Tag: Apartheid Wall - Page 23 - International Solidarity Movement

Bedouins outside Jerusalem face violence and threats of expulsion

1st July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | ‘Anata, Jerusalem

The Bedouin community of ‘Anata suffers daily from the consequences of living just underneath the Apartheid Wall of East Jerusalem; the community is considered unwanted by the Israelis, and is therefore a victim of attacks and harassment. In addition, their unique location between two major settlements, Almon and Ma’ale Adumim and the Palestinian village of ‘Anata means that the Bedouin people living there are caught in the middle of the weekly clashes between Palestinian protesters and the Israeli occupation forces.

Homes of the Bedouin community of 'Anata — Homes of the Bedouin community of ‘Anata (Photo by ISM)

Yesterday, Sunday 30th June, four internationals guided by a journalist visited the Bedouin community in ‘Anata, located just 4 kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. We saw the poor living conditions of the villagers, who live in shacks or tents. Many of them suffer from asthma, and aren’t allowed access to the hospitals of Jerusalem – instead, they have to drive all the way around the illegal settlements to Ramallah. They told us about the insecurity of living close to the wall, which became apparent by the sight of Israeli rubber bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters lying everywhere in the village. These violations are especially critical because three quarters of the Bedouin villagers are children, who don’t have places to hide, because of the fragile housing conditions. In addition, the animals held by the villagers are suffering from the same conditions as a result of the numerous tear gas attacks. The Israeli occupation forces often enter the village to arrest Bedouins for apparently made up accusations. For example, they have accused the villagers of stealing horses, even though it was obvious that no one in the village held horses. The Bedouin parents expressed concerns about their children getting accused for the actions of the Palestinian shabab (protesting youth).

Especially on Fridays, violent clashes between the Palestinian shabab and the Israeli forces take place in the Bedouin villages, even though the villagers explicitly has declared that they don’t want to take part. Therefore, the items thrown by both parties often hit the villagers: stones from the shabab and tear gas, rubber bullets, etc from the Israeli army.

Apartheid Wall visible behind the community of 'Anata — Apartheid Wall visible behind the community of ‘Anata (Photo by ISM)

The Israeli intimidation attacks seek to evict the Bedouins completely from their land and serve the higher purpose of creating a physical link between the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim and the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem. This is known as the ‘E1 Plan’, and the Bedouins are, from an inhumane Israeli perspective, currently in the way of letting this happen. The Israelis are currently working on the so-called Nuweimeh Plan, which seeks to solve the ‘Bedouin problem’ by relocating the approximately 2300 Bedouins of the E1-zone to a town named Nuweimeh near Jericho. The lands of Nuweimeh, however is unsuitable for the animals to graze, and in addition there is no job opportunities, which is why the Bedouins who already are settled there live almost solely on UN food parcels.

The Bedouin community has therefore received demolition orders and orders to halt construction from the Jerusalem Governorate, even though they pay the Palestinian National Authority NIS 1000 a year to live there. The Israeli attempt to forcefully evict the Bedouins is violating international humanitarian law. In spite of the threats by the Israelis, the Bedouin community refuses to move from their lands.

“Knocking on the gates of Jerusalem”: demonstration against injustice of Israeli occupation

29th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

Today, Saturday 29th June, a group of Palestinian activists demanded access to the occupied city of Jerusalem through the gate in the Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem. Their nonviolent demonstration also aimed to highlight Palestinian opposition to the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit, but was met with violence from the Israeli occupation military. The Apartheid Wall gate was closed in the face of the protesters, shutting them out of their illegally occupied land.

Activists head for Jerusalem, aiming to walk through the Apartheid Wall checkpoint (Photo by: ISM)

At around 11am Palestinian activists, accompanied by international demonstrators, walked towards the checkpoint in the Apartheid Wall towards Jerusalem. Access is granted by the Israeli occupation authorities for very few Palestinians –people between the ages of 18-45 are routinely denied permits. The Palestinian demonstrators demanded right of entry to their capital city, Jerusalem. Israeli occupation military immediately reacted violently at the checkpoint, pushing and shoving non-violent protesters. One demonstrator was pushed aggressively to the ground by a heavily armed Israeli soldier.

Around twenty soldiers were involved in suppressing the peaceful demonstration, and after around ten minutes of harassment of the Palestinian protesters, they closed the Apartheid Wall gate. This is the second attempt in two weeks of Palestinians to cross into occupied Jerusalem. They vow to continue to demand an end to the restriction of movement imposed on the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation.

Israeli soldier violently pushes back peaceful demonstrators (Photo by: ISM)

Protesters held signs saying “Kerry go home” and slogans about apartheid. US Secretary of State John Kerry was permitted to enter occupied Jerusalem two days ago on Thursday 27th June, where he met Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His meeting with the Palestinian authority president Mahmoud Abbas was forced to take place in Amman, Jordan rather than occupied Jerusalem. Kerry is advocating “peace talks”, but has not taken strong action against the Israeli obstacles to peace which include denying the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and increasing illegal settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem; as Kerry arrived into the Middle East, Netanyahu approved yet another settlement expansion into East Jerusalem. Further, the US continues to fund the Israeli occupation government and military operations to the tune of over $3 billion a year.

The Palestinians will continue to knock on the gates of Jerusalem to highlight the injustices of the Israeli occupation.

Apartheid Wall checkpoint is closed, blocking Palestinians from their occupied capital (Photo by: ISM)

Struggle against apartheid wall continues in Bil’in

21st June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Bil’in, Occupied Palestine

Following the Friday prayers on June 21, residents of Bil’in accompanied by a contingent of international supporters gathered for the village’s weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall. The wall has cut the village off from Palestinian land that is now being used to expand an illegal Israeli settlement. A European TV-crew followed the protest in order to cover the disproportional use of force carried out by the occupying soldiers. Two protesters from Bil’in have died from wounds received at the weekly protest that has been taking place for the last eight years.

Protest against the wall in Bil'in. — Protest against the wall in Bil’in (Photo by ISM)

At Friday’s demonstration before the protesters could even reach the wall they were stopped by fencing and barbed wire. They attempted to remove the gate so that they could continue their march. After the removal of the outer gate, soldiers manning the apartheid wall threw volleys of tear gas and stun grenades at the protesters who had gathered around twenty meters from the wall. Observers noted that one sound grenade went off before it had been thrown over the wall, to the confusion of the soldiers. However, another grenade managed to set the dried-out fields in front of the wall on fire. The resulting smoke led some of the protesters to retreat out of firing distance of the soldiers.

Protesters trying to remove part of the fence (Photo by: ISM) — Protesters trying to remove part of the fence (Photo by ISM)

In spite of tear gas, stun grenades and the nearby fire, many protesters remained in front of the wall, chanting. At one point, a plastic-coated steel bullet was fired at the protesters, but no one was hit. After around an hour of protesting, the demonstrators decided to return to the village. As the protesters were leaving the area near the annexation wall, soldiers started volleying yet more tear gas at the crowd. This led to the dispersion of the protesters and caused general panic. Two years ago local woman, Jawaher Abu Rahma, was killed from severe asphyxiation caused by the excessive use of tear gas against protesters. Despite the brutality of the Israeli military, the people of Bil’in continue their struggle against the occupation.

Tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the crowd (Photo by: ISM) — Tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers into the middle of the crowd (Photo by ISM)

UPDATED: New wall construction to surround Azzun Atma

20th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Azzun Atma, Occupied Palestine

Demonstators in the construction zone for the new wall in Azzun Atma (Photo by ISM)

UPDATE 21th June: This morning, the 21st of June villagers from Azzun Atma gathered at the school where construction for the new wall started three days earlier. The villagers performed midday prayers together before marching around the school on to the land that bulldozers had worked on. They then hung Palestinian flags on the mesh barbed fence standing between the school land and the settlement of Sha’are Tiqva to signal their definance to the latest of a continuing policy of land theft, encroachment, isolation and deprivation of their lives by the Israeli occupation forces.

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On the 18^th of June, two bulldozers arrived with Israeli forces in the village of Azzun Atma, southeast of Qalqilya, and began to work on the land behind the village’s school, to what is believed to be the construction of the new wall.

Accompanying the bulldozers to the village was the Israeli army and border police, including the local Israeli army commander who said the action was based on a High Court decision by the Israeli government. He said it was in order to protect their citizens, and if anybody tried to stop the construction, they would then close the gate to the village, the only way in and out.

A digger works on land behind the school as soldiers watch nearby (Photo by ISM)

Two weeks prior to this, the Israeli army put up signs stating that this is where the construction of the new wall would begin. The villagers fear that this new construction is being done in order to replace the current two metre barbed mesh fence that surrounds the village from all sides and separates it from the settlements nearby, with the concrete wall. The wall’s existence and constant deviation from the Green Line is justified by the Israeli authorities by citing security concerns for its citizens, in this case the illegal settler colonisers in the area.

Azzun Atma is located two kilometres east of the Green Line and encompassed on three sides by the current wall, constructed in 2002, which leaves the village within a settlement block and separates it from the rest of the West Bank. The only way in and out of the village is through a military checkpoint with a small gate. The village is thus stranded in the “seam zone” between the Green Line and the wall, surrounded by settlements, placing it under full Israeli military control. There is another checkpoint into the other side of the Green Line that people with work permits may cross, though there is a constant threat of the gate being closed and work permits being denied. Access to and from the village, therefore, is dictated by the Israeli military.

Palestinians living in the “seam zone” require permanent resident permits from the Israeli authorities to live in their own homes and work on their land. There are often few health and education services available in the “seam zone”, and those living inside it have to rely on checkpoints being open to reach workplaces and essential services.

The school where the construction is taking place has provided education for 300 children in Azzun Atma and a neighbouring village since 1966. Every day, the current wall and checkpoint restricts the freedom of movement of teachers and students. The school has so far lost one dunum of land to the wall and the septic system faces demolition orders.

When the second wall is constructed, Azzun Atma will be isolated from the rest of the West Bank by the already existing wall (see the red line on the map) and the new wall which will further close off the village from the settlement block and the rest of the West Bank (see the black line on the map).

In 1982, the Israeli authorities established two illegal settlements: Oranit to the northwest and Sha’are Tiqva to the northeast of Azzun Atma. The settlements have expanded over the years, and more than 2500 dunums of the village’s land have been stolen by them. Sha’are Tiqva now comes within metres of Azzun Atma, and since 2005, villagers have been subject to verbal harassment from settlers. The wall, though purported to be a security measure, is essentially another way for the Israeli government to steal land from their Palestinian owners and isolate villages and cities from each other, turning them into easily controllable cantons.

Isolating people and making daily life as hard as possible under occupation is a tactic used by the Israeli authorities to force villagers to leave their land and homes. However, residents of Azzun Atma remain steadfast in their land and will continue to resist the land theft, isolation and deprivation of their lives by organising protests.

Ni’lin: Words versus the occupation

14th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Nil’in, Occupied Palestine

On Friday, 14 June, around fifteen residents of Nil’in marched toward Israel’s apartheid wall in the latest of it’s regular protests against the systematic confiscation of their land via the wall and five surrounding Israeli colonies.

The wall itself is covered in creative responses to the illegality of the occupation such as “If Batman knew about this you would be in so much trouble” and “Freedom is never given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed,” a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. The residents of Ni’lin continue their march towards the wall, towards the land that was always theirs, and towards their freedom.

The response from the occupation forces today was violent, as they launched clusters of tear gas canisters into the crowd, igniting patches of ground and asphyxiating and blinding demonstrators, some of whom needed medical attention. Two soldiers climbed the wall and began shooting into the crowd, but retreated when stones were thrown at them and before anyone could be hurt. The other protestors erupted in cheers.

One Israeli demonstrator wrote messages in Hebrew to the Israeli soldiers, telling them that they are protecting illegal settlements on stolen land and harming innocent civilians for the benefit of corporations, attaching the messages to Frisbees and empty tear gas canisters. People then catapult them over the wall – a powerful message to soldiers who go about destroying the very land they claim to own.

Citizens of Ni’lin have been protesting against the annexation of their lands since 2004. So far Ni’lin has lost over 50,000 dunums, the majority of its land, due to the settlements and the route of the wall. Saeed Amireh, of the Ni’lin popular committee, believes this is a calculated measure to expel the Palestinians from their land, as many rely on farm land for livelihood.

Youth from Ni'lin with the Apartheid Wall visible in the background — Youth from Ni’lin with the Apartheid Wall visible in the background