Tag: Apartheid Wall

Eighteen demonstrators arrested after a gate in the Wall was breached in Deir alGhussoun

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

14 November 2009

The protesters were arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end, by soldiers who invaded the village and flanked them from the back.

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Eighteen demonstrators were arrested today in the West Bank village of Deir alGhussoun, north of Tulkarem, after Israel’s Separation Wall was breached by Palestinian, Israeli and international activists. The protesters intended to march to village’s lands that were left isolated behind the Wall, and managed to break open one of the barrier’s gates.

The demonstrators managed to break the lock on the gate by rocking it back and forth, despite the presence of soldiers, but could not reach their lands, as they were being shot at with rubber-coated steel bullets and teargaW. One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg.

As the demonstration was coming to an end, a large group of soldiers surprised a group of the protesters by closing in on them from the direction of the village, and arrested eighteen of the village’s youth.

Today’s demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir elGhussoun municipality and the affected farmers, which will accompany an appeal the Israeli High Court of Justice to remove the already-built Wall from the village’s land. The said appeal is expected to be filed in the near future.

The wall in the area of the village cuts deep into West Bank land, leaving about 2,500 dunams (620 acres) of the village’s land west of the Wall (on the “Israeli” side), effecting 120 land owners, dozens of which do not receive permits from the Israeli army to even minimally tend to their lands.

In an advisory opinion issued in July 2004, the International Court of Justice in the Hague has declared the path of Israel’s Wall in the West Bank illegal in its entirety, and ordered its removal. To date, Israel continues to disregard international law, and continues to build the Wall and expand settlements.

al-Ma’sara demonstrates against the Apartheid Wall

The al-Ma’sara Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements

13 November 2009

In memory of the fifth year since the death of Yaser Arafat, who was poisoned by the Israeli army, villagers of Al-Ma’sara gathered today along with Israeli and international activists in protest against the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlement building. The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners demanding that farmers be allowed to access their lands to pick olives. As every Friday for the past three years, they were intercepted by Israeli soldiers who had put up a fence of barb wire at the entrance to the village, effectively cutting off the villager’s access to their lands.

Demonstrators chanted against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and reminded that only this morning, farmers who were picking olives on their lands in the surrounding villagers were harassed by settlers while Israeli soldiers stood by. In Arabic and English, protestors asked the soldiers to reconsider what they were doing and join those Palestinian, Israeli and international civilians on this side who abide by the international human rights and who work together for just peace.

Protestors attempted to remove the barb wire and continue their march towards their lands and the site of the Wall. A woman from the village asked the Israeli soldiers what they were doing here in her village and pushed them out of her way, succeeding in continuing her walk towards Um Salamoneh, defiantly carrying the Palestinian flag.

Eighteen Palestinian protestors arrested in Deir alGussoun demonstration

14 November 2009

ISM activists joined residents of Deir alGussoun today in a demonstration against the Apartheid Wall. The Wall cuts deep through the village’s land, located to the north of Tulkarem. In an extreme number of arrests, 18 Palestinian protestors were arrested by soldiers in the aftermath of the demonstration.

Meeting in Deir alGussoun this morning, approximately 50 protestors marched from the village towards the Wall, where Palestinian youth succeeded in forcing open the gates on the first of the series of three high fences comprising the Apartheid Wall in the Tulkarem area. Their efforts were met with sound bombs and tear grenades from the 3 army jeeps positioned on the other side of the fences.

The demonstration came to an end an hour later, after which demonstrators began constructing a stone road block on the dirt road leading back to the village, hoping to pre-empt a military entrance through the wall to the village following the protest. This was not enough to deter the army, as 18 youth were arrested, on charge of causing damage to the fence. None have been released as yet.

120 families of Deir alGussoun have been cut off from 2,500 dunams of land by the Wall’s construction, many of whom have never been given permission to access their land since. The Wall has been declared illegal under international law by International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Naalin: Protestors say IDF using live fire

Ali Waked | YNet News

13 November 2009

Two Palestinians were injured Friday at the weekly anti-fence protest in the West Bank village of Naalin.

The protestors claim Israeli security forces have reinstated the use of Ruger rifles, which have been deemed live fire by the military prosecution. The IDF confirmed the use of the rifles, which can be used to fire live ammunition with relatively low force.

Earlier this year B’tselem appealed to the military prosecution with a demand to ban the rifles. Judge Advocate General Avi Mandelblit said in his response to the appeal that “the guidelines for use of this ammunition are severe, and parallel to those for the use of live ammunition”.

In June a Palestinian was killed during an anti-fence protest in Naalin, assumedly from ammunition fired from a Ruger rifle. Four additional Palestinians were injured in the incident.

Meanwhile Friday afternoon 150 left-wing activists and Palestinians protested in the West Bank village of Bil’in, among them three MKs from the Hadash Party.

The protestors were demonstrating their solidarity with the party’s chairman, MK Mohammad Barakeh, against whom the attorney general has recently decided to file an indictment on charges of assaulting police officers in Bil’in in 2005.

The party’s secretary, Ayman Ouda, explained, “We felt that the indictment against Barakeh is actually an indictment against the legitimacy of our struggle, Jews and Arabs as one, against the occupation. We feel we are all defendants so we have decided to strengthen our battle until the charges are dropped.”

Bil’in demonstrates in solidarity with indicted MK Baraka

Bil’in Popular Committee

13 November 2009

Directly after the Friday prayers, Bil’in citizens gathered in a large demonstration, in response to a call from the Poplar Committee Against the Wall. They were joined by international and Israeli activists, as well as a group of members and supporters of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) and a delegation of members of the Palestinian People’s Party. The protest was led by Mohammed Baraka – the front’s general secretary and member of the Israeli Knesset. One international activist was injured and dozens suffered tear gas inhalation at the weekly demonstration in Bil’in.

The demonstrators have raised dozens of Palestinian flags and pictures of the late martyr Abu Ammar, along with banners marking the fifth year of his martyrdom, emphasizing their loyalty to his soul. Other banners expressed solidarity with Mohammed Baraka, who will stand on trial in front of an Israeli court next week as a result of his participation in one of the Bil’in weekly demonstration in 2005. Mr. Baraka expressed his commitment to participating in the popular demonstrations against the Wall, settlements and occupation, and his determination to participate regardless of the decision of the court. In his words, even if the judge ruled to imprison him for his activities connected to defending the Palestinian land and nation, it would be an honor to serve his sentence.

Demonstrators wore t-shirts with a slogan commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – “From Berlin to Bil’in, The Wall Shall Fall” – to emphasize the destruction of the Wall in Bil’in and the whole Palestine was inevitable, similarly to what happened in Berlin 20 years ago. They also chanted slogans against the Wall, showing their determination to continue in their resistance, which has started almost five years ago, until the wall built on their land falls.

After initial speeches by members of the Popular Committee, members of Knesset and activists from Israel and countries from around the whole world, the demonstrators marched towards the Wall. Straight after they reached the Wall, the army declared the area a closed military zone, and, within seconds after the announcement, started shooting tear gas. At the beginning the army was throwing individual tear gas canisters at the crowd, however, after some demonstrators attempted to hang banners and Palestinian flags on the barrier, they started using a machine that shoots around 30 tear gas bombs at a time. Dozens suffered severe tear gas inhalation, including Mohammed Baraka, and one international activist, Kyle (32) from the United States was injured after he was trying to escape from the tear gas. His injury, bleeding from his head, required hospital treatment and a number of stitches.