9 July 2011 | Christian Peacemaker Team – At-Tuwani
Carrying a large banner that read “We want to live in Peace and Dignity,” over one hundred Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists marched in protest of an extension to the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Ma’on on the morning of July 9th.
In response to the nonviolent march, Israeli soldiers declared a closed military zone, fired tear gas and threw sound grenades. One Palestinian man suffered minor burns on his legs when a sound bomb landed at his feet.
The extension of the Israeli outpost consists of a tent that settlers built about two months ago. Settlers built the tent on ground that belongs to families in the nearby Palestinian village of At-Tuwani.
The police detained one Palestinian and one international, but released them when activists refused to leave the area without them.
8 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
An ISM volunteer was detained and threatened with deportation for participating in a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration in the village of Iraq Burin last week, and was finally released by Israel since there was no justification for her arrest or deportation.
These weekly demonstrations come following the January shooting of a 19 year old Palestinian man, Oday Maher Hamza Qadous, by a member of the same illegal settlement. Saturday’s demonstration also follows an illegal nighttime raid into Iraq Burin on Thursday night–consistent with an ongoing Israeli policy of repeated incursions into the village.
About 30 local villagers, including children, were accompanied by 3 French, 2 Swedish, 2 British, an American, and 1 Brazilian international observer during their weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli settlement of Bracha. Local villagers and international activists were forced to flee down a steep escarpment into the valley and adjacent village, while under fire from what observers noted to be high velocity tear gas canisters according to their range, as well as rubber coated steel bullets that were shot at head height. During the attempt to escape pursuing Israeli forces, two international activists, who wish to remain anonymous, suffered minor injuries.
At one point Israeli forces were also seen throwing stones at a Palestinian medic after protesting their illegal and unjustified arrest of a nonviolent, international activist.
“She was ahead of us all,” commented a British activist who witnessed the arrest of the woman. “Three soldiers were around her, and a male soldier made the arrest. She went limp while soldiers dragged her away.”
The activist, from Brazil, was arrested and accused of assaulting Israeli police by throwing stones and told she was going to be taken to a court hearing on Sunday, facing possible deportation. The hearing was scheduled to take place at 8:00 Sunday morning, yet she was transported to a deportation center without hearing.
A representative of the State affirmed in an informal meeting with the woman’s lawyers that she had been released around approximately 9:30 AM, while Prison Administration insisted that the activist was still in custody as of 12pm. Lawyers commented that this inconsistency opened a window for deportation police to illegally transport the woman to a deportation center without a hearing or legal consul. Lawyers commented that the woman’s illegal detention facilitated a planned deportation process.
The volunteer remained in custody while lawyers petitioned the state to release her. On July 6th the court answered with a decision that the volunteer may not be deported and that the State has to respond until July 7th at 12:00 PM to the lawyers’ request to release her immediately. After waiting for the state’s response the volunteer was released yesterday without any conditions and her visa was extended for an additional week.
On Sunday June 19th, six International Solidarity Movement activists from the United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Germany, and Sweden were illegally arrested by the Israeli military after attending a demonstration against the construction on confiscated land belonging to the Palestinian village, Deir Qaddis.
Apart from numerous Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists, many children and elderly villagers participated. The demonstrators marched through the village waving flags and chanting slogans. Some of the demonstrators formed a road blockade with rocks on the confiscated land.
The Israeli military arrived shortly after and responded with volleys of tear gas, aimed directly at demonstrators. The tear gas canisters set alight the grass around them, causing a fire which spread for hundreds of meters throughout the hills.
After the Israeli military had left the area, the demonstrators returned to the village. The military subsequently invaded the village following the demonstrations. The internationals were resting in a Palestinian home drinking tea. Upon noticing army infringement upon the village, the international volunteers walked onto the road to see where the army was, hoping that their presence as internationals would deter the soldiers from attacking the village. Yet the commanding officer ran down the hill, with about 15 soldiers behind him, pointed his gun directly at the volunteers, and said violently, “If you move, I will shoot.”
While under arrest the soldiers proceeded to teargas the village below, and as they did so, the wind carried the teargas across to the international volunteers. As they tried to treat themselves with onions and alcohol wipes, items commonly used to deter the affects of tear gas, the soldiers shouted that tear gas was “part of the Israeli experience.”
Then the soldiers forced them to walk in convoy formation.
“We walked with a soldier in front of us, behind, and one on either side with guns, shouting at us and using intimidation techniques, forcing us to walk like prisoners,” said one volunteer.
She continued to describe her experience as they were taken away from the village. “We walked for approximately 15 minutes in the heat and sun along the road until we were outside the illegal Israeli settlement of Nil’ in. When we repeatedly stated that we did not believe our presence in the village was illegal, or that the arrest was legal, the soldiers responded with the same aggressive responses that we ‘should know the law of the country that we are in, meaning Israel. They then made us get into an armoured jeep, where we were forced to sit in silence before blindfolding us, for the acclaimed reason that we were ‘not allowed to see the settlement’ through which we were passing,” she said.
During the first six hours of detention, the activists were kept in an armored military truck, being blindfolded for approximately one hour. After more than ten hours in detention, the activists were forced to stay awake and were given one piece of bread and water. The arresting officer was the Hebrew/English translator during each activist’s interrogation, having testified against them just hours before. He talked over the activists as they gave their testimony, accused the activists of lying and cut one activist off before she could finish her testimony. They were released 17 hours later, after signing a condition stating they will not participate in demonstrations in Deir Qaddis, Bi’lin and Ni’lin.
The activists were charged with participating in an illegal demonstration despite the fact that the demonstration took place on Palestinian land and therefore can not be declared illegal under both Israeli and international law.
On June 14th 2011 a Beit Ommar farmer reported that he was “ordered” to leave his farm land by an armed security guard from the adjacent Karmei Tzur settlement. The guard apparently used a dog to drive the farmer and his family from the land. Settlers had also recently set fire to the wheat harvest on the same farmland. The farmland borders a large separation fence, behind which there is further farmland and the settlement.
On June 18th the farmer, his family, some villagers, Israelis, and internationals returned to the land to farm and harvest grape leaves. The armed guard arrived and called the army who came in three trucks with an additional police truck. Approximately 15 soldiers entered the farmer’s land from the settlement through a gate in the fence. The soldiers told the farmer he could not farm his land, claiming it was a closed military zone. Following interaction with the Israeli protesters, the commander then changed his order so that the farmer and the villagers were permitted to farm, so long as the Israeli and internationals remained 150m away. The villagers completed their farming, while the Isrealis and internationals waited. They all returned to the village after harvesting. The farmer will continue to farm his land.
Beit Ommar is located to the south of Hebron. The “security fence” was built around the settlement about five years ago. The fence encircles the Karmei Tzur settlement , but also encompasses a significant amount of village land. This farm is outside the settlement fence but has experienced problems from the settlers in recent months.
Two Protesters Injured with Live Ammunition and one arrested in Deir Qaddis
Demonstrators disrupted construction of a new neighborhood in the adjacent settlement of Nili. Israeli soldiers responded with baton charges, tear-gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition. One organizer was arrested and several olive trees were burned down.
Two Palestinian youths in their twenties were hit by live ammunition today, during a demonstration against the settlement expansion in the West Bank village of Ni’lin and Dier Qaddis. A 24 year-old protester, was shot twice – in the pelvis and in the shoulder, and the second, a 22 year-old, was shot in the back of his thigh and will require an operation. Mohammed Amirah, a member of the Ni’lin popular committee, was arrested after seriously beaten, apparently for incitement.
The demonstration was organized by the Ni’lin, Budrus and Deir Qaddis popular committees.
Residents of Ni’lin, Deir Qaddis and Budrus, accompanied by Israeli and international supporters.
As the protesters advanced towards the bulldozers, Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers first fired a few rounds of live fire in the air and very quickly moved on to shoot tear-gas and rubber-coated bullets directly at the protesters. Despite the attack, demonstrators managed to reach the bulldozers and disrupt construction for half an hour. Then the soldiers started beating the demonstrators and arrested Mohammed Amireh.
As the protesters retreated, soldiers followed them to the edge of the village, where clashes ensued and where the two were shot. In addition to the two protesters hit shot with live ammunition, six more were shot with rubber coated steel bullets.
