Tag: Settlement

Israeli academics boycott West Bank settlements

31 August 2010 | BBC News

More than 150 Israeli academics say they will no longer lecture or work in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

In a letter, they said they supported the recent decision by a group of actors and others not to take part in cultural activity there.

The academics said that acceptance of the settlements caused “critical” damage to Israel’s chances of achieving peace with the Palestinians.

The actors were criticised for refusing to perform at a new cultural centre.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the last thing Israel needed as it resumed direct peace talks was a boycott from within.

In a letter published on Sunday, the academics said they would no longer take part in any kind of cultural activity, or lecture in any kind of academic setting, in settlements built on land occupied following the Middle East war – demarcated by what is commonly known as the “Green Line”.

They explained that they wanted to show support and solidarity for the 53 actors, writers and directors who last week said they would not take part in performances at the new cultural centre built in Ariel.

“We’d like to remind the Israeli public that, like all settlements, Ariel is also in occupied territory,” the academics said.

“If a future peace agreement with the Palestinian authorities puts Ariel within Israel’s borders, then it will be treated like any other Israeli town.”

“Legitimatisation and acceptance of the settler enterprise cause critical damage to Israel’s chances of achieving a peace accord with its Palestinian neighbours.”

Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

A separate letter, signed by a number of well-known Israeli authors and artists, is expected to be published in the coming days.

Yigal Cohen-Orgad, the chancellor of the Ariel University Centre, told Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday that “stupid behaviour seems to attract academic stupidity”.

Several right-wing politicians have criticised the actors, saying they are subsidised by the Israeli state and should have their funds withdrawn if they refuse to work in any settlements.

Israeli actors to boycott new West Bank theatre

29 August 2010 | The Guardian

60 actors, writers and directors argue that performing in occupied territories would legitimize illegal settlements

Dozens of Israeli actors, playwrights and directors have signed a letter refusing to take part in productions by leading theatre companies at a new cultural centre in a West Bank settlement, prompting renewed debate over the legitimacy of artistic boycott.

More than 60 have joined the protest over plans by Israel’s national theatre, the Habima, and other leading companies to stage performances in Ariel, a settlement 12 miles inside the West Bank. The letter, to Israel’s culture minister, Limor Livnat, says the new centre for performing arts in Ariel, which is due to open in November after 20 years in construction, would “strengthen the settlement enterprise”.

“We want to express our dismay with the intention of the theatres’ managements to perform in the new auditorium in Ariel and hereby declare that we will refuse to perform in the city, as in any other settlement.” Israel’s theatre companies should “pursue their prolific activity inside the sovereign territory of the state of Israel within the boundaries of the Green Line”.

Livnat said the boycott would cause divisions in Israeli society: “Culture is a bridge in society, and political disputes should be left outside cultural life and art. I call for the scheduled performances to be carried out as scheduled in Ariel and all over the country, as each citizen has the right to consume culture anywhere he chooses.”

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said the country was under attack by the international community – including economic, academic and cultural boycotts – and “the last thing we need at this time … is a boycott from within”.

The Habima, Cameri, Beit Lessin and Be’er Shiva theatre companies issued a joint defence of their plans, saying they “will perform in any place where there are theatre-loving Israelis, including the new cultural centre in Ariel. We respect the political views of our actors, but we’ll make sure that the best of Israeli theatre will get to Ariel”. The four companies, plus another two – the Khan and the Haifa – which have also agreed to stage productions in Ariel, all receive state funding.

Ron Nachman, the mayor of Ariel, said: “These actors get salaries from the government, which is sponsoring their theatres. You cannot take the money from the government and then decide your own policies. That is not integrity or honesty. If they disagree [with performing in Ariel], they should resign.”

It was not clear how many of the signatories were listed for planned performances in Ariel. Yousef Swaid, who is appearing in A Railway To Damascus, a production scheduled to be staged in Ariel, told Channel 1 television: “Settlers and settlements are not something that entertain me, and I don’t want to entertain them.” Rami Heuberger, who is not listed, said: “As a stage actor, it is a very, very problematic issue, and I think that so long as settlements are a controversial issue that will be discussed in any negotiations [with the Palestinians], I should not be there.”

Gideon Levy, a leading liberal Israeli commentator, backed the actors’ stance. “Yes, there is a difference between legitimate, sovereign Israel and the areas of its occupation,” he wrote in today’s Haaretz, which first reported the story. “. “Yes, there is a moral difference between appearing here and appearing there in the heart of an illegal settlement … built on a plot of stolen land, in a performance designed to help settlers pass their time pleasantly, while surrounded by people who have been deprived of all their rights.”

The Yesha Council, which represents settlers, said the actors’ letter had been signed by “army evaders and anti-Zionist leftwing activists”.

The actors’ letter follows the refusal of some international artists to perform in Israel because of its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Earlier this summer, Elvis Costello cancelled concerts in Israel, citing the “intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security”. The Pixies, Gil Scott Heron, Santana and Klaxons have also withdrawn from performances.

Ariel, home to almost 20,000 people, was founded in 1978 deep in the West Bank. Israel wants it to remain on its side of any border resulting from peace negotiations with the Palestinians. All settlements on occupied territory are illegal under international law.

Izbet Tabib under threat

Three half-demolished shops in Izbet Tabib: the owners hope to stop any further bulldozers from the Israeli company Delek

24 August 2010 | ISM Media

In the small village of Izbet Tabib near Qalqiliya in the north of the West Bank, 27 of the 55 houses have received eviction orders from Israeli authorities. Located in Area C (following the Oslo Accords making it Israeli civilian and militarily controlled), the village has an extremely hard time getting building permits. Furthermore as it is situated near both the annexation wall and several illegal settlements, villagers experiences daily harassment and constant tension.

The wall has annexed large parts of Izbet Tabib’s farm land, and extremist Israeli settlers are in the habit of driving through the village and harassing the inhabitants by shooting in the air or setting olive trees on fire. Also, the Israeli Occupation Forces are almost always present, creating additional trouble and fear for the village. The Popular Committee and others attempting to resist the occupation are especially targeted by the Israeli authorities in an attempt to repress this resistance.

A case in point is that of the Mayor and Head of the Popular Committee, Bayian Tabib. He and his fifteen-year-old son, Thair Bayain Tabib, were arrested on Friday the 30th of July around 2 p.m. as they stepped out of the mosque after the Friday noon prayer. Both were accused of throwing stones at a main road near the settlement – both declared themselves innocent. Regardless of the complete lack of evidence, Israeli soldiers, after having detained the two men for about an hour, put them in a jeep and drove them to a secluded place slightly outside of the village. Here, the commander in charge demanded that Bayain Tabib keep the youngsters of the village completely away from the main road and threatened him with further arrests if he didn’t obey. The soldiers seized the identity cards of the two men unlawfully and finally released them after one hour and a half.

Episodes like this are not exceptional. Thair Tabib has been arrested a number of times, the first when he was thirteen years old, and is always accused of stone-throwing. His father, Bayain Tabib, was in prison for two months in 2002 during the second Intifada. As the head of the Popular Committee, Tabib receives special attention from the Israeli authorities. Israeli soldiers often park outside his home and point their machine guns at anyone coming or going in an attempt to intimidate Tabib, his wife, and his nine children.

The latest threat is to three shops in the village which were partially demolished on August 12th by a bulldozer owned by a private Israeli gas company, Delek. The firm wants to build a new gas station in the area for the roughly 5,000 Israeli settlers from Zufin and  the many more who inhabit Alfei Menashe, the biggest illegal settlement nearby,  as at present the only one nearby is Palestinian. The land was sold to them by a Palestinian collaborator with Israeli ID but the shopkeepers are resisting the demolition of their shops which would destroy their livelihood. ISM activists will be staying overnight together with the Mayor and owners of the shops in case a demolition bulldozer returns – they have come on the three previous Thursdays and are expected again this Thursday. According to the villagers court has issued a demolition order on the shops.

Meanwhile, despite the great pressure that Izbet Tabib is exposed to from both soldiers, settlers, the wall, eviction and demolition orders, the village has become an important and inspiring site for resistance against the occupation. What is particularly unique is that Izbet Tabib joins an extremely small number of villages that have succeeded in having the wall that used to cut deeply into their farm land physically removed and thus getting most of their stolen farm land back after a verdict that declared the original route of the wall illegal.

Demonstration against water theft in Baqa’a Valley, Hebron

23 August 2010 | ISM Media

Today (23 August 2010) a demonstration was held in the Baqa’a Valley, east of Hebron, against the theft of water from the Palestinian population in the area. About 15 water trucks were parked along Road 60, the road that runs through the valley. The intention was to protest against the fact that the farmers don’t get access to the water reservoirs in Kyriat Arba, the illegal settlement outside Hebron city. The demonstration was also attended by local farmers, standing on the side of the road with the truck drivers. Israeli police and army came to the spot, but did not interfere during the hour-long demonstration.

The water situation in Baqa’a Valley is critical, as the population depends on their farmland to support themselves, and they get a very limited amount of water from the municipality. The settlements in the Hebron district are supported by the Israeli government with the majority of the water resources, originally sourced from Bethlehem, going to settlements. The water is cut off from the Palestinian areas, which receive only a tiny percentage from the Hebron municipality, while most of it is confiscated by the Israeli state and distributed to illegal settlements like Kyriat Arba and Harsina. According to B’Tselem figures from 2008, residents in the Hebron district use on average 56 litres per capita daily – the third lowest amount in the West Bank. In general, Israelis have access to three and a half times more water than Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Baqa’a Valley is the most fertile land in the Hebron district, and the residents are living in constant fear of losing their homes and land, as the area is included in the Israeli state’s plan of dividing the West Bank and expanding and connecting the surrounding settlements. About 35 houses in Baqa’a Valley, in the so-called Area C are now facing eviction orders. In addition the residents frequently face vandalism of crops and water pipes from settlers intent on sabotaging Palestinian residents’ livelihoods. The video below from Tayush shows a recent incident in which settlers attempted to destroy water pipes in the Hebron district.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER8VKHwgxns

The water shortage in the Occupied Territories is a major violation of the basic human rights of Palestinians. Israel’s control over and unequal distribution of water resources has been an increasingly harmful policy since 1967 as Palestinian consumption needs have increased with population but not been met due to both neglect of existing infrastructure and failure to construct new water infrastructure, especially in rural areas. There are also numerous restrictions placed on Palestinians right to access water for example by constructing wells. As well as deliberate sabotage by settlers, leakage from pipes due to defective maintenance means that one-third of the amount of the water supplied to the West Bank annually is lost.

Under international law (Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which prohibits an occupying state from discriminating between residents of occupied territory) Israel’s clear discrimination in terms of quantity and regularity of water to supply to settlements as opposed to Palestinian areas is illegal. During the summer Palestinians’ water supplies are often reduced even further in order to meet increased demand from settlements.

http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5

Dark days in Al Buwayra: a week of settler attacks

Al Buwayra is a small village located on the outskirts of Hebron, with about 560 inhabitants. Most people are farmers, growing grapes and vegetables to support themselves. The situation in the village is critical, and villagers are repeatedly being attacked by settlers from the illegal Kyriat Arba and Harzina settlements which surround the village as well as several illegal outposts.

The road into the village is blocked by a gate and an earth mound set up by the Israeli army, forcing the villagers to either climb or drive a long way in order to enter their homes. Since the Israeli army began demolishing two of the five illegal outposts around Buwayra, settlers have carried out several attacks both on the villagers, their farmland and their animals. Daily life is a struggle with good reason to be constantly afraid. ISM, in close cooperation with CPT, has been going to Buwayra almost every day over the last 3 weeks, when the army removed the first illegal outpost and the settlers started to attack the Palestinians in response.

Thursday 5 August

Death threats towards two internationals, attack on Susan Sultan.

Early Thursday morning, around 6.30, soldiers from the Israeli army came to remove an illegal outpost near a settlement. ISM and CPT sent people there straight away to make sure the soldiers and settlers didn’t harass Palestinians. The settlers were really angry and the villagers feared that the settlers would retaliate against the Palestinians. The settlers set fire to a small piece of Palestinian farmland but luckily the Palestinians themselves were able to put out the fire. There were internationals present almost the whole day. Two internationals, one from Denmark and the other from England, received two death threats from settlers because of their presence in the area. The outpost was removed and the soldiers tried to block the way to outpost but after the soldiers left the settlers started on clearing the road and rebuilding the outpost.

On the evening of August 5th Suzan Jamil Sultan, 51, a university English teacher was in her car, with her three children aged 2, 3 and 8 in the backseat, driving towards her home, at around 21.30 at night. Near her home, which has an outpost located near to it, she saw a car parked across the narrow road, blocking it. She also saw a car with a blue light, and assumed it was a police car, and therefore thought it was safe to drive on. Suddenly at least ten settlers appeared, and they started throwing stones to her car. She was scared, and her children were crying. She tried to reverse the car, but was not able to move on the narrow road.

Suzan then got out of the car, as she wanted to protect the children from getting hurt. The settlers attacked her with stones, hitting her in the head, in her side and her hand. She remembers that she fell, and couldn’t hear or see for some minutes, and when she was able to see again the settlers were gone. She then saw that the blue light belonged to the settler’s security car, parked near where she was attacked. She then asked the driver: “Did you see what they did?” in English. The man answered that he doesn’t speak English. Suzan’s daughter then arrived and helped her and her children home. She had to go to hospital and needed three stitches on her hand. She was still suffering from pain in the head and side, and had a bandage on her hand when ISM activists spoke talked to her the following Monday and her whole family, she said, were scared to move around the open fields where they might encounter settlers.

Friday 6 August

Two internationals attacked. Three Palestinians arrested at night, while trying to defend a family from settler attack.

ISM sent two people to replace the people from CPT that had spent the night in Al Buwayra. The situation up until 12.00 was quiet

Canadian activist Peter Cunliffe after he was left with a broken nose following an attack by masked Israeli settlers in Al Buwayra

At 12.00 the two internationals were sitting in the shade under a tree when three masked settlers appeared out of nowhere and attacked. There carried wooden and metal sticks. The internationals were severely beaten. After the attack, which lasted only 2 minutes, the settlers ran towards the outpost. Family members from the Sultani house helped the internationals to stop the bleeding and protected them from further attacks. They were taken to Al Khalil hospital and one needed surgery on a broken nose and is still recovering from his injuries.

That night 100 settlers threw stones at the Sultans house because the Sultans helped the two internationals that were attacked. When soldiers arrive most of the settlers leave the crime scene but one settler stays back to tell the soldiers that it’s the Palestinians that have been attacking the settlers and not the other way around. Three Palestinians were arrested at night while they were trying to defend and protect the Sultan house from the settler attack. It is known that two of them have been released.

Saturday 7 August

Closed Military Zone. Settlers set fire to grape vines.

Early on Saturday morning six people from ISM went to Al Buwayra. At first things seemed calm but after a while, when sitting close to the outpost, activists were approached by soldiers who said the area was a closed military zone and that the internationals had to leave. They moved a little away.

At night the settlers set fire to a field of Palestinian grapevines and a fire truck was called. However, the Palestinians ended up putting out the fire themselves.

Sunday 8 August

In the morning internationals tried to go into Al Buwayra but were refused access by the soldiers saying once again that the village was a closed military zone and that the internationals could not go and visit families and take pictures of the damage caused by the settler attacks.

Later three internationals, one from CPT and two from ISM, go by car and enter the village. The border police spotted the internationals quickly but after a talk with the commander the internationals and the Palestinian driving the car were allowed to go and visit one family for half an hour. The family spoke about what it is like to live in constant danger and fear of the settlers. From the family house settlers could be seen walking in the hills close to the outpost.

Monday 9 August

On Monday internationals made it in to Al Buwayra. By taking the back way the internationals avoided being seen by the border police and were able to go and speak to different families. The internationals saw settlers walking around the outpost but overall things seemed to be calm. But the villagers live in constant fear. They have trouble sleeping because they never know when to expect a settler attack. They are really worried about the future and when things are quiet for a few days they know that this is only a brief respite before a new settler attack.