Tag: Ramallah

Palestinian, international and Israeli activists reclaim settler outpost

On 24th April, around forty Palestinian, international and Israeli activists occupied a settler outpost within an abandoned military base in the Ramallah region to protest against the illegal construction within Palestinian territory. After aggression from both the Israeli army and armed settlers, two activists, Adeeb Abu Rahme and Neta Golan, were violently arrested at the scene. Both were released later in the day.

The activists used a bulldozer to remove the road block that connects Ramallah to the village of Ein Kinia before occupying the outpost. They removed the Israeli flag that was flying from the outpost and replaced it with Palestinian flags. The Israeli army then arrived at the scene, firing live ammunition and rubber bullets in the direction of the protesters, before a stand-off occurred between soldiers and the non-violent protesters. A journalist’s car was hit as the protesters attempted to find cover from the army aggression.

The army then declared the area a Closed Military Zone, maintaining that the outpost was in fact a synagogue, and forced the activists out of the area up onto a nearby hill, while detaining Adeeb Abu Rahme and Neta Golan. At this point the army brought in a bulldozer to put back the road block, before armed settlers quickly appeared on the scene, gathering rapidly in numbers and throwing stones towards the activists. Despite the Israeli army arresting the two activists for being within a Closed Military Zone, no action was taken against the settlers who were continually permitted to be in the area.

Settlers remained in the area after all the protesters were forced to leave.

Many injured in weekly demonstrations

Road 443 – IMEMC: Several injuries reported during a nonviolent protest near Kharabtha village (for original article click here)

Palestinian sources reported on Friday that several residents were injured after the army fired at residents, Israeli and international peace activists who carried a nonviolent protest against the continued closure of a main road since late 2000.


Picture from IMEMC

Dozens of vehicles drove from the center of the village towards the road while dozens of protesters carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation.

Soldiers, intensively deployed in the area, placed barbed-wires in front of the protesters and fired rubber-coated metal bullets and gas bombs at them. Dozens received first aid after inhaling gas fired by the army.

The road, known as Latron Road or Road Number 443 in Israeli military terminology, was closed since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada late September 2000, and the army placed concrete blocks and gates on the road to shut it down.

Nearly 35000 residents of villages near Ramallah are negatively affected by the ongoing closure of the road.

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IMEMC: Several protesters injured in Bil’in weekly protest (for original article click here)

On Friday at midday the villagers of Bil’in, a village located near Ramallah in the centre of the West Bank along with their international and Israeli supporters conducted their weekly protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall on the village land.


Picture from IMEMC – Haytham Al Khateb

After Friday prayers, the protesters marched from the village towards the gate of the wall, which separates the villagers from their land.

As soon as the protest arrived at the gate, Israeli troops stationed there showered them with sound bombs, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets.

A number of civilians were injured, including an Israeli journalist identified as Israel. The man sustained wounds to his leg after being directly hit by a rubber coated steel bullet.

Demonstration against apartheid road 443

On 4th April around 200 Palestinians, joined by Israelis and internationals, held a non-violent demonstration on Road 443 following the recent decision made by the Israeli High Court that effectively approves the prohibition of Palestinian movement on the road and it’s reservation for exclusive Israeli use (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966013.htmlRoad).

Protesters marched from Khartabth Al-Misbah towards the road waving Palestinian flags, before being blocked by the Israeli army. Speeches were then made by prominent figures within the community denouncing the apartheid system within the West Bank that this road enforces and insisting that demonstrations against the Israeli only road would continue until full, equal access is granted to all Palestinians.

Despite initially being built for Palestinian use, as of 2002 all Palestinians were denied access to the road, despite this decision never being supported by a military order or any legal means. By allowing the continuation of this system of separation, the Israeli High Court have essentially granted it approval. Road 443 together with the Separation barrier creates two walled Palestinian enclaves that Israel plans to connected by what it terms ‘fabric of life’ roads that run underneath the Israeli-only road. The first of these roads was recently opened between the enclave of Biddu and the enclave of Beir Nabala and has high concrete walls running on either side.

The system of settler only roads and other physical barriers within the Palestinian Occupied Territories cut the West Bank up to over 70 enclaves. These restrictions on the freedom of movement have had hugely detrimental effects on the Palestinian economy and destroy any aspirations towards a territorially contiguous viable state. The severe hindrance on productivity caused by the restrictions placed on the movement of workers and goods, as well as denial of access to farm- land, has resulted in 46% unemployment in the West Bank. The prohibition of Palestinian travel on the road also applies in emergency medical cases, further infringing on Palestinian human rights.

Israeli military attacks weekly Bil’in protest, 17 injured including 7 journalists

Original article found on IMEMC. For original article click here.

On Friday March 28, 2008 scores of residents of Bil’in, a village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with their international and Israeli supporters, took to the streets to conduct their weekly nonviolent protest against the Israeli wall and illegal confiscation of the village’s land. Israeli troops manning the wall and its gate that cuts off the villagers from their land showered the protesters with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets immediately after the protesters reached the gate.

17 people were injured including seven journalists. Medical sources identified some of the injured journalists as Fadi Al Arouri, a photojournalist, Najud al Qassem, a cameraman, Moheb Al Bargouthi, a reporter, and George Haltah, a cameraman.

Also among those injured was Eyad Burnat, of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, who said, “I was trying to protect one of the village youth who was attacked by the soldiers when soldiers attacked and beat me up.”

The parents of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who was killed by the Israeli army in Gaza five years ago, took part in the Bil’in protest. Her father, Mr. Craig Corrie, praised the nonviolent resistance in Bil’in and called for more support for the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom. Rachel Corrie was killed in 2003 in Rafah city, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, when an army bulldozer ran over her while she was protecting a local family home from being demolished by the Israeli army.

Two young men arrested in Birzeit

On Thursday, March 27, 2008 at around 3:15 am, the Israeli military invaded the Birzeit homes of two young Palestinian men and proceeded to arrest both men.

One of the young men, 25 years old and father of a two week old baby girl, had been badly injured by live ammunition about one month ago during clashes, at a protest against the Gaza siege, between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers at Attara checkpoint, just outside Birzeit. The man was hit with a so-called “dumb-dumb” bullet which went into his thigh. He was hospitalized for over a week and is still in very bad condition, neither able to walk nor stand, a fact which did not stop the Israel army from arresting him.

The other young man, a 22 year old politically active student at Birzeit University, was also arrested from his home in Birzeit. About 15 soldiers came into his house with intent to arrest him. At the same time, the army also invaded the home of two young American Birzeit University students living in the same building as the arrested Palestinian. One of the Americans reported that the soldiers stayed calm as they searched the Americans’ entire home.

Both men are still in the custody of the Israelis.