Palestinian and international eyewitnesses to Israel’s shooting of Tristan conclusively demonstrated that Tristan was neither masked nor throwing rocks, as the Israeli police claim. Attorney Sfard and Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack, a long-time friend of Tristan, showed photographs from the village, illustrating the impossibility of Israel’s description of the shooting.

Sfard will now file an administrative appeal with the Israeli Attorney General, demanding that the investigation be reopened. “There is little chance that the Attorney General will not accept this appeal, at least in order to interrogate the border police officers from the central command,” believes Sfard.

The Anderson family wants Israel to take responsibility for shooting Tristan, which means both bringing the people involved to justice and helping to take care of Tristan, who will likely require assistance for the remainder of his life. In addition to demanding a thorough criminal investigation and appropriate indictments, the Anderson family is further filing a civil lawsuit in the case.

Sheikh Jarrah: Gawi family tent demolished as tension builds, gathering to rebuild tent today at 4PM

International Solidarity Movement

2 February 2010

What? Gathering to rebuild Gawi family tent and show support for evicted families in Sheikh Jarrah

When? 4pm, 2 February 2010

Where? Outside occupied Gawi family house, Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem

Settler attacks young boy in Sheikh Jarrah.
Settler attacks young boy in Sheikh Jarrah.

Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem – At 4PM in a showing of solidarity with the forcefully evicted families of Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli, Palestinian and international supporters will gather to rebuild the Gawi family tent after it was demolished by police earlier today.

At 9AM police raided and removed the living space of the Gawi family in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. Local residents scrambled to remove personal belongings before police confiscated the Gawi tent where the family has been living since their forceful eviction in August of last year.

This is the 12th demolition of the Gawi living space. Previous demolitions have occurred as tension in the neighborhood builds and settler vs. Palestinian conflict occurs. This demolition is no different. On Sunday, January 31st one settler and Nasser Gawi were suspended from entering the neighborhood for 15 days after an altercation.

The settler exited the occupied Gawi house with an M-16 and physically attacked a neighborhood child. As residents stepped in to defend the child, the settler punched Nasser Gawi and after Nasser returned blows the settler cocked his assault rifle, pointing it wildly at the gathered crowd. The weapon was confiscated and both were detained.

Press is invited to today’s tent re-building.

Report on altercation between settlers and neighborhood residents on 31 January 2010 including photo and video: https://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11104

Background on Sheikh Jarrah

Approximately 475 Palestinian residents living in the Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes in the manner of the Hannoun and Gawi families, and the al-Kurd family before them. All 28 families are refugees from 1948, mostly from West Jerusalem and Haifa, whose houses in Sheikh Jarrah were built and given to them through a joint project between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956.

So far, settlers took over houses of four Palestinian families, displacing around 60 residents, including 20 children. At present, settlers occupy all these houses and the whole area is patrolled by armed private security 24 hours a day. The evicted Palestinian families, some of whom have been left without suitable alternative accommodation since August, continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular violent attacks from the settlers and harassment from the police.

The Gawi family, for example, had their only shelter, a small tent built near their house, destroyed by the police and all their belongings stolen five times. In addition, the al-Kurd family has been forced to live in an extremely difficult situation, sharing the entrance gate and the backyard of their house with extremist settlers, who occupied a part of the al-Kurd home in December 2009. The settlers subject the Palestinian family to regular violent attacks and harassment, making their life a living hell.

The ultimate goal of the settler organizations is to evict all Palestinians from the area and turn it into a new Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish continuum that will effectively cut off the Old City form the northern Palestinian neighborhoods. On 28 August 2008, Nahalat Shimon International filed a plan to build a series of five and six-story apartment blocks – Town Plan Scheme (TPS) 12705 – in the Jerusalem Local Planning Commission. If TPS 12705 comes to pass, the existing Palestinian houses in this key area would be demolished, about 500 Palestinians would be evicted, and 200 new settler units would be built for a new settlement: Shimon HaTzadik.

Implanting new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal under many international laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The plight of the Gawi, al-Kurd and the Hannoun families is just a small part of Israel’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from East Jerusalem.

Legal background

The eviction orders, issued by Israeli courts, are a result of claims made in 1967 by the Sephardic Community Committee and the Knesseth Yisrael Association (who since sold their claim to the area to Nahalat Shimon) – settler organizations whose aim is to take over the whole area using falsified deeds for the land dating back to 1875. In 1972, these two settler organizations applied to have the land registered in their names with the Israel Lands Administration (ILA). Their claim to ownership was noted in the Land Registry; however, it was never made into an official registry of title. The first Palestinian property in the area was taken over at this time.

The case continued in the courts for another 37 years. Amongst other developments, the first lawyer of the Palestinian residents reached an agreement with the settler organizations in 1982 (without the knowledge or consent of the Palestinian families) in which he recognized the settlers’ ownership in return for granting the families the legal status of protected tenants. This affected 23 families and served as a basis for future court and eviction orders (including the al-Kurd family house take-over in December 2009), despite the immediate appeal filed by the families’ new lawyer. Furthermore, a Palestinian landowner, Suleiman Darwish Hijazi, has legally challenged the settlers’ claims. In 1994 he presented documents certifying his ownership of the land to the courts, including tax receipts from 1927. In addition, the new lawyer of the Palestinian residents located a document, proving the land in Sheikh Jarrah had never been under Jewish ownership. The Israeli courts rejected these documents.

The first eviction orders were issued in 1999 based on the (still disputed) agreement from 1982 and, as a result, two Palestinian families (Hannoun and Gawi) were evicted in February 2002. After the 2006 Israeli Supreme Court finding that the settler committees’ ownership of the lands was uncertain, and the Lands Settlement officer of the court requesting that the ILA remove their names from the Lands Registrar, the Palestinian families returned back to their homes. The courts, however, failed to recognize new evidence presented to them and continued to issue eviction orders based on decisions from 1982 and 1999 respectively. Further evictions followed in November 2008 (Kamel al-Kurd family) and August 2009 (Hannoun and Gawi families for the second time). An uninhabited section of a house belonging to the al-Kurd family was taken over by settlers on 1 December 2009.

Military uses live ammunition on Burin demonstration

29 January 2010

Young boy from Burin plants Palestinian flags atop the threatened mosque

A demonstration against the Israeli order to halt construction of a nearly-completed mosque today, on threat of demolition, drew local, regional and international supporters in addition to attendance by the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religion. The demonstration was met with violent resistance by Israeli occupation forces, including the use of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and .22 ammunition. One local protester was removed from the area by ambulance when he was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet. The demonstration follows yesterday’s incursion, in which Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and a sound grenade at villagers as they attempted to plant olive trees on village land close to the nearby settlement of Yitzhar.

The order was issued three days ago to the village, declaring that the village must halt construction of the mosque, on consequence of demolition. Israeli officials claim that part of the mosque has been constructed on Area C, under full Israeli control in accordance the 1994 Oslo Accords zoning plan for the West Bank. Similar orders have been issued to 5 homes in the nearby village of Salim.

A newly draped poster of Yasser Arafat welcomed the people of the village Burin to their new mosque. The gathering is uncommon for the residents, an era of pacification entering the village in times of hardship and an ongoing campaign of settler and military intimidation. However, after receiving orders from the Israeli government to destroy their place of worship a groundswell of urgency for action fills their minds and attracts support from within the Palestinian Authority. The village’s collective anger reached its tipping point today. Their unified grievances exploded and were heard by their occupiers.

The expectant air hung heavy outside the mosque, which was then shattered at around 11:30 as a series of small explosions were heard coming from behind the school 150 meters away. The 100 villagers who were gathered for the demonstration hurried to investigate. Upon entering the schoolyard housing its soccer field, seven IDF soldiers and two jeeps were seen positioned at a crossroads less than half a kilometer south of the village. To the east, five settlers stalked one of Burin’s olive fields and vacated the area quickly on four-wheel all terrain vehicles. After coordinating with the IDF soldiers, the settlers returned to the Yitzhar settlement.

Israeli jeeps prior to the attack on protesters

Upon completion of mid-day prayer and a speech by the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religion, the villagers, waving Palestinian flags, marched to the crossroads seemingly to walk the olive fields where the settlers had been. As they neared the IDF soldiers they were met with low-flying tear gas grenades streaking one or two meters above their heads. Many villagers sought refuge in another olive field which flanked the road just to the west.

When it became apparent that the villagers intended to hold their ground amidst the tear gas the IDF soldiers began shooting rubber-coated steel bullets, and soon .22 caliber, live ammunition could be heard buzzing through the air and bouncing off the gravel on the ground. The villagers were able to maintain their positions on the road and in the field for another 20 minutes until, Sharif Haj, 22 year old resident of Burin, was struck in the right shoulder by a rubber-coated steel bullet and required assistance boarding an ambulance.

The military’s use of brute force is the second occasion in as many days in the village of Burin. January 28 saw an olive tree-planting initiative, authorized by the IDF and the Civil Administration and funded by “Green Palestine”, violently disrupted by the IDF. Soldiers approached the group of journalists and villagers, ordered them to disperse and attempted to confiscate all media equipment, claiming they were in a closed military zone. When the journalists refused to stop recording or turn over the cameras, the IDF accosted Rami Swidan, Ma’an News Agency photographer. Over a dozen tear gas rounds were fired into the group causing some of them to pass out. The journalists viewed the IDF’s action as an infringement on their ability to view and accurately document injustice. The villagers were outraged that they were unable to lawfully cultivate their land without the threat of forceful repression.