Tag: Apartheid Wall

Israeli forces kidnap 2 farmers in Qalqiliya region

11 May 2009

At 7 am Sunday morning, May 10, 2009, two farmers from Izbaht Tabib, Jaefar Tabib, 23, and Naem Tayayhe, 30, were arrested as they went out to work their land. They remain in custody.

In the evening of the same day, a bus with about 60 settlers, accompanied by the Israeli army, came to the area. They appeared to discuss the area while looking at maps. The farm land is vital for the farmers, and they suspect that the objective of the settlers’ visit may be a first step towards constructing a new settlement.

Izbaht Tabib, a small village established before 1948, has a population of 226 Palestinian refugees.

Despite the 2005 court decision to alter the route of the Wall which is already constructed between Izbaht Tabib and Azzun, the Apartheid Wall in the northern West Bank continues to be built. Fifty percent of Palestinian land has already been taken by the construction of the Wall in Azzoun. Azzoun is isolated by the Wall on the east side and the west side as well as road 55 in the south. Today, 60 % of Palestinians in this area are living below the poverty line since there are no jobs.

According to the mayor of the Azzoun Municipality, Mr. E. Iyad Khalaph, this is part of Israel’s ‘transfer’ tactic to impoverish residents so that they will leave their land on their own to make a living elsewhere.

Checkpoints are often set up around the village and soldiers in jeeps enter in the daytime and evenings, asking to see I.D.cards and questioning the local population. Additionally, Israeli settlers often enter the village and harrass Palestinian residents.

Several residents are also threatened with home demolition orders with no specific time line.

Israeli forces suppress Ni’lin demonstration

8 May 2009

Construction site of the Apartheid Wall in Ni'lin
construction site of the Apartheid Wall in Ni'lin

Before the start of the weekly Friday demonstration against the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin, international solidarity activists visited homes that Israeli forces occupied last Friday. As soldiers were already present in the olive groves of Ni’lin, the internationals stayed at the homes to deter another attempt by the Israeli army to occupy their homes.

Around 100 demonstrators gathered, accompanied by international and Israeli solidarity activists, to march against the construction of the Apartheid Wall on Ni’lin’s land. Demonstrators reached the construction site and were able to damage a part of the illegal Wall. Then protestors were pushed back into the village when Israeli forces opened fire with numerous tear-gas canisters.

The protest continued as demonstrators were pushed back, and the young men from the village responded to the army violence by throwing stones. Israeli forces occupied a rooftop next to the outskirts of the olive groves to shoot at the protestors.

Israeli forces used tear-gas canisters, sound bombs and live ammunition against the protest. The demonstration continued until 5.30pm.  Seventeen people were badly enough injured by the tear-gas to require medical treatment. One young man lost the tip of his finger after he was shot by a canister.

The Israeli soldiers came back to the field, close to the houses in the village, around 7pm. Residents went out to protest against their presence on their lands for an hour.

Israeli occupation forces have murdered four Ni’lin residents during demonstrations against the confiscation of their land and critically injured one international solidarity activist.

Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on 29 July 2008. The following day, Yousef Amira (17) was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving him brain dead. He died a week later on 4 August 2008. Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22), was the third Ni’lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces. He was shot in the back with live ammunition on 28 December 2008. That same day, Mohammed Khawaje (20), was shot in the head with live ammunition, leaving him brain dead. He died three days in a Ramallah hospital. Tristan Anderson (37), an American citizen, was shot with a high velocity tear gas projectile on 13 March 2009 and is currently in critical condition. In total, 26 persons have been shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition.

New York protesters call for Mother’s Day boycott of Leviev diamonds over Israeli settlements

Adalah-NY

9 May 2009

On the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel. The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company.

http://blip.tv/play/8zyBgMAoiep1

Riham Barghouti of Adalah-NY explained, “Thousands of New Yorkers heard our message today that Leviev should not be allowed to exploit this holiday honouring mothers while his companies are ruining the lives of Palestinian mothers by stealing their land for Israeli settlements.” Alexis Stern from Adalah-NY added, “The government of the United Kingdom, UNICEF and Oxfam are all now boycotting Leviev. We’re calling on New Yorkers, and the government of Norway to join them.”

The Norwegian government is under increasing pressure to divest from its pension holdings in Leviev’s Africa-Israel. An April 28 article in the UK’s Guardian by Abe Hayeem of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine urged Norway to follow the UK’s example and sever its relationship with Leviev’s companies. The villages of Bil’in and Jayyous then wrote to Norwegian officials asking them to divest from Leviev’s companies, citing the devastating impacts of settlement construction on their villages’ agricultural land. This was followed by a May 5th letter from Adalah-NY and ten national and international organizations and networks from Europe, Palestine, Israel and the US calling on Norway to comply with its ethical guidelines for investment and divest.

During the New York Mother’s Day protest, the terrible impacts of Leviev’s settlement construction were brought home in a commemoration of Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in. Video from April 17th shows that Abu Rahma, a dedicated nonviolent activist, was participating in a peaceful protest in Bil’in against the settlement and the wall when he was suddenly shot directly in the chest with a teargas canister from a short distance by an Israeli soldier. One New York activist read aloud a tribute to Bassem written by his friend and colleague from Bil’in Mohammed Khatib. Two Jewish-Americans who have protested in Bil’in with Bassem then spoke of the courage of Bassem, of the people of Bil’in and of the millions of Palestinians confronting Israeli repression daily, and urged people in New York and around the world to stand with them.

Inspired by Bil’in’s four-year nonviolent campaign, that continues despite Bassem’s death and the injuring of 1,300 civilians, New York protesters chanted, “Your mama didn’t raise you that way, don’t buy from Leviev on Mother’s Day!” They passed out hundreds of copies of the cartoon flyer, Who Is Lev Leviev?, and carried signs saying, “Embrace moms, don’t displace moms.” Customers sitting outside at an upscale restaurant near Leviev’s store listened as protesters sang, “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to build settlements,” and, to the tune of “Mama Said” by The Shirelles:

Mama said don’t build settlements,

don’t build on other people’s lands,

Mama said don’t buy diamonds,

from a guy with blood on his hands.

Leviev has also been criticized for human rights abuses in Angola where his companies mine diamonds.

Bil’in demonstrators call on international health institutions to “Stop the Occupation Flu”

Bil’in Popular Committee

8 May 2009

Palestinian, Israeli, and international protesters walked through the streets of Bil’in on Friday wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from the “Occupation Flu” which first infected Palestinians sixty-one years ago. It has caused the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, injured hundreds of thousands and has put millions in prisons, including Israeli prisons but also the prisons created by the wall in the West Bank and the siege on Gaza.

Protesters carried banners that read, “Stop the Occupation Flu” and called on international health and human rights institutions to intervene in order to save the Palestinian people from this dangerous disease which is spreading in the region and is threatening the rest of the world. Protestors also carried Palestinian flags and photos of the martyr Bassem Abu Rahmah, Bil’in’s most recent victim of the “Occupation Flu”, who was killed by the Israeli army three weeks ago.

The Israeli army responded to the demonstration by firing teargas and rubber-coated steal bullets into the crowd, causing eight injuries and dozens of cases of teargas inhalation. The injuries are Abdullah Aburahma, Fadel Alkhatib, Adeeb Aburahma, Abdullah Yassen, Ibraheem Burnat, Mohammed Aburahma, Mustafa Alkhatib and Hytham Alkhatib.

On Thursday night, the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in organized a short biographical film about the martyr Bassem Abu Rahmah entitled, “Bassem, Friend of All”. The film focused on the period of Bassem’s life spent participating in the struggle against the wall. Bassem had spent the last four years of his life involved in this struggle until he was killed by an Israeli soldier with a teargas canister on the April 17, 2009. The film was shown outdoors in Bil’in and many residents from Bil’in and surrounding villages showed up.

In other news, a delegation of French university students and faculty visited Bil’in yesterday and had a tour around the village and a presentation about the Wall.

The Popular Committee this week also received a response from the Norwegian government regarding a petition submitted by Bil’in and Jayyous to open an investigation into Norwegian companies that are investing in Africa-Israel Investments, Ltd. which is owned by billionaire Lev Leviev. Leviev is known to support the building of settlements, especially the eastern half of the Mattityahu settlement bloc which is built on Bil’in’s land and the settlement of Zufim which is built on Jayyous’s land.

In other news, the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in deplores the arrest of five leaders of the Popular Committee in Alm’asra they are: Mahmoud Zawahra coordinator of Alm’asra Committee, Mohammed Burjya, a spokesman for the Media Commission, and his brother Hassan, Azmi Alchiokhi, who is president of the Popular Committees in Hebron, Mustafa Faouar. The Committee calls upon the People’s human rights organizations to intervene for the release of five leaders, and this is comes within the occupation forces to target the leaders of the popular events to discourage the continuation of events against the construction of the wall and settlements.

Israel bans Palestinians from hosting pope next to West Bank fence

Ha’aretz

7 May 2009

A Palestinian official says the Palestinian Authority has scrapped plans to host Pope Benedict XVI next week on a stage near the West Bank separation fence.

Palestinian say they had hoped that receiving the pope next to a towering cement wall and military watchtower inside the Aida refugee camp would highlight their suffering under Israeli occupation.

But Palestinian lawmaker Essa Qaraqie said Thursday that the location had been changed to a United Nations school after Israeli military officials forbade them to erect the stage near the barrier. The pope’s convoy will, however, still pass close to the barrier.

The pontiff’s visit to the region will include trips to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. In Israel, he will hold mass in Nazareth and Jerusalem, as well as visiting the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. He will also hold mass in Bethlehem, believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Jordanian Islamist leaders condemn pope`s Mideast visit as `provocative`

Jordanian Islamist leaders on Thursday condemned Pope Benedict’s visit to the Middle East, saying it was provocative because he has not apologized for offending comments implying Islam was violent and irrational.

They said the pope, who arrives in Jordan on Friday on the first leg of his Middle East tour, still owed them an apology for making the comments in in a 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany.

Jordan’s Roman Catholic Church urged Islamists on Wednesday to welcome the pope despite their earlier criticism of his visit. A senior Jordanian official acknowledged some discontent but said the government would warmly welcome Benedict.

“The present Vatican pope is the one who issued severe insults to Islam and did not offer any apology to the Muslims,” Zaki Bani Rusheid, head of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest mainstream Islamist party, told Reuters.

“It’s the same pope who apologized to the Jews about the Holocaust and now comes to the region but says nothing about the Palestinian nakba (catastrophe),” he said.

Another Islamist figure, Jamil Abu Baker, added that “Ignoring Muslim sentiments will only block the healing of wounds his statements caused.”