Demonstrators in Al Ma'asara called for an end to the illegal wall which will annex the village's farmlandAl Ma’asara
Around 30 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals gathered for the weekly demonstration in Al Ma’asara on Friday June 11th. The participators called for the Israeli government to stop construction of the illegal apartheid wall, which will claim a sizeable amount of the village’s farmland. Village resident Hassan was arrested during the peaceful demonstration.
The demonstration began with a march. Many organizations were represented, including the International Solidarity Movement, Anarchists Against the Wall, and Holy Land Trust.
The planned route of the illegal wall annexes much of the village’s farmland, with dramatic consequences. Protesters shouted slogans against the illegal wall, to end the occupation, and their hopes for peace.
The march was met by Israeli soldiers, who obstructed the junction as usual. Hassan was then arrested. The demonstrators remained protesting Hassan’s arrest and waiting for his release. During this time four military jeeps, one tank and one police car arrived. As demonstrators demanded Hassan’s release through a megaphone, the army responded with the promise that Hassan would be released if the group moved 15 meters back. However, after ten minutes soldiers left with Hassan.
Bil’in
Demonstrators in Bil’in today formed their own Palestine national football team, coinciding with the start of the World Cup, to highlight their right to be an independent nation. The players, together with dozens of other Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, marched to the annexation barrier at the edge of the village, where a goal was constructed and a game was begun. Israeli soldiers responded to this entirely non-violent activity by firing volleys of tear gas at the participants. They then came through the fence, and arrested 6 journalists, four of whom were soon released.
The tear gas canisters fired also caused large fires on the dry ground around the olive trees. Soldiers fired more canisters, aiming for the groups of villagers attempting to put out the flames.
Hebron
Many Palestinian, Israeli and international protestors gathered Saturday for the weekly demonstration organized by Youth Against Settlements. The demonstrations call for freedom of movement for Palestinians in Hebron, generally, and specifically for the opening of Shuhada St. The protest began at the Hebron municipality and marched to one end of the closed Shuhada St. At the barrier, participants chanted and held signs in solidarity with the Palestinians living in Hebron.
During the protest, settlers gathered to harass and provoke the demonstrators. One settler even approached the barrier to further provoke, warning that there would be another Baruch Goldstein. Baruch Goldstein was an American doctor from Brooklyn, who, in 1994, went into Ibrahimi Mosque during prayers, and massacred twenty-nine people inside the mosque, then went outside to continue the slaughter.
After the massacre inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, Shuhada St. was blocked off to Palestinians completely. In 2000, the street was closed for the “security of the settlers”, including around 500 shops in the middle of the city. After this, due to a lack of traffic, more than 1000 shops were closed. Since then, more than 100 checkpoints have been installed, while settlers not only enjoy the freedom of movement, but also have full protection of the Israeli Military. These settlers have completely changed the lives of some 200,000 Palestinians, reducing their lives to enough of a living hell for roughly 1000 families to abandon their homes.
The protest went from the Shuhada St. closure through the Old City, and met with soldiers, then continued back to the Shuhada St. closure where the protest ended. The spokesperson for Youth Against the Settlements called on the people of the Old City to join in the protest, and thanked all demonstrators for their show of support. As usual, participants were urged to continue the struggle against the divisions of Hebron, as well as the occupation of Palestine.
Over 70 demolition orders have been issued in the Palestinian village of Dahamash, located within Israel's 1948 bordersDahamash
Sunday evening, two hundred Palestinian, international and Israeli activists demonstrated against the demolition order of 70 houses in the village of Dahamash. Demonstrators marched from the village to the main adjacent road where they concentrated and chanted, demanding the recognition of the village and a stop to the demolition orders.
Residents from Sheikh Jarrah and international and Israeli activists rallied for an hour in solidarity with the villagers of Dahamash. Speeches were given by Nasser Gawi of Sheikh Jarrah and leaders of Dahamash’s community, denouncing the Israel’s racist policy towards Palestinians and claiming their right to live on their lands. In a jovial atmosphere, the internationally-famous Palestinian hip hop group, DAM, gave a concert in which they showed their solidarity with the people of Dahamash, Sheikh Jarrah and all Palestinians.
Dahamash is a small unrecognized village between Lod and Ramlle that existed since before 1948 and was built on privately owned Palestinian land. The state of Israel refuses to recognize the village, claming the land is agricultural land, while in adjacent Jewish villages land is rezoned for building. Now that the Municipality of Ramlle is building a new Jewish neighborhood adjacent to the village, the mayor believes the new Jewish residents will prefer not to have Dahamash residents as neighbors and so has issued 70 demolition orders for houses in the village. If the demolitions proceed, 600 men, women and children will lose their homes.
Bil'in residents commemorated the week's massacre by building a shipOn Friday June 4th, the village of Bilín’s own Freedom Flotilla ship was attacked by soldiers from the Israel military, after it had been driven to the site of the Apartheid Fence which separates the village from much of its lands. The ship had been accompanied by large numbers of Palestinian and international supporters, including a delegation of 12 from Brazil, who were forced to retreat hastily when the military, out in force and spoiling for a fight, fired repeated salvoes of tear gas canisters into the crowd. The sight of youth attempting to fasten a Palestinian flag and an Israeli flag adorned with a piracy symbol to the fence proved too much of an incitement for the brave troops, who added stun grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets to the rain of terror.
Fadi Jayyousi, a cameraman for Palestine TV was seriously injured and had his camera equipment destroyed. A Norweigan journalist, Karina Lapua, appeared to have suffocated by teargas inhalation but was, fortunately, revived. Several people were struck by teargas cannisters and many others were gassed but soon recovered their equanimity.
Three activists were arrested, including Huwaida Araf, a co-founder of ISM, who had just been released from detention in Israel following her participation in the most recent Gaza freedom flotilla, and a 72 year old Israeli activist, Ilan Shelef, who managed briefly to break free from his captors and legged it away down the hillside with soldiers in hot pursuit. After a good chase the septuagenarian was finally captured and taken back into custody.
The brave spectacle of Mr Shelef, and the attendance at the demo of Dr Mustafa Barghouti (highly appreciated by the swarms of press) buoyed the morale of the villagers of Bil’in, whose resolve and resistance after five years of repression has not waned.
An Nabi Saleh
Roughly sixty Palestinians gathered with Israeli and international activists for the village’s weekly Friday march towards confiscated village land. Flags were displayed from a diverse group of nations, commemorating the Gaza Freedom Fleet. Soldiers met the demonstrators on the main road, and immediately arrested an Israeli activist.
Tear gas was then fired straight at the heads of demonstrators, in direct violation of international law, which dictates that tear gas must be fired in high arcs. The purpose of gas canisters is to release an unpleasant gas which forces demonstrators to move away. It is not designed, nor is it legal, for tear gas to be fired directly at people. This use disregards the original purpose of tear gas, instead using the cans as extremely dangerous projectiles. Monday 31 May, ISM activist Emily Henochowicz was struck in the face by a gas canister fired in such a manner. The blow claimed her left eye and fractured cheek and jawbones.
In An Nabi Saleh, soldiers continued firing in such a manner for an extended period, causing grave danger to villagers who had begun by marching peacefully against the extreme violence against international activists earlier this week. The demonstration ended when participants chose to conclude, although soldiers continued to block the village’s intersection for the next five hours.
Hebron
In commemoration of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Saturday, demonstrators in Hebron carried a boat with flags from countries represented on the flotilla as well as a coffin draped with a Turkish flag, bearing the names of the Turkish activists killed on Monday. The demonstration was contained to the entrance of Shuhada Street where protesters gather weekly, as police and soldiers blocked the procession from its normal route, threatening to shoot anyone who attempted to go further into the old city. Israeli soldiers destroyed the flag-draped coffin as demonstrators attempted to carry it past them.
Iraq Burin
Villagers in Iraq Burin demonstrated against recent settler destructionThis past Saturday, the village of Iraq Burin demonstrated against Israeli soldiers. Marching out to annexed farmland in recognition of the Israeli inflicted massacre of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, men, boys and International Solidarity Movement activists continue local resistance despite recent settler caused property damage.
The demonstration ended within two hours, A success: no injuries, no arrests. While the Israeli soldiers retreated to their jeeps, locals feasted on unripe plums picked prematurely in celebration. Locals paid homage to those whom died in the flotilla massacre by showing increased vigilance in the face of the oppression. Men and boys stood their ground despite tear gas canisters raining down and the imminent threat of arrests. This past week, however, marked the first time in several months that local settlers have invaded the village and caused property damage. A disgruntled local farmer showed me where settlers had entered and burned viable farmland, this solidifying the need for persistence, resistance, and justice.
Beit Jala
Sunday morning, fifty Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists demonstrated in the village of Beit Jala against the “Freedom Flotilla” massacre and the construction of the Apartheid wall.
The demonstrators, who were waving flags of the countries whose citizens were on board the boats, tried to reach the village when they were stopped by the Israeli military. After chanting some songs and unsuccessfully trying to move forward, demonstrators moved to the area where bulldozers were working. Soldiers began firing tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators’ heads, again, in direct violation of international law. When the crowd was dispersed, soldiers chased all nonviolent demonstrators and pushed them violently to the main road. One Israeli activist was arrested and taken to the police station.
When all demonstrators were in the main road soldiers threw more sound bombs and pushed them out of the area. After fifteen minutes internationals, Israelis and Palestinians left the village.
Soldiers tried to force demonstrators back from a blocked entrance to Shuhada StreetPalestinian residents of Hebron gathered on Saturday, supported by a large group of Israeli activists, to protest against the continued restrictions on their freedom of movement within Hebron. This includes the total closure to Palestinians of Shuhada Street, a key thoroughfare on which all Palestinian shops and homes have been sealed shut.
Approximately 100 people joined the demonstration which gathered at a military barrier which blocks one of the entrances to Shuhada Street from the Old City. After an hour or so of speeches, chants and songs, and the distribution of numerous boycott ‘contracts’, which ask people to commit themselves to boycotting settlement products, the demonstrators marched through the Old City to a second blocked entrance, from which soldiers tried to force them back. The march continued, stopping at the Palestinian Authority Municipal Inspectors office, which the Israelis closed last week, in a direct contravention of the Oslo Accords (1994). As protesters moved through the Old City, settlers in the floors above poured water and threw eggs at them.
The settlements in Hebron are, like all settlements within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegal under international law. Palestinian residents of the Old City and the district of Tel Rumeida suffer severe restriction of movement, frequent harassment and occasional violence at the hands of both soldiers and settlers. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians since 1994, forcing shops to close and residents to leave their homes.
ISM Journal: A visit to Hebron
Wadiya and FadehHebron, Al Khalil, is the largest city in the southern West Bank. While walking through the the Old City we were invited to pay a visit to the house of Fadeh, who lives with his young wife and baby in one of the ancient stone buildings overlooking the market. Although the few rooms are small and, to our eyes, cramped, they have a picturesque charm.
Fadeh’s problem is that his house is situated in an area of the city which Jewish settlers have, since 1967, progressively infiltrated. Called by them “Beit Hadassah”, the neighbourhood is now home to some of the most rabidly racist settlers in the West Bank. They occupy upper floor apartments from which they have forcibly expelled the Palestinian owners. From here they have been known to throw rubbish, rocks, urine and faeces down onto passers by.
Constant aggression and physical attacks are tactics employed by the settlers to force more Palestinians to leave the neighbourhood. Fadeh himself was shot four times during an invasion of his house. His nephew Wadiya (6) still bears the scar on his face of a recent rock attack. As a four-year-old he was abducted by settlers and was later found unconscious, with traces of a chlorine-like substance around his eyes.
Sometimes the settlers adopt less violent methods of persuasion. Fadeh has been offered in excess of AUD$1,000,000 for his modest house. This ties in with reports of other Palestinians being offered similar sums for their strategically-placed properties, together with the offer of resettlement in the United States. While this may seem far-fetched it is worthwhile remembering that a proportion of the settlement activity on the West Bank, and in particular in Hebron, is financed by American Jewish billionaires sympathetic to the Zionist enterprise.
Complaining to the Israeli police, who have jurisdiction in this part of the city, is useless. When he complained about the storefronts which had been welded shut, Fadeh was told by a captain of police, “This area will remain closed until the death of the Palestinian state”. Such is life in Occupied Hebron.
The arrest of Akram Sharawneh, 15Akram Sharawneh, a 15 year old boy from Hebron, was released on Sunday the 25th of April this year after being randomly arrested by Israeli soldiers and spending more than two months in an Israeli juvenile prison (not all the period in juvenal prison). He is one of the many minors from Hebron who has been arrested and held captive in Israeli detention since the beginning of this year.
Akram was arrested the 23rd of February near his home in the old city of Hebron when he went out to buy bread. The day before his arrest, the Israeli Cabinet had declared several holy places in the West Bank as National Jewish heritage sites, including the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron. This declaration resulted in widespread protests in the occupied territories, especially in Jerusalem and in the old city of Hebron.
In the market Akram was stopped by two soldiers who then body searched him and demanded to see his birth certificate. This is not uncommon in the old city of Hebron, if you are Palestinian it is essential to always carry your identification card, and if you are a minor you must always have your birth certificate. Akram was wearing a red T-shirt underneath his shirt, once the soldiers saw this shirt, they claimed that they had seen him throwing stones and they arrested him at the spot. He was blindfolded and handcuffed and thrown into a military jeep. In the military vehicle one of the border policemen hit Akram several times on his neck. Akram and three other Palestinian boys, two 13 year olds, and one 19 year old, were taken to Kriat Arba’a settlement for investigation.
In Kriat Arba’a the boys were made to stand handcuffed and blindfolded for six hours. They were individually interrogated several times. During these interrogations the border police tried to threaten the boys into confessing to throwing stones. The police threatened Akram with physical violence and used insulting terms about his family. They told him if he admits to throwing stones he will be released, if he doesn’t, they will beat him more. However, Akram did not confess, he refused to lie about his actions despite their threats. When he continued to deny their accusations they brought out a form, which was an official confession, they tried to make him sign it and he refused. It is important to recognize that this reaction is an exception to what normally happens during this initial interrogation. According to the DCI (Defense for Children International) usually young boys confess to whatever they are accused of right away, or they are often tricked into signing a confession. These forms are always written in Hebrew, and the boys are sometimes told that it is a form for their release. Later in court when the form appears again it is actually a confession statement, which they have already signed, and the judge will not accept their claims that they did not know it was a confession statement.
At 8pm on the night of their arrest, Akram and the two other Palestinian boys were taken to an unknown military camp where they spend the night handcuffed in a military jeep. The fourth boy, who is 13 years old, confessed after significant police pressure and was released the same day.
On the second day Akram and the other boys were taken to Gush Etzion, a detention center in a settlement where detainees from the south are taken for interrogation. Akram and the other 13-year-old boy were kept in an outside prison cell and exposed to the same form of interrogation as the previous day. On the third day the boys were taken to their first hearing in Ofer Military Prison. At this point the boys had not slept, nor had they been offered any food. Akram drank two glasses of water only because he asked for them. It was the first hearing of the six trials he would have to endure in the two-month period he was kept in prison. After the court he was taken to Remonim prison, a special prison in Israel for Palestinian minors. In Remonim, Akram spent his first three weeks alone in a cell. He was let out everyday for three hours. During this time the Red Cross would give the boys lessons and they could talk together in a common room. Finally they put another boy in his cell. This boy is 16 years old and had been sentenced to five years for “planning to kill a soldier”. He had been in Sharon prison for 21 months already, and he told Akram that in this detention center the guards beat the boys regularly.
Throughout his imprisonment the military behaved completely inappropriately, among other occurrences, Akram had his new shoes stolen after one guard told him to take off his shoes before his third court. Before the last court a prison police officer threatened Akram that if he said one word in his court about what happened to him, he would be beaten. At one point Akram said that one high ranking officer told him that he could kill any three prisoners he wanted to, and nothing would happen.
Akram's mother, LeilaAkram finally confessed during his sixth trial. In the end, the judge said that if he did not confess she would bring in each of the four soldiers who claimed they saw him throwing stones into testify. He could be in prison for another five months and she would take the soldier’s word. His lawyer from the DCI had advised that he should confess from the beginning because he knows the system; boys who confess are released. This is always the goal with child prisoners, he explained later in an interview: “As a lawyer and as a father – I cannot stand to let a child stay in prison – because I know the system – they will keep postponing the courts until they get a confession.” He went on to say “our first obligation is to be with the child and act in their best interest. But as a lawyer feelings are different…” The Israeli military court system uses lawyers as a “legal signature” (as a validation for their unjust system) and as a lawyer it is difficult to do your job knowing that your participation is a part of their continuing oppression. One of the ways to combat this system is to boycott it. By refusing to partake in it you refuse to recognize it as a valid system. As a method of resistance this can be very powerful, because it means that instead of giving confessions and instead of lawyers playing into their legal charade, everyone remains in prison. This has happened in the past, but it was limited. Boycotting the Israeli military judiciary system needs to happen on every level, from the lawyers, prisoners, families, human rights groups and NGOs, and from the Palestinian government. In the end you ask this of a child. Akram was clearly traumatized from his experience in prison. During the court hearings he would cry, he was under a lot of pressure to confess, but still he did not want to lie. But in the end he told his mother, I am tired, I want to leave this place, so he confessed. He was released and fined 1,000 shekels. When asked about why a child is fined for a confession and then released, the DCI lawyer made it clear that this money is just a punishment; it has nothing to do with the crime. They know a child cannot pay 2,000 shekels, they know the family needs to pay this money, and that they will pay this money instead of feeding their children. So now you make more enemies. He was released with the condition that if the Israeli military arrest him in the next four years he can be imprisoned for up to eight months without trial, and these sentences are often extended as court dates are continually postponed. This is the reality facing all Palestinians who are arrested and detained.
So why do the so-called “guilty” go free and the “innocent” stay in prison? Why the obsession with confessions? As the DCI lawyer explained, a confession justifies the arrest in the first place; a guilty arrest is seen as “justifiable” and “necessary”. Also, the Israeli military judicial system wants “to let you be in prison on your own account” stripping the system of responsibility and directing the blame elsewhere, it is seemingly your choice about whether or not you are released. It creates a very warped set of options, you can either be guilty or in prison, and for a young mind this is incredibly destructive. It creates anger. The young boys are much more likely to behave violently after being mistreated in jail for something they didn’t do. The lawyer gave an example of a boy from Hebron who was arrested so much in one year, getting steadily more angry at the system, that his family sent him to Jericho to give him a break from prison. He was reacting more and more violently as his arrests and experiences in prison continually traumatized him.
Of the eleven cases of under-14-year old child arrests in the first two months of this year, all have confessed. This number represents an increase in the rate of arrests of juveniles since last year. There are of course many factors contributing to why this is happening, it comes down to ideology. Sometimes it is just about maintaining a certain number of arrests, keeping up appearances in order to perpetuate the myth that the Palestinian territories are somehow “dangerous areas”, seemingly justifying Israel’s continuing occupation.
In Akram’s case several international laws were breached, including being interrogated without a lawyer and being moved out of the occupied territory and imprisoned inside Israel . When asked about how DCI lawyers use International law in these cases in the Israeli military court, the lawyer from DCI said, “When you talk in the military court about international standards it is like you are joking, the system does not care about international law.” Israel is a signatory to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.” Clearly Akram’s imprisonment was not a measure of last resort; it was random, unjustified, and illegal. Beyond this fact, even if the arrest was somehow justifiable, in no part of his detention did Israelis act with any consideration of Akram’s Juvenile status. During the court hearings the judge purposely prolonged his case in order to obtain a confession. And this is not special to Akram’s case; this is the standard procedure of a system that is designed around oppression, not justice.
According to the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty;
(a) Juveniles should have the right of legal counsel and be enabled to
apply for free legal aid, where such aid is available, and to communicate
regularly with their legal advisers. Privacy and confidentiality shall be
ensured for such communications; http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r113.htm
Under Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the transfer of detainees out of occupied territory is prohibited. Apart from being illegal, the detention of Palestinian children inside Israel makes family visits more difficult due to freedom of movement restrictions. DCI, http://www.dci-pal.org/English/Doc/dbulletin/Issue_03.pdf
ISM is hard at work in the West Bank and Gaza, and needs your help!
The ISM media office was raided two times in the span of four nights in February, when Bridget Chappell and Ariadna Jove Marti were arrested. In the raids, the Israeli military stole all of our computers (three laptops, one desktop) as well as several video cameras. Just a few weeks ago, the Hebron office was broken into while activists were away. We believe the military is also to blame because neighbors reported soldiers coming to look through the windows multiple times when the apartment was empty, and in the raid two laptops, multiple cameras, photo memory cards and USB memory devices were stolen, while other valuables were left in plain sight.
ISM needs to replace this equipment in order to continue the important work we’re doing. Documenting ongoing settler violence and harassment in Tel Rumeida (Hebron) and Sheikh Jarrah (East Jerusalem) are two of our most important activities. The residents of these communities demonstrate remarkable resilience by refusing to be deterred by settler violence. In order for the communities to have a chance of telling their story to the global community (one of ISM’s primary roles), and to prove the innocence of our Palestinian friends when they are falsely accused (a frequent occurrence), we need to capture high-quality footage.
We need: at least two small hand-held video cameras (roughly $150-200 each).
ISM Gaza activists risk extreme danger to document some of the worst human rights violations in the world. One primary activity is documenting use of live fire in the “buffer zone” towards farmers and non-violent demonstrators. Israel’s use of live fire has killed 14 and injured over 50 thus far in 2010. Bianca Zammit, a Maltese activist, was shot in the leg April 23 while filming a demonstration, proving that such documentation is viewed as a threat by the Israeli military.
We need: a Mac laptop computer for video editing ($1000)
A camera with good ‘optical’ zoom, such as a Canon Powershot S51S ($150-300)
The strategic theft of our media equipment, combined with Bianca’s shooting, serve as a reminder that we pose a real threat in our ability to reach global audiences with information about Israel’s actions. As non-violent activists, cameras are our weapons in exposing the Apartheid. Please, help us to continue this important work by donating here: palsolidarity.org/donate, or by sending equipment to Palestine with an activist.
