On November 15th, Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli settler public transport headed to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Fifty years after the U.S. Freedom Riders staged mixed-race bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience. Organizers say that this ride to demand liberty, equality, and access to Jerusalem is the first of many to come. The Freedom Riders will be riding Egged and Veolia buses. Veolia runs many transportation services in local US communities, and is the target of many BDS campaigns. This provides a great opportunity for local Boycott or Dump Veolia campaigns to have a creative action that ties directly to Palestinian-led direct action.
Palestinian Freedom Riders are asking US activists to step up alongside them, taking to the streets (or buses!) to show our solidarity with these courageous and historic protests.
Learn more about separate and unequal transportation systems here.
The resources on this webpage outlines some easy ways to organize solidarity actions in your local community. If you have any questions or would like some support planning, please be in touch! Email: stefanie@jvp.org
Resources for Solidarity:
Click on image to download the toolkit for acting in solidarity with the November 2011 Freedom Rides campaign inspired by those of the Civil Rights Movement.Click on image to download a high-res copy of the Freedom Rider Cartoon. Cartoon by Ethan Heitner.Click on icon to listen to an mp3 recording of the Freedom Riders song. Lyrics are available in the toolkit.
9 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
In the past three years Burin has faced increased settler violence. This small village of approximately 3,000 people deal with a constant threat of settler attacks or Israeli army harassment. Three settlements surround Burin: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givt Arousa. The residents of these illegal settlements make it clear that they will do whatever it takes to force the Palestinians out of their homes. Their criminal acts range from burning olive trees, stoning farmers, and shooting live ammunition at Palestinians.
Burin surviving the olive harvest – Click here for more information
The Burin people have already lost over 2,000 olive trees since April by settler fires. In order to ensure that the trees are ruined the settlers alter their attack by the time of day to make their violent crimes less visible. The burning of trees is usually done during the day, while the cutting down of trees is usually done at night. During the warmer months, the settlers mostly burn down trees because they know the fire will spread quickly due to the heat. The people of Burin are always watching and waiting for the next inevitable hate crime to occur.
There has not been a single settler attack on Burin in over a month, which is really unusual. The last period without any attacks lasted for 60 days. This “peaceful” period was broken with a day full of settler violence. The people are anticipating the next attack. They do not know when, but that it will happen. In addition to waiting on the next attack, they are still waiting on the Israeli court ruling of whether a mosque in Burin should be demolished for disturbing the peace in the settlements during the call for prayer. The air in Burin is filled with anxiety for what is to come in the near future.
Burin today is still standing tall and strong despite the many obstacles that suffocate daily life in the village.
Amal is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name changed).
On Tuesday, November 15th, 2011, Palestinian activists will reenact the US Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Rides to the American South by boarding segregated Israeli public transportation in the West Bank to travel to occupied East Jerusalem.
Soldiers set up a “flying checkpoint” outside Ramallah, near the village of Surda
Next Tuesday, Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli public transportation headed from inside the West Bank to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s.
Fifty years after the U.S. Freedom Riders staged mixed-race bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience.
The Freedom Riders seek to highlight Israel’s attempts to illegally sever occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, and the apartheid system that Israel has imposed on Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Several Israeli companies, among them Egged and Veolia, operate dozens of lines that run through the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, many of them subsidized by the state. They run between different Israeli settlements, connecting them to each other and cities inside Israel. Some lines connecting Jerusalem to other cities inside Israel, such as Eilat and Beit She’an, are also routed to pass through the West Bank.
Israelis suffer almost no limitations on their freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory, and are even allowed to settle in it, contrary to international law. Palestinians, in contrast, are not allowed to enter Israel without procuring a special permit from Israeli authorities. Even Palestinian movement inside the Occupied Territories is heavily restricted, with access to occupied East Jerusalem and some 8% of the West Bank in the border area also forbidden without a similar permit.
While it is not officially forbidden for Palestinians to use Israeli public transportation in the West Bank, these lines are effectively segregated, since many of them pass through Jewish-only settlements, to which Palestinian entry is prohibited by a military decree.
7 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
ISM has maintained a daily presence at the al-Kurd residence in Sheikh Jarrah since August 2009 when Israeli authorities paved the way for Israeli settlers to occupy the front part of the family home. On the first night of Eid al-Adha, on November 6th, 2011, three international volunteers camped in a make shift area just outside of the residence, located in the same area where the ISM tent was before it was burned to the ground by the settlers just two months ago.
Thirteen al-Kurd family members spanning three generations gathered to celebrate the Muslim holiday. In tradition, gifts were given to the children and the women of the family. All enjoyed a dinner of lamb, salad, mansef (a local dish of bread, yogurt, and meat), and burma for dessert. And as always in Palestine, plenty of tea and coffee was prepared and enjoyed.
After staying the night I had more time to talk with Nabil. He showed me the blankets he’d been forced to hang to prevent water, vomit, and human waste being tossed at the family from the windows of the house occupied by illegal Zionist settlers. They were hung between the areas where his children used to play and the greatly reduced patio space just outside his family’s entrance. The metal gate that once separated the space was torn down by the settlers. The swing and seasaw that his children once enjoyed were also dismantled by settlers and now lie unusable in the back of the house.
The violence directed toward the Al-Kurds does not stop with the constant verbal abuse and the tossing of liquids. One female family member, for example, has been beaten on six occasions, each time requiring medical attention. On this first night of Eid, the settlers ran power tools until 3 AM, and dogs barked loudly, making sleep difficult for the family.
Activists were doused with water several times throughout the evening as well.
Nabil’s wife and daughters left early Monday, the second day of Eid Al-Ahda. Below are Nabil and his son Mahmoud just before leaving for more family festivities.
Nabil al Kurd and his son Mahmood
Wahed Rajol is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
5 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Thursday November 3rd at dawn, 8 military jeeps with around 25 soldiers and one bulldozer arrived at Um Alfagara. The bulldozer immediately began to demolish six pylons built for bringing electrical wires from the nearby village of Attwani to Um Alfagara. The bulldozer worked a couple of hours, guarded by the Israeli Occupation Forces until the six pylons were torn down and destroyed.
Destruction in South Hebron village – Click here for more images
Um Alfagara is a small village with 150 inhabitants in the South Hebron Hills on the edge to the Jordanian dessert and beside a large area declared to be a permanent closed military area used as a shooting practice range by the Occupation Forces. There is no access to water except from the wells belonging to the villagers and no electricity except from the electricity provided by a small windmill producing just about enough for the villagers to charge their phones.
A new project for bringing electricity is the latest attempt to ease the life for the villagers who mainly stand the poor conditions in their village in order to protect their land against land grab both from the Israeli Occupation Forces and from the settlers in the neighboring settlement Ma’on. The project received the second demolish order on the electric poles around one month ago.
A local coordinator in the area answered when asked why the Occupation forces demolished the pylons, “The occupation has tried for many years to make life as hard as possible for the citizens in the South Hebron Hills in order to force people to move to the major cities so that settlers can steal our land for good. The policy used against the inhabitants in the South Hebron Hills are very similar to the suppression of the Bedouin population”
The Israeli Civil Administration is planning to expel Bedouin communities living in Area C as soon as January 2012, claiming that the Bedouins do not have rights to the land on which they live and that all Bedouin construction has been done without permits. Demolition orders have been issued against most Bedouin structures. Um Alfagara lies in Area C, under full Israeli military and civil control.
Attwani the neighboring village, inhabited by around 300 Palestinians, managed last year in the month of Ramadan to implement electricity and running water. The water is brought in by the neighboring settlement and was finally approved by the District Coordination Office after some months, but the electricity pylons have been destroyed several times. Two pylons on each side of Road 316 have been destroyed many times, but since the villagers of Attwani rebuild the electric pylons every time, it seems that for a while the Occupation Forces stopped harassing the villagers and destroying their pylons until recently.
The electricity villagers seek is not only useful for getting light in night but also for charging phones and cameras that are essential for documenting the violation by settlers and the Occupation Forces. Though attacks by settlers have eased a bit, there is still a high risk factor of settler violence in the area of Um Alfagara and Attwani. The settlers from the outpost Havat Ma’on have a long history of violence. The last severe attack was June 2011.
Aida Gerard is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name changed).
On November 15th, Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli settler public transport headed to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Fifty years after the U.S. Freedom Riders staged mixed-race bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience. Organizers say that this ride to demand liberty, equality, and access to Jerusalem is the first of many to come. The Freedom Riders will be riding Egged and Veolia buses. Veolia runs many transportation services in local US communities, and is the target of many BDS campaigns. This provides a great opportunity for local Boycott or Dump Veolia campaigns to have a creative action that ties directly to Palestinian-led direct action.
