Tag: Ramallah

Israeli forces prevent residents of Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya from removing road-block thats denies them access to Road 60

October 29, 2008

At 11.00, around 30 residents of Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya accompanied by 10 international and Israeli activists marched towards two roadblocks aiming to remove them. Waiting for the demonstrators when they arrived, were 4 Israeli military jeeps: 2 troops of border police and 2 troops of Israeli soldiers. The demonstrators expressed their desire to remove the blockades, but were stopped by the soldiers. The army threatened to arrest the Israeli activists, using an illegal, unsigned military order as the reason. Despite their admittance to the activists they threatened to arrest that they could only illegally detain them as the military order was invalid, they expressed their determination to force the group to leave. Several members of the popular committee in Al Mazra’a argued their right to free the road, but the presence of at least 20 soldiers deterred physical action to remove the piles of rocks. As the demonstrators were beginning to walk away, the Israeli soldiers began to push the group.

An under-publicized repression against Palestinians, roadblocks affect freedom of movement as much as checkpoints and the Apartheid Wall. The system of Israeli-only roads, roadblocks and gates determines a severely limited network of routes Palestinians can use in the Occupied Territories. Most major roads in the West Bank are either illegal for Palestinians (14 roads), require difficult to acquire permission from the Israeli government (10 roads), or can become illegal for Palestinians at any Israeli commanders’ discretion. In addition to confiscating Palestinian roads and renovating them for Israeli-only use, the Israeli government orders the construction of gates and the creation of roadblocks. The significance of reclaiming the left-over roads has inspired several villages to organize actions around roadblocks. In the West Bank village of Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya, the Israeli government has enforced several barriers on an access road from the village to Route 60. The residents of Al Mazra’a and several villages nearby will continue their work to reclaim this road, in an effort to continue their resistance to the occupation.

Road 60 is a clear example of the difficulty Palestinians have negotiating roads within the West Bank that have become essentially Israeli-only. In total Israel has imposed on Road 60; 87 earth-mounds placed along the road, with 19 military gates, 15 checkpoints, another 6 partial checkpoints, 13 roadblocks, 15 watchtowers and 11 tunnels. What has been a traditional route through the entire West Bank is now one where Palestinians freedom of movement is extremely limited, denying Palestinians freedom of movement and inherently imposing a situation of segregation where the road is prioritised for Israelis.

Many villages are in the same position so Al-Mazra’a al Sharqiyya and blocked from accessing the road completely.

Palestinians with West Bank IDs are then not permitted to access16.9km of the road is in fact as it runs through the Jerusalem municipality, with Palestinians also prevented from accessing the Road West of the Green Line.

Even the World Bank have been driven to comment on the issue of lack of freedom of movement and the impact that this has on the Palestinian economy and livelihoods.

Resident of Al-Mazra’a ash Sharqiya remove roadbock that prevents them access to Route 60

Thursday, October 16, around 150 residents of the village of Al-Mazra’a ash Sharqiya, joined by Israeli and international activists, gathered in an effort to remove four roadblocks from a road connecting the village of Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya to Route 60.

At eleven in the morning, cars from the center of town drove towards the congested road. The demonstrators physically removed numerous big stones blockading the access road. They proceeded to the last block, closest to Route 60, and continued their work. Around noon, an Israeli army jeep arrived and attempted to halt the work of the residents. Soon after, three more army jeeps alongside two police jeeps showed up at the scene. Several activists and members of the village tried to negotiate the peaceful removal of the barriers, but the soldiers refused.

While the activists remained close to the soldiers, hoping to block them, Palestinians worked hard to finish clearing the road. With the help of a tractor, the road was cleared. Two cars drove from the top of the hill towards Route 60 as a symbol of the day’s success, but were prevented by the Israeli soldiers. The entire event remained completely non-violent and those gathered to restore the road marched back to the village around two in the afternoon. After leaving, the Israeli army brought in a bulldozer and reformed two blockades.

This road is essential in connecting Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya and the neighboring villages of Silwad, Deir Jarir, Rammun, and At Tayba to a more efficient path via route 60 into Nablus. According to the 2007 Census of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, an estimated 19,385 residents of the villages that are likely to use this road, Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya (4,495 residents), Silwad (6,123 residents), Deir Jarir (3,986 residents), Rammun (2,626 residents) and At Tayba (2,155 residents) have been prevented access since the 2nd Intifada. The residents must instead drive south closer to Ramallah to get unto route 60. However, the residents’ drive to Ramallah is also hindered by their inability to use this road. According to the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ) and the Land Research Center (LRC), the blocked road lengthens the drive between Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya and Ramallah from 22 kilometers to 40 kilometers.

Given the importance of this road in connecting the surrounding villages to the key commercial areas of Ramallah and Nablus, those participating in removing the blockades today hope to repeat the action until the road is permanently open.

Maan: Clashes over olive harvest begin in Ni’lin, continue near Hebron

To view original article, published by the Maan News Agency on the 3rd October, click here

Ni’lin – Ma’an – Settlers near Ramallah in the central West Bank and Hebron in the south clashed with Palestinians and peace activists as they sought to harvest olives from areas confiscated by Israel. Both incidents occurred on Friday, the last day of the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.

In Ni’lin, a Palestinian town north of Ramallah, a group of international and Israeli activists clashed with Israeli settlers as they accompanied Palestinians from the village of Ni’lin to their lands on the far side of the separation wall in order to harvest the olives from village trees.

About 40 activists clashed with as many settlers. The latter claim that the olive grove that was to be harvested does not indeed belong to the Ni’lin family that went to harvest the fruits. The settlers tried to prevent the activists and the Palestinian family from reaching the trees.

Some of the setters later claimed that a peace activist attacked the wife of rightist settler Itamar Ben-Gvir, who brought her young son to the demonstration. Details of the attack are unclear, and no injuries were documented. The activist charged with the attack was reported to have told the Israeli press that the mother had insulted him prior to his act against her.

In Ni’lin Dr Mustafa Al-Barghouthi told Ma’an that Palestinians and activists were able to drive the settlers away from the olive grove and harvest the fruits belonging to the family.

In Hebron, settlers attacked peace activists from Rabbis for Human Rights as they stood protecting a group of Palestinians harvesting olives in a nearby field.

According to Israeli media sources Israeli police tried to halt the settlers who were attempting to drive the farmers off the land.

Rabbis for Human Rights said they would be going to 40 different Palestinian villages during this olive harvest season to ensure that Israeli settlers and police do not harm the Palestinian families who go into their fields and village lands to pick the olives from the trees.

For several years international and Israeli peace activists have travelled to Palestine to help local farmers harvest olives from groves and fields that have been confiscated, or effectively confiscated, by Israel. Some fields abut Israeli settlements and farmers cannot go near them without fear of being harassed or injured.

Also on Friday in Al-Ma’sara, an area southeast of Bethlehem, clashes erupted between the Israeli army and activists as the latter marched in the village in a regular protest against the wall. The march came on the eighth anniversary of the death of the young Palestinian Mohammad Ad-Durra on the same sight.

Ynet: Neturei Karta join anti-fence rally

Some 300 Israeli, Palestinian and foreign demonstrators protest construction of separation fence in West Bank village of Naalin. Religious sect members carry signs denouncing Zionism. Soldiers fire tear gas at protestors; seven protestors injured, five arrested

By Ali Waked

To view original article, published by Ynet on the 17th September, click here


Photo by Ynet

Some 300 Israelis, Palestinians and foreigners took part Wednesday afternoon in an anti-fence demonstration in the West Bank village of Naalin, near the city of Modiin.

Soldiers and Border Guard officers fired teargas at the protestors in an attempt to prevent them from approaching the separation fence construction site. Five Israeli protestors were arrested, two of them photographers documenting the protest.

According to the demonstrators, seven people were injured in the event, two of them from the teargas. Four were reportedly hurt by rubber-coated steel bullets fired by the soldiers and another demonstrator was beaten.

Anti-fence demonstrations have been a routine in recent months, but this time the demonstrators marked the 26th anniversary of the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during the 1982 Lebanon War, which left some 800 Palestinian refugees dead.

Wednesday’s demonstration was also attended by 15 members of the Neturei Karta religious sect, who arrived to express their solidarity with the Palestinian residents. The group members, who traditionally oppose Zionism, often take part in different protests against the State of Israel.

The Neturei Karta disciples, wearing black hats and coats, refused to talk to the media. One of the members of the village’s popular committee, which organized the demonstration, told Ynet that the men had arrived “in order to express their protest over the injustice of the occupation and the fence.”

Some of the men carried signs denouncing Zionism and walked along the village paths.

The demonstrators, which included 50 Israelis, carried signs and chanted slogans against the occupation and the separation fence.

The protestors managed to reach the bulldozers used to erect the fence, but were stopped by the construction site’s security guards, who removed the bulldozers from the place and stopped the construction.

Ynet: Naalin boy becomes prison hero

12-year-old boy detained by IDF over Naalin riot warmly received by Palestinian prisoners

By Ali Waked

To view original article, published by Ynet on the 13th September, click here

A hero’s welcome: A Palestinian boy detained by the IDF over his involvement in West Bank riots was received warmly by Palestinian detainees at the Ofer Prison near Ramallah Friday.

Muhammad Hawaja, the son of Naalin’s paramedic, is the youngest detainee at the prison. Upon his arrival at the jail, he was received with warm applause by the other prisoners.

“He arrived in high spirits,” one of the prisoner representatives in Hawaja’s wing told Ynet. “We asked him whether he is hungry or needs something, but he said he’s fasting. We held a little festive meal for him. We will pamper him and give him everything he needs, in the framework of what’s available at prison.”

The representative also said that prison authorities are looking into the possibility of transferring the boy to another wing, where his relative is being held at this time.

The boy’s father told Ynet earlier that Large IDF forces arrived Wednesday night at the village of Naalin in order to arrest his son, who is suspected of involvement in violent riots held in protest of Israel’s construction of the security barrier.

Salah Hawaja said that the forces, “came in from the mountains, surrounded the house and removed Muhammad from his bed.

However, the IDF said that it will “continue to enforce the law and pursue anyone who seeks to bring harm in any way to IDF soldiers and Border Guard officers.”