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Protests across the West Bank

International Solidarity Movement, August 6th, 2010

An Nabi Salih: This Friday, August 6^th, around 100 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals took part in An Nabi Salih’s weekly nonviolent demonstration against the illegal Halamish settlement’s theft of the village’s land and water supply. Regardless of the illegality of firing tear gas projectiles at body height, a practice which has caused many casualties in the village and last week injured an international female protestor, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to use this method in an attempt to quash the peaceful protests.

In response to the children symbolically throwing stones at IOF armored jeeps, tear gas projectiles were fired both directly at the children and also into the village, setting fire to one family’s garden. Despite the military’s refusal to use the fire extinguishers they carried with them whilst inspecting the blaze, international, Israeli and Palestinian demonstrators collaborated in attempting to extinguish the fire with bottles and buckets of water filled in neighbouring houses.

During this period, Israeli soldiers forcefully entered one of the aforementioned houses, in which women and children were collecting water to put the fire out. Several internationals and Palestinians entered the house in order to protect its inhabitants from the soldiers’ aggression. At this point a soldier attacked a Danish protestor, bashing his head against the wall.

One fire engine was later allowed on the scene, and the fire was extinguished after over two hours. The military continued to fire tear gas canisters at children throughout this period, and later began using both sound grenades and rubber coated steel bullets in addition.

Despite the IOF’s grossly disproportionate use of violence in order to repress the demonstration, the protest continued for several hours, with the majority of its participants – including more than twenty children – standing directly in front of the soldiers, chanting, singing and making peace signs.

In answer to these peaceful actions, two demonstrators (one Italian and one Israeli) were violently seized by soldiers and detained for over 5 hours in Halamish settlement’s military base without reason. The two protestors were standing in solidarity with villagers as soldiers attempted to arrest a Palestinian, again without cause.

The protest at An Nabi Saleh has taken place since January 2010, because of repeated attempts at land theft by nearby Israeli settlements – despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to An Nabi Saleh residents. Stolen village land now lies on the other side of Highway 465 and is controlled by the illegal Hallamish settlement which has been expanding and colonizing Palestinian land since 1977.

Ni’lin: The protest in the village of Ni’lin on Friday August 6^th mourned the loss of Yousef Amireh, who was killed 2 years ago by an Israeli soldier who shot him in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet on July 30th 2008.

Shot in this way at the age of 17, Amireh had been demonstrating against the murder of another child from Ni’lin – 10-year-old Ahmed Mousa – killed by the Israeli army the day before Amireh, and whose death was commemorated in last week’s Ni’lin protest.

The demonstration to mark this painful anniversary, which followed 6 hours of mourning in the village, was attended by international and Israeli activists as well as Palestinians. Protestors marched towards the Apartheid Wall, holding pictures of the two boys while chanting slogans in remembrance of the two innocent children murdered by soldiers. They held a banner which read: “We will never forget you Yousef, you will stay in our hearts” and called for the illegal wall to be brought down, with one protestor bearing a hammer to smash a part of the wall symbolically. The Israeli soldiers started shooting a lot of tear gas into the crowd and 5 protesters suffered breathing difficulties after the inhalation of toxic tear gas. Luckily, no serious injuries were incurred by any of the demonstrators and no arrests were made, despite Israeli soldiers moving towards the village, firing tear gas at the group and chasing protesters hoping to arrest them.

The construction of the wall in Ni’lin was delayed by a court injunction from the Israeli Supreme Court and by massive daily protests, as well as the wall in its entirety being declared illegal by the International Court of Justice. It serves to annex many thousands of dunams of Palestinian land to nearby illegal Israeli settlements such as Modi’in Ilit. Since the killings of Mousa and Amireh, three other Ni’lin residents have been killed by the Israeli army, and American solidarity activist Tristan Anderson was shot in the head with an illegal high-velocity tear gas canister on 13^th March 2009.

On the second anniversary of her son’s death, Yousef’s mother said that the village would remain steadfast and continue to protest against the Apartheid Wall. Yousef’s brothers said that they will never surrender and will always honor what Yousef died for: a free and peaceful Ni’lin. Saeed Amireh from Ni’lin said: “For every one of us who gets killed, thousands will stand up and refuse to surrender to the inhuman forces that insult life and try to deny us a peaceful and dignified existence. No person on this planet should be denied freedom and peace and dignity. For this, we will always stand up and struggle.”

Bil’in: This Friday over 200 Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters gathered in the village Bil’in to call for an end to the building of the illegal wall separating the villagers from their land. The Israeli army responded the peaceful protest with a large amount of teargas.

The demonstrators first gathered as usual by the community center in the village after noon prayers, and included a large group from a political Palestinian summer camp who had come to the village to join in solidarity with the local protesters. The march started with spirited chanting and went from the village towards the fence. Soldiers came out from the gate and faced the protesters in the olive fields – stopping them from reaching the fence. Protesters argued with the soldiers and continued chanting for about ten minutes before the Israeli army started to fire teargas towards the crowd. Most of the protesters ran back towards the village, while a smaller group remained in the olive fields continuing the protest for another half hour. No one is reported to have been hurt or arrested during the protest.

The protest against the illegal Apartheid Wall which cuts off the villagers from their farmland, causing severe economic damage to the village, has happened every week since. March 2005, and over the years has become an international symbol of the popular struggle for freedom and justice in Palestine, Bil’in itself has lost around half of its agricultural land – to illegal settlements and the illegal Apartheid Wall. Despite being ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, Israel continues to build the wall, and completed a route which steals Bil’in farmland even though is own Supreme Court also deemed it illegal. Prominent leaders of the popular struggle – including Abdallah and Adeeb Abu Rahmah – have been imprisoned, in an attempt to quash the resistance. Mohammed Khatib was this week prevented from travelling abroad, against the orders of a court. On 17^th April 2009 Israeli soldiers shot and killed Bil’in resident and regular protest attendee Bassem Abu Rahma with a high-velocity tear gas canister.

Al Ma’sara: Around 60 people demonstrated in Al Ma’sara on Friday August 6^th, about half of them internationals, joining the locals in solidarity with their struggle. Members of the Popular Committee welcomed the internationals, and made special mention of Japanese participants, expressing solidarity with their nation on the anniversary of the destruction and death wrought by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some parallels were drawn with the suffering of Palestinians today.

Two peace and justice delegations from Canada and France also participated in the demonstration which as always aimed to reach village lands stolen by the military occupation forces for the nearby illegal settlements. Palestinian demonstrators and their international supporters were presented with a written military order by four soldiers, in an attempt to deter the protest by declaring it a closed military zone .But chanting slogans of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘The Wall Must Fall’ demonstrators continued their march past the soldiers regardless and only stopped when they were physically prevented from going further because of three army jeeps blocking the road.

Nabi salih soldiers — Israeli occupation forces in An Nabi Salih

The demonstrators instead sat down en masse in front of the occupying forces. Speeches by members of the Popular Committee were followed by united chants from the crowd demanding peace, justice, access to land and the end of Israeli Apartheid. Members of both the Canadian and French delegations also sang resistance songs from their home countries. The demonstration reached its conclusion peacefully with no assaults by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Renowned for their creativity, protests in Al Ma’sara have been organized since November 2006, when Israel started constructing the wall in the region. Roughly 3,500 dunams of land are stolen by the wall and annexed to the illegal settlements which surround the cluster of nine Palestinian villages of which Al Ma’sara is one. The path of the wall in the area also cuts through the main road to Bethlehem, 13 kilometers to the north, which villagers depend on for access to basic needs such as medical services and education. Israeli soldiers have used unnecessary violence and weapons to suppress the peaceful protests in the village – including the use of sound bombs, and tear gas grenades.

Al-Walaja village resists construction of the Apartheid Wall

4 August 2010

This morning in Al-Walaja local Palestinian residents supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists nonviolently resisted the construction of the Apartheid Wall by blocking the work of a bulldozer.

Of the sixty protestors, fourteen people were arrested – six Palestinians and eight internationals.

Three were also injured as Israeli police forcefully and violently removed protestors from their blockade of the Caterpiller bulldozer, beating them with their rifle butts. One of the injured was a seven year old child. Numerous other people suffered chemical burns when the police used pepper spray on them.

The bulldozer was clearing ground to make way for construction of the Apartheid Wall which Israel continues to construct despite the ruling by the International Court of Justice ruling on July 9^th 2004 that it was illegal and should be dismantled.

This evening those arrested were reportedly released and making their way home.

Protests continue: Al Ma’sara, Beit Ommar, Ni’lin, Iraq Burin and Nabi Saleh

26 July 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Al Ma’sara (23 July 2010): Strong turn out for the second week running

Over 100 people participated in Al Ma’sara’s demonstration today in a successful protest against the Israeli Apartheid Wall which saw one person injured.

With the support of many internationals, including a large French contingent, the village – known for creatively themed protests – chose ‘European solidarity’ as the slogan this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZsPx-8DcGc

Israeli soldiers detain members of the press in Al Ma'sara

The demonstration in Al Ma’sara against the wall which annexes land from eight surrounding villages has been going since November 2006, when construction of the wall in the area began.

For the last year and a half Israeli soldiers have erected barbed wire and forced protestors back. However the army were surprised by the number of demonstrators today and although they threw tear gas and sound bombs at the peaceful protestors spirits and solidarity remained high, partly thanks to the presence of 6 piece drumming band.

The marchers approached the entrance of the villages while chanting ‘Free free Palestine, occupation is a crime’ and singing songs in French, English, Italian and Arabic. Despite the violent reaction from soldiers which forced the group to retreat some way, they stood they ground, dancing and singing – eventually the soldiers gave up.

One young woman from France, part of a group from Generation Palestine, was injured when a sound bomb exploded by her ear. She was taken to hospital where piece of shrapnel had to be removed from her ear. She required four stitches, and will be kept overnight to test for hearing problems.

Soldiers also detained one journalist and photographer for some time, in an unwarranted attack on freedom of the press.

Although the Israeli Occupation Forces have been more violent towards peaceful protestors in recent weeks, the determination to keep protesting is stronger than ever in Al Ma’sara. Protests will continue until the theft of thousands of dunums of agricultural land – which represents the villagers’ livelihood – for the illegal Gush Etzion settlement ends.

Beit Ommar (24 July 2010): Peaceful protest met with cynical military violence

In Beit Ommar, following last week’s attack on a journalist from Associated Press another member of the press – this time from Reuters – was injured due to the reckless and irresponsible use of weapons by the Israeli army. Around thirty soldiers intercepted the demonstration throwing sound grenades and tear gas cannisters directly at peoples’ heads and torsos, injuring several.

The 50 demonstrators (including twenty international activists) at this Saturday’s demonstration in Beit Ommar were met by a large military presence on their way to the land which has been confiscated by the military and nearby settlement since 2006. A few minutes were given to the protesters to leave the area declared to be a “closed military zone” – the commander counted the seconds on his watch whilst the soldiers prepared sound grenades behind their backs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nisbw6Uf6w

The Palestinians and internationals present responded to the conditions by sitting on the floor and asserting their non-violent resistance against the decision. Suddenly a succession of ten or more sound bombs exploded in the crowd and it was clear that soldiers had been instructed to throw them at the fleeing protesters. Two international women were targeted from close range; one being hit in the back and the other in the head.

The severe response from the military caused many to run back, more soldiers appeared from the sides and threw tear gas into the crowd again injuring an international activist in the back of the head and wounding her.

Ni’lin (23 July 2010): Large international presence reduces military violence – until later that day

This Friday’s protest in Nil’in was both extremely lively and unusually peaceful, as the Israeli Occupation Forces, against all expectations, refrained from shooting both tear gas and other weapons. The outstanding number of demonstrators – more than one hundred, and including many internationals and Israeli activists – seemed to have taken the soldiers by surprise. However, a military incursion followed in the early evening.

Around one o’clock, the approximately hundred locals and internationals met at an olive field in the vicinity of the Apartheid Wall, which, along with the building of illegal settlements, has annexed about 30% of the farm land of Nil’in.

The demonstration was also a protest against the decision of an Israeli military court in sentencing the coordinator of the popular committee, Ibrahim Amireh, and two other committee members, Hassan Mousa and Zaydoon Srour. Each was sentenced to eleven and a half months in jail – having already been imprisoned for 7 months – and a 9000 shekel fine, for the crime of being key organizers of the peaceful resistance in Ni’lin.

As always, the protest was initiated by the traditional Friday noon prayer, after which the crowd approached the wall, waving flags and banners and chanting pro-Palestinian slogans in several languages.

Following the usual pattern of the Nil’in protests, some villagers began throwing stones against the wall built on their farm land, but the army for once didn’t answer with the usual tear gas and sound bomb attacks. This surprisingly peaceful reaction was probably thanks to the strong international presence. The protest ended around 3 o’clock, with no injuries or arrests.

However, later that evening, when internationals and media were no longer present, the army came to the village. At about 8pm four jeeps arrived and threw tear gas and sound bombs around and at people’s houses. A Ni’lin resident reported that two children were shot directly with tear gas canisters.

Having around 30% of their farm land annexed by illegal settlements and the wall – that also was declared illegal by The International Court of Justice in 2004 – Nil’in has become one of the most important sites for resistance against the occupation. The first suggested route of the wall was judged illegal by the The International Court of Justice as well as Israel’s own supreme court, as was another suggested route. The present route is still stealing large parts of Nil’in’s farm land and is still in conflict with international law.

After the verdicts against the wall in 2004, the construction stopped, but was commenced again in 2008. Since then, five villagers of Nil’in has been killed in the weekly protests, among them a ten-year-old boy. Many more have been injured and arrested.

An Nabi Saleh (23 July 2010): Soldiers fire low-flying tear gas but fail to deter protesters

The demonstration at An Nabi Saleh this week started out with a gathering at a local coordinator’s house. South-Korean and South-African Press, local people and international and Israeli activists had lunch before going to the city centre near the mosque to meet up with the rest before the demonstration started.

At about 13.30, the group moved towards the city crossroad where soldiers blocked their way. The local coordinator as well as other citizens discussed for about 15-20 minutes with the soldiers before trying to go around the blockade. Soldiers responded with sound bombs, aggression and an arrest of an Israeli activist. He was soon released since no police were present.

Since the group didn’t manage to break the soldiers’ blockade, they instead jumped a small wall to get to the crossroad. Around 14.30 a group of mainly children sat down and sung in front of the soldiers for a while. When the group moved back, the shebab immediately threw stones from higher ground at the army vehicles and soldiers, who quickly fired tear gas canisters back.

For the next hour or two the shebab and internationals were spread around the city top and soldiers were firing tear gas canisters in different directions setting a field on fire. At about 16:00 the demonstrators met again at the house where the group met at the beginning. There was a new group of about 6 soldiers standing at the hilltop behind the house. Bushes were burning from the tear gas they were shooting, but the fire was quickly put out.

Lots of tear gas canisters were fired at close range near the house, in which people were retreating to. Videos uploaded on to youtube clearly show the soldiers firing tear gas canisters directly at people and making no attempts to fire it in the air as it is supposed to be used.. Soldiers came in jeeps to the front of the house in order to make arrests, but the shebab had by then disappeared. Shortly after, the jeeps left and the situation was normal again.

Iraq Burin (25 July 2010): Protesters defy Israeli Occupation Forces

Iraq Burin can be quite difficult to reach since an Israeli flying checkpoint is located on the main road to the village. To avoid the checkpoint internationals and Palestinian protesters this Saturday (24 July 2010) had to climb up hills in order to get there. As a consequence of the checkpoint two Palestinian boys were arrested before the demonstration even started.

About an hour before the demonstration began people gathered at the edge of the hill on which the village is located. The goal was to get to the nearby settlement which is causing trouble for the local farmers and city water supply.

Due to the killing of two Palestinian boys in Iraq Burin in the autumn, tensions are obvious. When the group started moving shabab immediately gathered rocks and scarfed themselves in order to avoid being recognized. About 20 soldiers where located on a hilltop which the demonstration had to move towards to get to the settlement.

Shabab and soldiers where equal in numbers and about 10-15 internationals where present. Fights immediately broke out and lasting for around 2 hours with lots of rocks being thrown and tear gas canisters fired. No further arrests were made or any injuries reported. The only damage caused was to the already quite burnt hill.

Exporting the Intifada: ISM activists in Bratislava, Slovakia

International Solidarity Movement activists Bridget Chappell and Ryan Olander spoke in Bratislava, Slovakia about the Occupation and their experiences as volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=88B090425F5A4C4E

Following their presentation, the audience participated in a discussion.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=45329CDC062219B1

Israeli soldiers detain former European Parliament Vice President in Bil’in

Member of European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, detained by soldiers in Bil'in — Member - and former Vice President - of European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, detained by soldiers in Bil'in

23 July 2010

Israeli soldiers detained the former Vice President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, in Bil’in this afternoon, injured one Israeli activist., and arrested another.

Sixty nine-year-old Morgantini, an Italian Member of the Euopean Parliament (MEP) has long been an outspoken supporter of Palestinians. She has participated several times in demonstrations in Bil’in and in June 2008 was injured when Israeli soldiers attacked a group of non-violent activists.

Morgantini, who served as Vice President of the European Parliament between 2007 and 2009, today joined the people of the West Bank village in their weekly Friday protest, which began after midday prayers. She was among a group of about 100 internationals supporting the peaceful demonstrators. People were dancing, singing and shouting slogans, among others the flag of the European Union was held aloft by Morgantini’s 50-strong delegation.

Israeli soldiers starting firing tear gas about ten minutes after the demonstration reached the fence that has been built illegally and cuts off villagers from their land. They then chased the protestors and forcefully detained the politician who was held for approximately 30 minutes before being released when her identity became clear to soldiers.

One Israeli activist, Kobi Snitz, was arrested while trying to speak to the army in order to secure Morgantini’s release. British activist Jody McIntyre was also detained temporarily. Another Israeli activist was hit with a tear gas canister suffered a head injury.

International media were present at this week's Bil'in protest

Nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, Morgantini was awarded the 2008 Peacemaker Award by the Rebuilding Alliance, an US non-profit organization committed to promoting respect for human rights and international law. She is a leading member of the Italian peace movement and a champion of the Palestinian cause.

Many people suffered from tear gas inhalation and stun grenades thrown into the field caused a fire among the olive trees.

Today’s protest in Bil’in proves once again that the army is continuing its policy of harshly suppressing demonstrations and arresting non-violent protesters. The demonstration called for the release of prisoners, Adeeb Abu Rahma, Abdullah Abu Rahme, Ibrahim al-Bornat, and Ahmed al-Bornat – all Bil’in residents jailed by Israel for resisting the occupation.