Tag: Hebron

Canberra Times: “The Other Aussie Heros”

posted in the Canberra Times May 18th

Every Friday for the last fifteen months Palestinian farmers from the West Bank village of Bil’in and their Israeli and international supporters have marched out of the village to reach their lands on the other side of the “Separation Barrier” Israel is building to confiscate 500 acres of their farmland. When they get to within a hundred metres of the barrier, Israeli soldiers and border policemen have attacked them with clubs, rifle butts, tear gas and rubber coated metal bullets.

The large number of Israelis engaged in these demonstrations is a matter of considerable embarrassment for the Israeli government, which insists the barrier is merely a security measure, intended to protect Israel from Palestinian terrorism.

The Palestinians, their Israeli allies, the International Court of Justice and the United Nations, however, reject this claim, noting that only 10% of the 650km barrier is being built along Israel’s border while the rest reaches deep inside the West Bank to annex precious land and water resources which are being taken over by neighbouring Jewish settlements.

Last Friday ten Palestinians and two international protestors were injured in the protest, including Phil Reese, a Sydney man who was shot in the head by a rubber coated metal bullet while filming the demonstration.

The following day Mary Baxter, a 75 year old human rights worker from Melbourne, was pelted with stones to her head and back by a group of teenagers from the Israeli settlement of Tel Rumeida as she accompanied Palestinian children returning home from school in the West Bank town of Hebron.

Reese and Baxter are both volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) – an organisation of international peace activists who travel to the Occupied Territories to help Palestinians resist occupation and dispossession through non-violent direct action.

Being an ISM volunteer is dangerous work. In 2003 an activist was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer and another was killed when he was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. Two other Australian activists have been wounded by live ammunition.

Although the Australian government was quick to denounce Hamas for not condemning last month’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, it has consistently refused to protest Israeli violence towards Palestinians and Australian peace activists.

This double standard is regrettable because if Hamas is to acquiesce to the international community’s demands that they “renounce violence”, it will have to be offered an alternative strategy for resisting Israel’s occupation and colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. While the militant Palestinian resistance can point to the success of the armed struggle in forcing Israel to withdraw its settlers from the Gaza Strip, no such
successes can be claimed by communities such as Bil’in.

Though for the past 16 months Hamas has scrupulously observed a unilateral Palestinian ceasefire arranged by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, its leaders are acutely aware that they owe their electoral success primarily to the Fateh Party’s disastrous strategy of renouncing violence in favour of the Oslo Peace Process which Israel used as cover to double the number of settlers in the Occupied Territories.

If Hamas is to meet Australian demands that it renounce violence, it is imperative that some form of peace dividend be offered to the Palestinians. At minimum this would mean calling upon Israel to cease confiscating Palestinian land and supporting the work of Australians like Reese and Baxter who daily risk life and limb to uphold international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.

Encouraging Palestinian restraint, however, does not seem to be a priority in Australian politics. In his address to the Australian Parliament Tony Blair stated that the international community must redouble its efforts to find a solution to the conflict involving a secure state of Israel and a viable, independent Palestinian state. When Greens Senator Kerry Nettle proposed a motion endorsing his statement, government and opposition senators joined forces to defeat it.

According to a report by the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, Israel has created a regime of separation in the Occupied Territories “applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality.”The report concludes that: “This system is the only one of its kind in the world and is reminiscent of the distasteful regimes of the past, such as the apartheid regime of South Africa.”

In the 1980s the Australian government understood that the key to peace in South Africa was to support progressive forces in the country that were working to end apartheid.

Today Australian politicians seem to believe that peace in the Middle East can be separated from issues of occupation and human rights.

Perhaps it is time to reconsider this assumption?

Michael Shaik is a former International Solidarity Movement Coordinator and a member of Australians for Justice and Peace in Palestine.

Three Non-Violent Demonstrations this Weekend: Bil’in, Beit Omar, Shofat Camp

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This Friday, the Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Shofat refugee camp, near Jerusalem, will all hold non-violent demonstrations against the Israeli occupation. Beit Omar will hold their demonstration on Saturday, not Friday as stated in a previous release. In Bil’in the demonstration is against the apartheid barrier, in Beit Omar against an Israelis only-road, and in Shofat camp against restrictions on freedom of religious worship.

In Bil’in, the brutality of the Israeli soldiers in last weeks demonstration has not stopped the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements from planning another non-violent demonstration for this Friday, May 19, 2006. Once again Israeli and international peace activists will come to show their support for the people of Bil’in. The demonstration will try to draw attention to the illegal settlements and their continuous development, a reality that their lawyer, Michael Sfard, is also trying to draw out in their court case.

The route of the wall in Bil’in is designed to annex the settlement of Modi’in Elite and it’s outpost, Matityahu Mizrah, to Israel along with the land belonging to Bil’in so that these illegal settlements can continue to grow. Bil’in village council has filed three petitions to the Israeli High Court to remove the wall from their lands, stop the construction of Matityahu East, and annul the procedures through which the State took their lands unlawfully 15 years ago.

In the last hearing, which took place May 14, 2006, the Bil’in village council’s lawyer, Michael Sfard, argued that the wall is not designed to protect people, but rather to protect the investment of real estate sharks and to accommodate the expansion of settlements.

The court has not released any decisions and the people of Bil’in will continue to practice non-violence in these demonstrations in order to draw attention to their struggle.

For more information call:
Abdullah 0547-258-210
Mohammed 0545-804-830
ISM media office 02-2971824

Palestinian Village to Hold Demonstration Against Israeli Land-Grab

IMPORTANT: This action will take place on SATURDAY and NOT on Friday as was incorrectly mentioned in a previous version of this press release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 9 am this Saturday villagers from Beit Omar in the Hebron region of the West Bank, joined by Israeli and international supporters, will hold a non-violent demonstration against the “security” road that surrounds the illegal Israeli settlement of Karmi Zur.

Although the settlement is built on agricultural land that belongs to the village, the villagers are prevented from crossing the military road by the occupying Israeli army. Since 1984, 200 dunams of the village’s land has been occupied by the settlement, which continues growing to this day.

The demonstrators will attempt to non-violently cross the road and access the village land. They will bring tractors and other equipment and attempt to work their land.

For more information contact:

Mussa Abu Marya: 054 593 8925

The Double Standards of the Israeli Army

“I Am Not a Good Jew”: Israeli Soldier Brutality and Incompetence
An editorial by a human rights worker in Hebron


Israeli settler children throw rocks while soldier does nothing

Yesterday I went to the demonstration in Bil’in which started out fun and happy, with people singing songs and generally having a good time as we usually do at these demonstrations.

Upon confronting the soldiers there was some pushing and shoving, some sound bombs were tossed into the crowd by soldiers, and soon the soldiers started firing rubber coated metal bullets without provocation. Two ISM activists were hit in the head with rubber bullets, one seriously. He suffered a brain hemorrhage but doctors say he is going to be okay. The other ISM activist required stitches.

So, this is what happens at demonstrations. This is how the soldiers react. Are you ready to learn about what happens when soldiers are put in a situation where they are supposed to control violent Israeli settlers? Ok here we go!

Today in Tel Rumeida, a fellow ISM volunteer and I were walking a Palestinian child home. In order to reach his home, he has to pass by the Tel Rumeida settlement where settler children and teenagers were standing around, waiting for him to pass so they could throw rocks at him. This happens on a daily basis, so we are prepared.

We accompanied him so that, hopefully, the rocks would hit us and not the child. I had a video camera ready to record the rock throwing. We walked up the hill and, predictably the kids started throwing rocks. There were three soldiers standing around who — instead of controlling the children — came after me.

They asked me to stop filming, I said no. They demanded that I give them the camera, I refused. Then, as the settler children were throwing rocks and me, my fellow ISMer and the Palestinian child, the three soldiers tried to take the camera from me. They were unsuccessful because they were fat and they have not studied Kung Fu.

While my fellow ISMer was trying to get the soldiers to control the kids, a teenaged settler girl said “Jews do not throw rocks, Arabs throw rocks,” and she was standing in front a bunch of settler children who were throwing rocks at us!

At this point more soldiers arrived. I asked them to control the settler children so the Palestinian child could go home. They told me they couldn’t control the children. I told them, “All it would take to control these kids is some tear gas or a sound bomb, or, you know, how about some rubber bullets or live ammunition like you shoot at Palestinian kids who throw rocks?”

They kept covering the lens of my camera with their hand and I kept avoiding them. At one point three soldiers and a bunch of kids cornered me. The soldiers tried to take my camera, and the kids hit and kicked me. When I used my arms to block their attacks, the settler girls who were attacking screamed at me “don’t touch me, you fucking pedophile, you’re just filming so you can go home and masturbate to your porno.” and “The Arabs will kill you if you don’t watch out, just like they kill the Jews.” I said “I am a Jew and they don’t kill me.” A teenaged settler girl yelled back “You are not a good Jew!”

Eventually, I decided it would be better off if I went up to the apartment to film. That way I would not get attacked. A soldier saw me retreating, and tried to take my camera again. He was unsuccessful. I began filming from the second floor balcony of the apartment building. I caught the soldiers and settlers attacking members of TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron). As soon as the settlers saw me filming, they started throwing rocks at me again and yelling they hope the Arabs kill us.

In my opinion, if these people want to get good at throwing rocks, they ought to take lessons from the Palestinians, because they couldn’t hit a fucking elephant if it was standing in front of them. Eventually I went into the apartment to film from the window so I would not have to dodge rocks. The police finally arrived and the situation died down.

So, this is the irony of the situation. Palestinians and internationals peacefully demonstrate and get shot with rubber bullets. Israeli settler children throw rocks and hit and kick people and the soldiers refuse to stop them and instead attack the internationals.

Later in the day I was down on Shuhada street with another ISMer and settler children began throwing rocks at us again. The soldiers made a halfhearted attempt to control them but gave up. I called the police. The children kept throwing rocks and tried to prevent a Palestinian family from passing. I went over to where the family was and attempted to escort them past. The kids kept throwing rocks and the soldiers kept doing nothing. After I made a second call to the police, they finally showed up and got the children under control. I asked the police officer to remain there to control the children. He told me I should leave if I didn’t want to be attacked. Fortunately though, he stayed and got the children under control. After about 20 minutes, he left and the children began throwing rocks again.

So, this is Tel Rumeida during Shabbat, the Jewish holy day, and the Jews here act like fucking animals. I wonder, what would Moses do if a Palestinian child was walking past him. Would he throw rocks? Are Jews obligated under Jewish law to throw rocks at Palestinians? I feel like I am obligated under human law to protect anyone from attacks from these fucking religious extremists.

Oh, and by the way, while I’m still pissed off, I should write about the fact that Palestinians here are suffering severely from the funding cuts. People are so poor. A friend of mine who works for the Palestinian Authority hasn’t been to work in 20 days because they can’t pay him and he has $30 to his name.

The international community is punishing Palestinians because they voted for Hamas and it’s turning into a tragedy. One man told me today that economically, the past 3 months has been the worst it has ever been. So please, people in the United States, if you have not written to your congressperson to vote against the so-called Palestinian “anti-terrorism act,” HR 4681 You can do this by email here.

Shabbat+new soldiers+settlers=ouch!

By Mary, a 75 year-old ISM volunteer in Tel Rumeida

Shabbat, new soldiers and violent settlers make a very unpleasant day.

At 11am, I was at the Tel Rumeida crossing waiting for children to come from the Qurduba school. The Palestinian Abu Aeshah girls, who live near the Israeli Tel Rumeida settlement came. I accompanied them towards the settlement. The soldier outside the settlement told me to stop and go back. I said that I would go back if he would watch the girls to their house. There were Israeli settler children outside. They often attack the Palestinian children. The soldier seemed more interested in watching me than the children and did not help.

At 11.15am the Al Azzeh children arrived. They walk along a track next to the settlement. There were settler children at the entrance to the settlement, so an EAPPI human rights worker walked up to the track with them. The settler children started to throw stones at the Palestinian children so other EAPPI human rights workers and I went up too to stand between the Palestinians and the stones. The soldiers tried to push the children back to the crossing for safety instead of controlling about 8 settler children, who were throwing stones. I came between the soldier and 14 year old Janette. It is not right that an eighteen year old soldier should be standing with his body so close to a young girl, who is already under attack. More soldiers came but the stone throwing continued further along the track and the Palestinian children were not able to pass. Three TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) workers arrived to observe the incident. Finally the police were called and came quickly. They were able to control the situation and the children were able to reach their homes.

I told the police and soldiers that there would be other children needing to pass from 12.30 to 1.30pm. The police said that the soldiers would look after this and that they would be patrolling. TIPH agreed to stay until all the children were home.

At 12.35pm, one of the Abu Aeshah boys arrived. I walked with him up towards the settlement. There were now two soldiers on duty outside the Tel Rumeida settlement. They would not let me pass and were watching me instead of the Palestinian boy. I finally convinced one of them to look the other way. The boy got home safely but Israeli settler children were beginning to come to the entrance of the settlement and waiting.

At 1.00pm, Samir Abu Aeshah arrived. I walked with him towards the settlement followed by another international with a camera. Israeli settler children came out of the settlement. Girls came right up to us abusing and yelling at us. Twenty young settler boys threw stones at us. I was hit several times. There were eight soldiers who pushed us back towards the crossing. They did not stop the stone throwing and tried to stop any filming. Samir Abu Aeshah ran to hide in his uncle’s house. Another six soldiers arrived and attacked our person who was filming. They also attacked a woman from TIPH, who was taking photos. Israel recognizes TIPH and they are allowed film anywhere. I was being hit by stones. As a soldier was telling me to go back, settler boys were coming round behind me and throwing large rocks at my back. I was then hit on the head with a rock. Settler children were now nearly to the crossing and still attacking and I was outside my house.

I called the DCO, saying that I had been hit with 12 stones and rocks and had been hit on the head. The woman on the line agreed with me that this should not happen. Another army jeep arrived. There were now twenty soldiers, about twenty violent young settler boys, ten abusive settler girls and many settler adults including Sara Marzel (wife of Baruch Marzell, founder of the ultra-extremist Chayil Party (Jewish National Front) ). Some of the soldiers started grabbing the boys who resisted and kept throwing stones. The girls kept coming right up to me and abusing me. The settler adults watched and did nothing to help or control their children. I called the police. When they came they were able to control the situation but there was still no way to get Samir Abu Aeshah home.

Some of the Israeli settler children and adults walked to the Jewish cemetery followed by an army jeep. I went in the Israeli police jeep to make a complaint. Sometime later, Samir came out of hiding and walked home by himself, with no support from the soldiers.