On the 15th of November, Palestinian activists from the West Bank boarded a segregated Israeli bus used by Israeli settlers to Jerusalem in an attempt to highlight the regime of discrimination on freedom of movement in place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the fact that Palestinians cannot access Jerusalem freely. After boarding the bus without incidents, the bus was stopped at the Hizme checkpoint, where all the activists were arrested and violently forcibly removed from the bus.
On November 15, 2011, six Palestinian Freedom Riders boarded a settler-only bus traveling to occupied East Jerusalem to openly challenge Israel’s apartheid policies towards Palestinians and its minority populations. The following is a visual chronology of the events.
Photo: Dena Elian, Sixteen Minutes to Palestine - Click here for more images
15 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Earlier today, 7 Palestinian activists were arrested as part of the Freedom Rides attempt to board segregated buses going from the West Bank into occupied East Jerusalem.
Freedom Riders - Click for more images
Palestinians, Israelis and ISM activists waited at a bus stop outside the illegal settlement of Psagot, while four settler buses pulled up and drove away, refusing to open their doors. Israeli police and occupation army surrounded the activists, while a group of settlers massed to observe. Finally, a bus took the activists aboard, and the bus made its way to Hizmeh checkpoint, trailed by army jeeps and police vehicles.
At Hizmeh checkpoint, occupation forces stopped the bus, refusing to allow it to pass. During this time, border police attempted to enter the back of the bus and violently drag one Palestinian off the bus. When both attempts failed, border police commandeered the bus, and forced it to park by the side of the checkpoint.
After about half an hour, border police entered the bus, and forcibly dragged the six Palestinian Freedom
Riders off of the bus. “When they pulled them out of the bus, it was not gentle,” said ISM activist Crystal. “A girl next to me was almost crying.” Activist and lawyer Huwaida Arraf was rendered unconscious by the forcible removal.
The Palestinian activists were arrested and taken to Atarot prison, on the grounds that they had entered Jerusalem illegally.
Later that night, ISM activists held a demonstration outside of Atarot, demanding that occupation forces release the prisoners.
“I felt like I was witnessing history,” said ISM activist Wajed.
Ben Lorber is an activist with International Solidarity Movement and writer with Alternative Information Center.
by Alistair George 13 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Three Palestinians were arrested and others were detained, beaten and pepper sprayed by the Israeli military in Al-Walajeh yesterday, as villagers attempted to prevent the detonation of explosives used to widen the route for the separation wall on the village’s land.
Previously, large explosions on 3 November2011 in the village had sent large rocks several metres into the air, damaging nearby houses and trees and endangering life. The explosions have damaged the foundations of nearby properties. Yesterday, protesters attempted to peacefully prevent a similar explosion from taking place.
Explosions, violence, and arrests in Al Walajeh – Click here for more images
At around 8am yesterday morning, villagers from Al-Walajeh, near Jerusalem, were working on an UN project to enlarge the village’s graveyard at the Western side end of the village. They discovered that the Israeli military and contractors were laying charges to explode rock and widen the path for the construction of the separation barrier on the village’s land. The barrier will completely encircle Al-Walajeh if completed. Access will be gained via a tunnel and checkpoint, manned by the Israeli military and open for a limited time each day.
A man from Al-Walajeh, who gave his name as ‘Abu Sultan’, explained that he “was the first to arrive at the scene– 10 days ago the officer of the DCO [District Coordination Offices] told us that they were not allowed to make any more explosions, and that if they tried we should stay on the land and prevent it – so the DCO should stand with us.”
Abu Sultan tried to take the dynamite from the ground but was pepper sprayed and detained for over 3 hours before being released. Another villager, Mustafa Odeh, was beaten and arrested by soldiers.
Another man, who did not want to give his name, was also pepper sprayed when he attempted to peacefully prevent the soldiers laying the charges.
“The soldiers told us to leave and they pushed us as if we were sheep. Without warning, they grabbed pepper spray and sprayed my eyes and mouth. I was taken to hospital where they washed my eyes and gave me oxygen. The soldiers prevented the ambulance reaching me, two men had to carry me…It still burns [five hours later] on my face and around my mouth, and it is difficult to breath. I am very upset and angry. I’m an old man and the soldiers are young boys, it is very disrespectful behaviour.”
After the men discovered the military laying charges, villagers gathered to demand that they cease their agenda. By 11:00 AM a crowd of around 30 Palestinians and several international observers and journalists had gathered at the site of the charges. At 11:20 AM approximately 20 Israeli soldiers and contractor security guards began to roughly push and barge the crowd up the hill, away from the site.
Protesters voiced their disapproval but offered no physical resistance; however, the Israeli military became increasingly violent. After attempting to grab and arrest some Palestinian protesters, several people tumbled down a steep verge; one Palestinian, his face streaked orange with pepper spray, was arrested, while another fled the scene. The military deployed pepper spray and began to strike the peaceful demonstrators.
Sheerin Alaraj, a popular resistance activist from Al-Walajeh was pepper sprayed and blood ran from a cut on her face. A 38 year old woman, ‘Nadia’, was pepper sprayed in the face and was also taken to the hospital after losing consciousness.
The Palestinian academic Mazin Qumsiyeh was also on scene filming the protest. He was arrested and dragged to a nearby military vehicle by the Israeli border police. A witness, who did not want to be named, stated that “Mazin was filming with his video camera and the soldiers wanted us to retreat. They could have asked us to retreat but they just singled him out. It was intentional. I was next to him, doing the same thing, and they didn’t want to arrest me.”
An Al-Walajeh resident, who gave her name as “Fadwa,” said that the Israeli soldiers “have to be more human and understand our feelings, they can’t just cause explosions. They said that the explosion today would be small, but you can’t trust them.”
After soldiers had cleared the area, they fired two tear gas canisters across the valley where only some women and small children were visible. At around 12:30 PM they detonated a single charge, sending a cloud of rock and debris high into the air. Bulldozers then began work to clear the shattered rock for the path of the wall.
Residents of Al-Walajeh said that although the explosion today was relatively small, it was still carried out within a few metres of the village’s graveyard and several olive trees. Previous explosions have damaged foundations of nearby houses.
A resident, who lives near to the proposed route of the wall, said that the explosion on 3 November 2011 endangered life in the village as the blast sent large rocks a distance of several hundred metres. Some rocks were around30 cm long, weighing several kilograms;
“Stones fell right beside my uncle’s house. When they make explosions it’s like an earthquake, the house shakes.”
Four explosions had taken part in this area of Al-Walajeh in recent weeks, and there have been explosions to clear debris for the wall in other parts of the village.
A woman from Al-Walaja, who did not wish to be named, said that the explosion on 3 November threw large rocks several metres into the sky.
“Stones fell onto my house; the children were in the house and were very scared. Plants and olive trees were damaged on my land.”
The DCO (the Israeli body responsible for coordinating administrative activities in the occupied territories, including construction) was unwilling to provide a reaction to yesterday’s incident.
Following the Six Day War in 1967, much of Al-Walaja’s land was given to the nearby Israeli settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, which are considered illegal under international law. A 2011 report by the UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) revealed that private investors announced plans in 2004 to build an additional settlement called Givat Yael, consisting of 14,000 housing units. This settlement would expropriate around 60% of the territory of the West Bank part of Al Walajeh.
Israel claims that the separation wall is necessary to prevent attacks on its territory. However, in its detailed analysis of the Israeli legal justification of the wall, the International Court of Justice found that the conditions necessary to justify the movement restrictions imposed by the Barrier were not met. Work began on the wall in Al-Walajeh in April 2010 and has progressed at a furious pace, with significant sections of concrete, several metres high, now in place. Residents estimate that, at the current rate of construction, the wall will be completed in 2012. Rather than following the Green Line demarcating the West Bank, the proposed route of the wall in Al-Walajeh cuts deep into the village’s land. According to the UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), between 4-5000 dunums (1 dunum =1000 square metres) of Al-Walajeh’s land lies outside the route of the wall.
If the wall is completed, and the village is entirely encircled in concrete walls and metal fences, the restricted access to the village will drastically curtail normal life in Al-Walajeh as over 2000 inhabitants will be prevented from travelling freely to work or to access essential health and education services.
Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
Anonymous attackers spray-painted “price tag” and threatened to plant a bomb in the Jerusalem offices of “Peace Now” on Sunday.
Graffiti sprayed in Hagit Ofran’s building two months ago. Graffiti says “Death to the traitors.” Photo by Emil Salman
Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch project, said that at around 8 P.M., the office intercom buzzed and a man’s voice said, “The building will explode in five minutes.”
The police were called to the scene, and the two-storey building was evacuated.
Jerusalem police are now scanning the scene, and have begun searching for the perpetrators. Last weekend, a red star of David was also spray-painted onto the building.
Peace Now Director Yariv Oppenheimer said in response on Sunday that “we fear that the next stage is that the residents of the building next to our offices will be harmed. We submitted a complaint over the graffiti on Friday that has not been dealt with. I hope that the police will see the writing on the wall and will deal with it accordingly.”
“We have warned, including in a petition to the Police Commissioner, that Peace Now is being threatened,” said Oppenheimer. “The political leadership backs up these incidents. Even if, on the face of it, there is condemnation, in practice the hooliganism of the right has support in the Knesset.”
Two months ago, similar graffiti was spray-painted on the door of Ofran’s home, and on the wall of the stairwell of the building she lives in. Some of the graffiti included the words “death to the traitors” and “Migron price tag.”
Extremists adopted their “price tag” policy to demonstrate discontent with the government’s decision to freeze construction in West Bank settlements. Recent incidents have included the torching of a Mosque Tuba-Zangariyya in October and the vandalizing of an IDF base in September.
