Tag: Demonstration

Bil’in leading demonstrator imprisoned by Israeli forces

For Immediate Release:

Tuesday July 21, Ofer military base, Occupied West Bank: In a new escalation in the military’s campaign targeting the popular protests in Bil’in against the Annexation barrier, a military appeals judge ruled that non-violent Bil’in activist Adeeb Abu Rahme be held until the end of proceedings against him. This could mean months or a year in military prison for Adeeb who was arrested from the demonstration against the annexation barrier that took place in Bil’in village on 10 of July. Adeeb, a leading non-violent activist in Bil’in’s ongoing struggle against the Wall and settlements on their land, is being charged with incitement to violence and rioting.He is the sole provider for his family of 9 children, wife and mother.

Bil’in residents have been holding weekly demonstrations for the last 5 years. In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme court ruled on the 4th of September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented. Israeli forces have been conducting night arrest raids on the village since 29 June 2009.

Since the renewed campaign against Bil’in demonstrators, 17 have been arrested. Of the 17 arrested, 13, mostly children are still in detention.

Kamel Alkhatib (16), Khalil Yassen (16), Mohammed Abu Rahmah (23), Motasem Alkhatib (17), Hamwda Yassen (17), Mohsen Alkhatib (17), Suliman Alwalydi (17), Oda Abu Rahmah (20), Mahmud Yassen, Majdi Abu Rahmah, Adeeb Abu Rahmah , Ronnie Barken (Israeli activist), Charlie (American activist), Basel Bornat (20), Mohammad Bornat (19), Emad Bornat and Tamer Alkhatib.

Abdullah Abu Rahme coordinator of the popular committee stated, “Adib has been injured dozens of times over the course the last five years and as all the video footage and thousand and witness can attest he has never responded with violence. The recent arrests of activists against the wall , like all previous attempts to criminalize and intimidate non-violent Palestinian resistance, is doomed to failure. The fact is the Apartheid Wall and the settlements built on Palestinian land are illegal under international law, in the case of our village even the biased Israeli court declared the route illegal. Yet instead of prosecuting the constructors of the Apartheid Wall and settlements Israel is prosecuting us for struggling nonviolently for our freedom.”

A military judge had ruled that Adib Abu Rahme be released with the condition of staying 100 meters from the Wall on Thursday, 16 July. But the military prosecution appealed then at 5:00 am on Sunday, 19 July, Israeli soldiers surrounded the home of journalist and film maker Imad Burnat, 37, pulling him from his home in front of his wife and four children, and pushing him into one of their vehicles. Imad was questioned by the Israeli secret service about his filming of the demonstrations in Bil’in and about Adib who frequently appears in his footage.The footage can be seen on http://www.bilin-village.org/english/videos/3090-Bilin-againts-the-Wall-a-film-by-Emad-Bornat. Clips from this “incriminating” footage was shown to the appeals Military appealls judge later that day. and the decision of the previous military judge was reversed.

In response, the Bil’in popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements is organizing a demonstration on Wednesday, 22 July 2009.

Under attack Bil’in and the peaceful resistance of the village against the Israeli wall

Luisa Morgantini | Liberazione

19 July 2009

Israel wants to stop the non-violent struggle and the unity created amongst Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals, who since more than four years demonstrate in order to end the construction of the wall: in the last weeks the escalation of systematic arrests and kidnappings of activists in Bil’in by the Israeli soldiers.

Raids in the middle of the nights, with military vehicles crossing in the dark that illegal barrier represented by the Apartheid wall. Tens of armed soldiers laying close to the ground in order to not to be seen.

They proceed slowly, without lights, wearing dark military camouflage uniforms and black masks on their faces.

They arrive in the hearth of Bil’in crossing streets and fields. They surround houses destroying all that they meet on their path, kidnapping people, including 15 or 16 years old adolescents, confiscating documents, mobile phones and personal things of the detained persons. Also last Friday a 15-years-old boy has been abducted from his home at 3 a.m., and during the demonstration activists have been attacked with a strange sort of smelling water, probably containing chemical substances provoking blistering effects and with a suffocating smell.

This is the same scenario taking place also in other villages in the West Bank, but Bil’in has become a symbol: the village –where the shame wall confiscates 49% of lands- in the last weeks has become a theatre of a further intensification of this kind of operations, that are real war operations, perpetrated against the activists of the Popular Committee of non-violent resistance, men and women, civilians, who are resisting in a non-violent, peaceful and creative way against the wall and the occupation.

Often, the activists stand on the rooftops of the village, in order to forewarning the others of incoming of the raids that usually comprise of approximately 100 soldiers divided into groups of 20-30 men, each encircling the home of an accused stone-thrower at varying hours of the night. In the last three weeks, 17 young activists have been arrested -15 Palestinians, 1 Israeli, then released, and one American, according to what reported in a document by Miftah, the Palestinian Initiative for the promotion of Global dialogue and democracy, denouncing the escalation of violence in Bil’in.

I saw with my own eyes many and many wounded people during the demonstrations that every Friday take place near the construction site of the wall and during which the Israeli soldiers use sound bombs, tear gas canisters, and a foul-smelling chemical spray: I was many times intoxicated by those gas, while rubber-coated bullets were shot at men’s height.

On 19th April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahmah, 30 years old, a pacifist Palestinian demonstrator, was shot in the chest by an Israeli soldier with a tear gas bomb during one of Bil’in’s nonviolent Friday protests: an use clearly excessive and inhuman of the force against unarmed demonstrators.

The week after the murder of Bassem, I have been many times in Bil’in with the Popular Committee. Together we have protested and built a symbolic grave in the place where he was killed.

We did under the fire of tear gas canisters and when we finished it, putting the memorial tablet with the name of Bassem, we were so happy. What a paradox to be happy for the construction of a grave!

In their attempts to dismantle the movement, the Israeli military specifically targets the youth: from 23rd to 25th 2009, four adolescents, 16-17 years old, have been arrested and forced to release the names of peace activists and information related to Bil’in Committee. The aim is not only to arrest, kidnap and physically neutralize the activists, but also to spread terror amongst the inhabitants of the village of Bil’in, 1,800 residents, in order to stop all kind of activity of non violent resistance, that become an example also for other realities of the occupied West Bank such as Nil’in and Ma’asara, whose land continue to be confiscated by the wall.

However neither all this, nor 1,300 wounded people and 60 arrests suffered by the activists have been enough to stop their determination.

“If they want to arrest us all, they can. But our wives and children will continue the struggle” declared Abdullah Abu Rahmah, one of the coordinators of the Popular Committee of non-violent resistance of Bil’in. His daughter Luma, 7 years old, suffers of insomnia, as well as other children in Bil’in, a clear sign of the emotional and psychological despair: constantly in panic, Luma awakes in the middle of the night, sometimes in screams and tears, calling out for her father fearing that he has been abducted.

The injustices suffered by Bil’in residents and witnessed by many organizations for human rights and International and Israeli activists, are the most clear consequence of the oppression experienced by Palestinians because of the Israeli military occupation.

However their answer has become an example for all those who struggle for justice showing the way to follow and to support for the solution of the conflict.

Since 2005 residents of Bil’in responded in fact with a peaceful and non-violent resistance to the separation wall, that far from the Green line, snakes deeply inside the West Bank annexing 1,968 of 4,040 dunums of Bil’in lands, (196,68 hectares on 403,88).

Activists in Bil’in are only exerting their legitimate rights to defend their land against the arbitrariness of Israel, disregarding the International Court of Justice that five years ago condemned as illegal the construction of the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), including in and around East Jerusalem, in violation of international obligations, intimating to Israel to stop the construction and to bring down the parts already built, terminating also the entire system of rigid restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians in the West Bank since they represent a violation of human rights.

And also the Israeli High Court of Justice declared many times illegal the route of the wall in Bil’in, inviting the Israeli Government to actuate an alternative route: this invitation has of course been ignored while the Israeli settlements of Mod’in Ilit and Mattityahu continue to grow.

For all this, their Friday demonstrations have gained the solidarity of Israeli and International activists, united in the common need of justice and against the strangulation, the occupation and the apartheid. Together they oppose to the uprooting of olive trees replaced by the foundations of the wall, blocking the bulldozers or preventing the installation of outposts of the Israeli settlements, still in expansion.

The International Community must give more force to all those Palestinians, supported by Israeli activists (who represent the honour of Israel) and Internationals in the defence of their rights, pretending from Israel the end of the raids and the immediate release of all activists arrested – included Abeed Abu Rahme- as requested by the Campaign launched by the Popular Committee of Bil’in (on the website http://www.bilin-village.org/english/activities-and-support/Campaign-to-release-Palestinian-activist-arrested-in-Bil-in the sample of letters of protest). It’s time also that the International Community demands with force and urgency to Israel to respect the International Court of Justice and to destroy the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories, making reparation for all damage suffered by people affected by the wall, and to end military occupation, including all restriction of movement in the West Bank as well as the Siege that in Gaza, is collectively punishing over 1 million and a half of civilians.

Activists respond to cellular phone campaign

Anat Shalev | YNet News

21 July 2009

Palestinians protestors and left-wing activists came up with an original response to a television ad for a local cellular phone company that angered and offended many in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

At television commercial by Cellcom showed Israelis soldiers playing soccer with unseen Palestinians over the separation wall. Critics claimed that the ad reflected Israel’s total disregard for harsh reality in West Bank.

Last Friday, during their weekly demonstration in Bilin, the protestors passed soccer balls to the soldiers, in an attempt to reenact the highly controversial ad. However, instead of getting the balls back, the soldiers responded with tear gas and high-pressure water hoses.

One of the activists, Abdullah told Ynet: “We wanted to show everyone how the soldiers really behave, contrary to what was shown in the ad. This is a message from the protestors on what really goes on at the separation fence – this is what we get from the soldiers, tear gas.”

Hagai Matar, an Israeli activist, said that the violent atmosphere near the fence was far from resembling the pastoral, pleasant atmosphere reflected in the Cellcom advert.

“While the people of Bilin suffer from frequent and repeated harassments by the army, while the residents are subjected to nightly arrests, violence and tear gas, not only during rallies but also in their yards, the people of Bilin continue to use amusing and creative ways to protest the separation fence,” he said.

Israeli forces raid Bil’in, arrest member of Popular Committee

19 July 2009

At 5:30am, shortly after the Palestinian and international solidarity activists returned to their houses after patrolling the village all night, villagers gave the alert that four Israeli military jeeps were driving toward the village. Shortly thereafter, Israeli soldiers raided the house of Abd Al Fatah Bornat whose son, Muhammed Abd Al Fatah Bornat (age 21), they had arrested at 2am on July 17, 2009. His brother is also wanted by the occupation forces, but he was not at home this morning. The army left that home without making any arrests.

A few minutes later, they reached the house of Emad Bornat whom they arrested. Palestinian residents and international activists tried to block the path to the jeep where the soldiers were about to take the victim. They were pushed back violently by the army so that any attempt to de-arrest Emad was futile. As the jeep was about to drive off, the activists marched in a chain in front of it, preventing its escape. Soldiers in a second jeep then threw sound bombs and tear gas at the activists which made them disperse allowing the jeep to escape. The three remaining jeeps followed under a rain of rocks thrown by the villagers. They drove through the village while activists followed. After stopping at an intersection, soldiers took extensive video footage of all the activists. All the Jeeps then turned back and left the village with the victim.

The situation is extremely serious for Emad Bornat. He is currently undergoing medical treatment after a very bad tractor accident; which was caused because he had to pass a steep hill on the way to his land because he was forced to go through the Apartheid Wall. It is vital for him to continue receiving this treatment.

Ni’lin demonstrates against the Apartheid Wall

demonstrators escape tear-gas canisters in Ni'lin
demonstrators escape tear-gas canisters in Ni'lin

17 July 2009

The village of Ni’lin once again assembled for its weekly demonstration against the Israeli Apartheid Wall, which continues to cut residents off from their land and the surrounding areas.

Roughly 100 Palestinians and solidarity activists joined each other and marched towards the Wall, in the direction of the Hashmon’im settlement. The demonstrators chanted and sung but before long the main body of the protest was fired upon with large amounts of tear gas, dispersing the crowds across the adjacent fields. The Israeli armed forces entered the Palestinian land and continued with excessive amounts of tear gas, sound grenades and rubber coated steel bullets. A truck was readied to spray people with a foul smelling chemical mixture, but was not used as no one was close enough for the canons to be effective.

At various points soldiers advanced from different directions, often at speed, breaking up the protesters only for them to reconvene and begin flying flags and chanting once again.

The demonstration finished at around 3.30pm, with no serious injuries reported but with many treated for gas inhalation and one man receiving aid for a head injury after being hit with a tear gas canister.

Israeli forces commonly use tear-gas canisters, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.

To date, Israeli occupation forces have murdered 5 Palestinian residents and critically injured 1 international solidarity activist during unarmed demonstrations in Ni’lin. In total, 19 people have been killed during demonstrations against the Wall.

  • 5 June 2009: Yousef Akil Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
  • 13 March 2009: Tristan Anderson (37), an American citizen, was shot in the head with a high velocity tear gas projectile. He is currently at Tel Hashomer hospital with an unknown
  • 28 December 2008: Mohammed Khawaje (20) was shot in the head with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition. He died in a Ramallah hospital 3 days later on 31 December 2008.
  • 28 December 2008: Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) was shot in the back with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
  • 30 July 2008: Yousef Amira (17) was shot in the head with two rubber coated steel bullets. He died in a Ramallah hospital 5 days later on 4 August 2008.
  • 29 July 2008: Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.

In total, 38 people have been shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition in Ni’lin: 9 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.

Since May 2008, residents of Ni’lin have been organizing and participating in unarmed demonstrations against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the Occupation continues to build the Wall, further annexing Palestinian land.

Ni’lin will lose approximately 2,500 dunums of agricultural land when construction of the Wall is completed. Israel annexed 40,000 of Ni’lin’s 58,000 dunums in 1948. After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Kiryat Sefer, Mattityahu and Maccabim were built on village lands and Ni’lin lost another 8,000 dunums. Of the remaining 10,000 dunums, the Occupation will confiscate 2,500 for the Wall and 200 for a tunnel to be built under the segregated settler-only road 446. Ni’lin will be left with 7,300 dunums.

The current entrance to the village will be closed and replaced by a tunnel to be built under Road 446. This tunnel will allow for the closure of the road to Palestinian vehicles, turning road 446 into a segregated settler-only road . Ni’lin will be effectively split into 2 parts (upper Ni’lin and lower Ni’lin), as road 446 runs between the village. The tunnel is designed to give Israeli occupation forces control of movement over Ni’lin residents, as it can be blocked with a single military vehicle.