Tag: Settlers - Page 135 - International Solidarity Movement

Settlers attack Palestinian family in Sheikh Jarrah, injure seven

20 October 2009

The settlers who have recently occupied the house of the Gawi family, forcefully evicted from their home in Sheikh Jarrah on 2 August 2009, launched an attack today on the Palestinians camping outside. According to local sources, seven Palestinians were injured and four arrested.

The attack started between 8 and 8.30pm, when a driver of a lorry delivering furniture to the occupied house, accompanied by four settlers, attacked a five year old boy from the Gawi family who was playing nearby. The settlers then attacked a small tent where the Gawi family have been living since the eviction. The tent was full of mainly women and children at that time. A Palestinian woman who was hit hard by the driver had to be taken to hospital. A fight broke out immediately, involving at least 15 settlers. Several members of the family sustained light injuries and a 15-year old girl from the neighbourhood was hit by a falling TV as the settlers managed to tear down the tent.

When police arrived, they made no attempts to stop the settlers attacking the family and later arrested four Palestinians. Two were released and another two, Khalet Gawi and Saleh Diab have been taken to hospital and told to come back to the police station tomorrow for further questioning. Four settlers were taken for questioning and released immediately.

The Gawi and Hannoun families, consisting of 53 members including 20 children, have been left homeless after they were forcibly evicted from their houses on 2 August 2009. The Israeli forces surrounded the homes of the two families at 5.30am and, breaking in through the windows, forcefully dragged all residents into the street. The police also demolished the neighbourhood’s protest tent, set up by Um Kamel, following the forced eviction of her family in November 2008.

At present, all three houses are occupied by settlers and the whole area is patrolled by armed private settler security 24 hours a day. Both Hannoun and Gawi families, who have been left without suitable alternative accommodation since August, continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular attacks from the settlers and harassment from the police.

The Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah is home to 28 Palestinian families, all refugees from 1948, who received their houses from the UNRWA and Jordanian government in 1956. All face losing their homes in the manner of the Hannoun, Gawi and al-Kurd families.

The aim of the settlers is to turn the whole area into a new Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish continuum that will effectively cut off the Old City form the northern Palestinian neighborhoods. Implanting new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal under many international laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Iraq Burin: Local farmers and international volunteers plant 45 olive trees on land reclaimed from a nearby settlement

18 October 2009

On Sunday, 18 October, about 30 internationals from several different solidarity groups accompanied inhabitants of the village Iraq Burin south of Nablus to plant olive trees. 45 plants were donated by the Palestinans Authority and the action was considered successful by the local residents.

Farmers from Iraq Buring plant olive trees on reclaimed land

The olive trees were planted close to the illegal settlement Bracha, on 30 dunums (30 000m2) of land that has recently been returned to its rightful Palestinian owners as a result of an agreement with the District Coordination Office. This is the first success of its kind, and is a result of weekly demonstrations, where local protesters and international activists came together to protest illegal land annexation and settlement expansion in the West Bank.

After the olive trees were planted the protesters stayed in the field chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, celebrating the reclaimed land. A security jeep along with an army jeep arrived to the area at this point, however, as the action was already over and successfully fulfilled, the protesters decided to return to the village.

Palestinian village of Bil’in seeks justice in Canada

As part of the Village’s campaign against the construction of settlements on their lands, Bil’in has filed an unprecedented legal claim in Canada against two Canadian companies and their Canadian director. The claim arises from the construction of apartment buildings and the marketing and selling of residential units in the Modi’in Illit settlement which is built, in part, on the lands belonging to Bil’in. The lawsuit has been filed in the Canadian Province of Quebec where those companies and their director are registered and live.

The lawsuit is based on Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own population into the territory occupied. That Article expressly forms part of Canadian law under its Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act and Geneva Conventions Act. Bil’in has strongly submitted that Canadian courts are an appropriate forum to adjudicate on the conduct of Canadian companies in the Occupied West Bank under International humanitarian Law, including Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In June 2009, the Green Park Companies brought Preliminary Dismissal Motions before the Quebec Superior Court sitting in Montreal. In Reasons released on September 18, 2009, Justice Louis-Paul Cullen decided that the Israeli High Court of Justice was a more appropriate court to hear the case against these Canadian companies and their Canadian director on a legal principle known as “forum non conveniens”. Judge Cullen dismissed the case. In so doing however, the Quebec Court affirmed, for the first time in Canadian law, the principle of corporate civil liability for breaches of International Humanitarian law.

An appeal to the Quebec Court of Appeal from the decision of the Quebec Superior Court declining jurisdiction on the basis of forum non conveniens will be filed in Montreal by Bil’in’s Canadian Legal Counsel, Mark Arnold, on October 19, 2009. The appeal alleges that the Quebec Superior Court made grievous legal and factual errors in declining jurisdiction because Israeli courts have consistently ruled that the question of the legality of settlements under the Fourth Geneva Convention to be a matter of politics that the Israeli High Court of Justice will not hear. The appeal also alleges numerous other factual errors.

The Bil’in case raises major issues about the use of the legal system in Israel and internationally to achieve justice within the reality of the Occupation. In addition, and in light of the recent Goldstone report, which raises the question of impunity within the Israeli legal system, and the country’s accountability in international forums to center stage, this case is extremely important for Israeli, Palestinian and world jurisprudence with respect to the application of International humanitarian Law to conflicts arising from war.

What
The Palestinian Village of Bil’in has filed an appeal to a Canadian Court against two Canadian companies involved in settlement construction on their land
Where
B’Tselem conference room, 8 Hata’asiya St, Talpiyot Industrial Park, Jerusalem
When
Tuesday, October 20th 2:00 pm
Who
Adv. Mark Arnold, Bil’in’s Canadian Legal Counsel will speak via video conference from Toronto about the case, its precedent-setting significance, and the recently submitted appeal.
Adv. Michael Sfard, Bil’in’s Israeli attorney will speak about the village’s cases in the Israeli court system, and the decision to pursue the course of universal jurisdiction.
Statements will also be given on behalf of the Bil’in Popular Committee and the Al Haq Palestinian human rights organization

MOHAMMED KHATIB’S STATEMENT

First, I would like to thank you for coming here today, even though I myself am barred from being here because of the Israeli policy of closure.

Recently, following the Goldstone report, there has been a lot of talk around Israel’s refusal or inability to adhere to, and implement international law, and the resulting impunity. For me, this is not an abstract matter. In February of 2005, Israel began building its so called separation wall on my village’s lands. Israel has done so despite the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion the previous year deeming the wall – in its entirety – illegal.

My village has exhausted every option we could possibly come up with in fighting this unjust evil. Together with our Israeli and international partners, we have launched an ongoing campaign of civic resistance, for which we have paid dearly: dozens were and are jailed – I myself saw the inside of a prison cell. Hundreds were injured, and one, my friend Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed. He was killed for nothing more than demonstrating peacefully.

In our search for justice we have also turned to the Israeli High Court, which despite refusing to take on the issue of settlements, was willing to take on the issue of the wall. In its ruling, the court has pronounced the path of the wall on our land illegal, and pointed to the fact that it was planned to allow the expansion of the neighboring settlement, Modi’in Illit. It had also ordered the rerouting of this wall in a less harmful way, that will return *some* of our lands back.

It has been two years now since this ruling, and even this very partial change, had not yet materialized. The wall remains on our land, in its original path. Meanwhile, the settlement behind this wall continues to grow, in clear Israeli contempt of international law. Obama or no Obama the construction of 84 new residential units was approved just last month by Ehud Bark, the Israeli minister of defense.

In turning abroad, to the Canadian court today, and to others in the future, we hope to find a way to breach Israeli impunity; to find a way to realize justice and our rights. It is a way for us to sustain our belief in civic and grassroots action, and hope that our sacrifices have not been in vain.

Thank you all for coming here today

* Mohammed Khatib Bil’in is the secretary of Bil’in’s Village Council and a leading member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements

AL-HAQ’s STATEMENT

Al-Haq is disappointed that its representatives could not be here to join you in this press conference due to the policies of the Israeli occupation. While these policies impact us on a daily basis, we will never accept them, as the people of Bil’in will never accept the theft of their land.

Al-Haq is privileged to have the chance to fight for justice alongside the resilient villagers of Bil’in and the brave legal team of Mr. Sfard and Mr. Arnold. As long as we continue to pursue justice there will be hope for Bil’in, as well as all Palestinians struggling for their right to self-determination.

This case is another example of that pursuit for justice. We are confident in the appeal, as it is clear that the Israeli judicial system cannot serve as the forum for achieving justice for Palestinians.

We stand ready to raise the issue of corporate accountability and work with lawyers anywhere in the world to hold corporations accountable for their complicity in the policies of the Israeli occupation and the breaches of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory.

* Al-Haq is a Palestinian human rights organization
Al-Haq is an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in Ramallah, West Bank, which holds a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. http://www.alhaq.org

New York protest against detention without trial of Palestinian BDS activist

Adalah NY

17 October 2009

Demonstrators protest in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners, Photo: Hanan Tabbara

On Saturday forty New York human rights advocates rallied on a cold fall day at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli settlement mogul Lev Leviev to demand that Israel release jailed Palestinian boycott activist Mohammad Othman. Othman, held without charges and in solitary confinement since September 22nd, is from Jayyous, a West Bank village where Leviev’s company Leader is building the Israeli settlement of Zufim. The protesters also called for an end to Israel’s wave of arrests of Palestinian activists from Bil’in, another West Bank village campaigning against the construction of settlement homes by another Leviev company, Africa-Israel.

Andrew Kadi of Adalah-NY commented, “Israel’s arrest of Mohammad Othman and residents of Bil’in simply affirms the need for a global movement of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), similar to the movement against apartheid South Africa, to hold Israel accountable, and pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights.”

Mohammad Othman is believed to be the first person to be arrested by Israel specifically for advocating for the growing international movement to boycott companies, including Leviev’s, that support Israeli human rights abuses. The New York protest was one of fourteen events held worldwide on October 16th and 17th calling for Mohammad Othman’s immediate release.

Hundreds of Madison Avenue shoppers took home a cartoon flyer “Jailed for an Idea” that depicts Othman’s detention, and Israel’s efforts to crush the protest campaigns in the villages of Bil’in and Jayyous against Leviev’s settlements (download the cartoon flyer). The protesters chanted, “Jayyous and Bil’in will not bow, Free Mohammad Othman now,” and “Boycotting Israel is no crime, Leviev should be doing time.” With a guitar accompaniment, the protesters sang songs calling for the boycott of Leviev and Israel, including an updated version of the civil rights classic, “which Side are You On,” and “Don’t Buy Israeli” to the tune of Hava Nagila.

Calls to free Mohammad Othman have been highlighted by The Nation, in letter campaigns by the US organizations Jewish Voice for Peace and Grassroots International, as well as in an international petition. Othman was detained as he crossed the Allenby bridge from Jordan, returning home to the West Bank from a trip to Norway. Othman’s advocacy efforts on behalf of the growing international movement for BDS against Israel contributed to the Norwegian government’s recent decision to divest from its pension funding holdings in Elbit Systems. Norway has also been asked by a coalition of eleven organizations and the villages of Jayyous and Bil’in to divest from Leviev’s company Africa-Israel.

The villages of Jayyous and Bil’in have both been targeted with arrests and repression due to their multi-year nonviolent protest campaigns. Twenty-eight Bil’in activists have been arrested by Israel since June when Bil’in’s lawsuit against settlement construction on village land was heard in Canadian court. Just weeks after he testified in Canada, Bil’in activist Mohammed Khatib was jailed by Israeli forces for 15 days and then released on bail. Bil’in protester Adeeb Abu Rahme and seventeen others are still being held in Israeli jails, and Bil’in protest organizer Abdullah Abu Rahme is “wanted” by the Israeli army for his nonviolent organizing.

The protest was 14th held in front of Leviev’s New York store since it opened in November, 2007. Leviev’s company Africa-Israel is currently reeling from a financial crisis. Additionally, the international campaign to boycott Leviev due to his settlement construction and involvement in abusive business practices in the diamond industry in Angola and Namibia has achieved a string of successes. UNICEF, Oxfam, The British Government and major Hollywood stars have all distanced themselves from Leviev. The investment firm BlackRock and pension giant TIAA-CREF both also recently sold off their shares of Leviev’s company Africa-Israel, though both denied they did so due to his settlement construction.

Photos: http://adalahny.org/index.php/photo-galleries/325-free-mohammad-othman-stop-the-bds-arrests-at-leviev-ny

Settler attacks farmers during Qaryut olive harvest

15 October 2009

Three farmers were attacked by a settler outside the village of Qaryut Wednesday, October 15^th as they collected their olives for the yearly harvest. A struggle followed and the farmers managed to detain the settler until the military arrived. The settler was subsequently released without charge.

At around midday, while the Palestinian farmers worked their lands close to the illegal settlement of Eli, a lone Israeli settler approached the three carrying a large stick and began threatening the farmers. Though the village of Qaryut has been coordinating with the District Coordination Office the military was nowhere to be seen. The settler began arguing with the farmers, ordering them to leave their own land. The argument escalated, the settler punched one of the farmers with one of his friends leaping to his defense and a struggle occurred, the third Palestinian man managing to call the DCO to alert the military, and take photos on his mobile phone.

The men managed to subdue the settler and detain him briefly until the military arrived shortly thereafter. They ordered the farmer who came under attack to accompany them to the police station of the Bet El settlement. Upon arrival, the farmer was accused of initiating the attack and wielding the stick the settler had threatened him with. Now sustaining minor injuries and faced with the possibility of the settler pressing charges on the victim, the farmer was forced to drop the charges and find his own transportation home to Qaryut from Ramallah. The settler was released without retribution.

This is the first incident of settler violence during the olive harvest this year in the village of Qaryut, closely located to the illegal settlements of Eli and Shilo.