These emails are from a Brighton based activist spending April in occupied
Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement, a network of
international activists set up to support Palestinian non violent resistance
agaisnst Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. In these emails I will be
writing short accounts of aspects of the occupation and resistance.
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY
BLOG AT WWW.BRIGHTONPALESTINE.ORG
Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement, a network of
international activists set up to support Palestinian non violent resistance
agaisnst Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. In these emails I will be
writing short accounts of aspects of the occupation and resistance.
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY
BLOG AT WWW.BRIGHTONPALESTINE.ORG
Settler Attacks and House Occupations in Hebron
Settlers attacked Palestinian houses and targeted the Palestinian residents
of Tel Rumeida today, the first Shabbat of the Passover period.
A Palestinian boy was attacked at 4.30pm by five settlers on Shuhada Street.
The settlers knocked him off his bicycle and attacked him in full view of
the IDF.
Later in the afternoon fifteen settlers were seen by Human Rights Workers
attempting to break into a Palestinian home near Beit Hadassa settlement,
the settlers became aware of the internationals and moved on, crossing into
H1. H1 is the Palestinian controlled area of Hebron and settlers are
restricted from being there.
Human Rights Workers monitored the settlers as they walked through the
Palestinian neighbourhood targeting Palestinian homes. When the settlers
became aware that they were being observed they left H1. However, they then
attacked the Human Rights Workers, and tried to steal their camera. The
internationals were kicked, punched and subjected to threats. Israeli police
were nearby but did not pursue the settlers.
At around 8pm the IDF occupied the community centre in Tel Rumeida. The
troops unloaded a large truck of equipment and sleeping bags, signifying
that they were to stay for a long period of time. They draped an Israeli
flag over the roof of the building. Three ISM activists approached the door
of the community centre with rackets and ping pong balls, requesting that
the army let them in to play ping pong. After the troops refused their
request, the activists asked them if it would be possible to enter only the
first floor while the troops occupied the roof and until when the troops
would be occupying the building. After several minutes of persistent request
a local resident approached the commander of the unit and explained to him
that the first floor of the building should be made available to people in
the community, while the army continued to occupy the other floors. The
commander agreed to allow us to enter the first floor and told us that the
floor would be kept open to the public for the immediate future.
ISM activists were called to another house in the Abu Sneineh neighbourhood
which was being occupied by a unit of soldiers. The flat was home to five
people including three children. ISM activists and local residents attempted
to negotiate for the soldiers to take the roof of the apartment and leave
the flat free for the family. This was refused but the soldiers promised to
be sensitive around the children. One Human Rights Worker is staying in the
Abu Sneineh neighbourhood tonight in case there are more problems. Two more
houses have been occupied by the IDF in Hebron.
The Palestinian residents of Hebron are afraid that further tensions may
arise over the Passover period.
On 14th April, my second day in Palestine, I visited the small village of Beit Sira, near Ramallah.
In many other countries the inhabitants of such a village would spend today tending their farms, being with their families and friends, or popping down to the local shop. But Beit Sira has lost 70% of its land since 1948.
The nearby Kibbutz is built entirely on former village land, and more recently the settlement of Makkabim has been built on yet more village land. Now another swathe of land has been stolen to build the grotesque apartheid wall.
A well, that was crucial to the water supply of the village, is on the far side of the wall. Israel pumps the water from the well and sells it back to the Palestinian Authority. So the people of Beit Sira now have to pay 4 shekels/cubic meter for their water, whilst people in the illegal Israeli settlement of Makkabim pay just 1 1/2 shekels/cubic meter for water stolen from Beit Sira.
The village now holds a weekly demonstration to protest against the building of the wall, and I was with a group of internationals and Israelis who had come to support them. As we walked down from the village we could see the massive coils of razor wire, a wide gravel track (soon to become a ‘security road’) the other side of the wire, and beyond that the illegal Makkabim settlement.
Bizarrely the Israelis have uprooted hundreds of olive trees to build the wall, and then dug up part of the village’s existing road to replant the trees. The scheme hasn’t worked; the replanted trees are all dead.
As about 50 of us walked down the road with nothing but our cameras and water bottles we faced a line of armed police bearing riot shields and behind them some soldiers and jeeps – completely incongruous on a country lane surrounded by fields of crops and olive and almond trees.
Since the villagers started their demonstrations several weeks ago they have been threatened by the Army, to the extent that they could not even open the Community Centre for us to congregate in. The Army are clearly aiming to quash any resistance to the building of the wall and theft of the land. The villagers have already taken their case to court requesting that the wall be rerouted, but the court rejected their application.
When we reached the line of riot police we all sat down peacefully in the road in contrast to the violent intents of the armed police who faced us.
It was clear that we would not be able to go any further down the road, and after a short while the villagers declared the demonstration over and we returned to the village.
- Jody
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/04/15/protest-at-beit-sira-2/
Later we joined the Demo at Bil In...
On Friday the 14th of April, the villagers of Bil’in held their weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall that is de-facto annexing over half of their land to Israel. Land that the government of Israel uses to build illegal Israeli settlements on.
The Popular Committee in the village organises different creative themes that illustrate the plight of the village and the Palestinians in general. This week, they wanted to draw attention to the economic strangulation of the Palestinians by the international community after the recent Palestinian elections. Palestinians, Israelis and international demonstrators bound themselves together with iron rings, and were led along by other demonstrators bearing US, EU and UN flag symbolising the control and oppression of the Palestinians people by the international community.
When we got to the gate in the fence, the way was barred by two jeeps on the opposite side. When we approached, singing and chanting, several soldiers with clubs and riot shields emerged and stood on the jeeps threatening to beat the demonstrators over the razor wire. Several of the demonstrators soon opened the gate and started trying to move the razor wire out of the way. Soldiers swung their clubs at the demonstrators, though they were usually too far away to make contact because of the wire.
After about half an hour standing-off in this way, we started to demonstrate around the perimeter of the fence. At several points along the way, demonstrators tried to crawl through gaps in the razor wire to reach the patrol road fence and access the annexed village land. The first attempt was thwarted by a wall of soldiers, but at two other points demonstrators managed to get through before the soldiers could take action and we held sit down demonstrations on the patrol road.
The soldiers tried unsuccessfully to drive us away with beatings, but since we were already on the road, there was little they could do. They hit one Palestinian, giving him a bloody nose. After about 20 minutes, we decided to end the sit down protests and retreat back to the village side of the razor wire, one by one in a calm fashion (Palestinians leaving first to avoid arrests). Four Israelis and a Jewish American student were detained for an hour and released without charges when the demonstration had finished.
photos at http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/04/15/bil%e2%80%99in-breaks-the-chains/
Proposal for UK Boycott action Group
This is a proposal to set up a group of ISMers and others to take action in
the UK to raise the profile of a boycott of Apartheid Israel
the purpose of an international boycott is to isolate Israel until the end
of the illegal occupation of Palestinian land
7see http://stopthewall.org/news/boycot.shtml
A UK boycott action group would carry out actions exposing those who are
profiting from Israel s occupation
examples of boycott actions
Blockade of Carmel Agrexco
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2006/01/332217.htm
Actions against Caterpillar www.caterkiller.com
Actions against EDO MBM www.smashedo.org.uk
The group would take action publicly to maximise public awareness and media
focus on the idea of an international boycott
If you are interested or if you have suggestions for a boycott action grooup
please email
thewallmustfall@hotmail.com
Boycott Racist Israel
Settlers attacked Palestinian houses and targeted the Palestinian residents
of Tel Rumeida today, the first Shabbat of the Passover period.
A Palestinian boy was attacked at 4.30pm by five settlers on Shuhada Street.
The settlers knocked him off his bicycle and attacked him in full view of
the IDF.
Later in the afternoon fifteen settlers were seen by Human Rights Workers
attempting to break into a Palestinian home near Beit Hadassa settlement,
the settlers became aware of the internationals and moved on, crossing into
H1. H1 is the Palestinian controlled area of Hebron and settlers are
restricted from being there.
Human Rights Workers monitored the settlers as they walked through the
Palestinian neighbourhood targeting Palestinian homes. When the settlers
became aware that they were being observed they left H1. However, they then
attacked the Human Rights Workers, and tried to steal their camera. The
internationals were kicked, punched and subjected to threats. Israeli police
were nearby but did not pursue the settlers.
At around 8pm the IDF occupied the community centre in Tel Rumeida. The
troops unloaded a large truck of equipment and sleeping bags, signifying
that they were to stay for a long period of time. They draped an Israeli
flag over the roof of the building. Three ISM activists approached the door
of the community centre with rackets and ping pong balls, requesting that
the army let them in to play ping pong. After the troops refused their
request, the activists asked them if it would be possible to enter only the
first floor while the troops occupied the roof and until when the troops
would be occupying the building. After several minutes of persistent request
a local resident approached the commander of the unit and explained to him
that the first floor of the building should be made available to people in
the community, while the army continued to occupy the other floors. The
commander agreed to allow us to enter the first floor and told us that the
floor would be kept open to the public for the immediate future.
ISM activists were called to another house in the Abu Sneineh neighbourhood
which was being occupied by a unit of soldiers. The flat was home to five
people including three children. ISM activists and local residents attempted
to negotiate for the soldiers to take the roof of the apartment and leave
the flat free for the family. This was refused but the soldiers promised to
be sensitive around the children. One Human Rights Worker is staying in the
Abu Sneineh neighbourhood tonight in case there are more problems. Two more
houses have been occupied by the IDF in Hebron.
The Palestinian residents of Hebron are afraid that further tensions may
arise over the Passover period.
On 14th April, my second day in Palestine, I visited the small village of Beit Sira, near Ramallah.
In many other countries the inhabitants of such a village would spend today tending their farms, being with their families and friends, or popping down to the local shop. But Beit Sira has lost 70% of its land since 1948.
The nearby Kibbutz is built entirely on former village land, and more recently the settlement of Makkabim has been built on yet more village land. Now another swathe of land has been stolen to build the grotesque apartheid wall.
A well, that was crucial to the water supply of the village, is on the far side of the wall. Israel pumps the water from the well and sells it back to the Palestinian Authority. So the people of Beit Sira now have to pay 4 shekels/cubic meter for their water, whilst people in the illegal Israeli settlement of Makkabim pay just 1 1/2 shekels/cubic meter for water stolen from Beit Sira.
The village now holds a weekly demonstration to protest against the building of the wall, and I was with a group of internationals and Israelis who had come to support them. As we walked down from the village we could see the massive coils of razor wire, a wide gravel track (soon to become a ‘security road’) the other side of the wire, and beyond that the illegal Makkabim settlement.
Bizarrely the Israelis have uprooted hundreds of olive trees to build the wall, and then dug up part of the village’s existing road to replant the trees. The scheme hasn’t worked; the replanted trees are all dead.
As about 50 of us walked down the road with nothing but our cameras and water bottles we faced a line of armed police bearing riot shields and behind them some soldiers and jeeps – completely incongruous on a country lane surrounded by fields of crops and olive and almond trees.
Since the villagers started their demonstrations several weeks ago they have been threatened by the Army, to the extent that they could not even open the Community Centre for us to congregate in. The Army are clearly aiming to quash any resistance to the building of the wall and theft of the land. The villagers have already taken their case to court requesting that the wall be rerouted, but the court rejected their application.
When we reached the line of riot police we all sat down peacefully in the road in contrast to the violent intents of the armed police who faced us.
It was clear that we would not be able to go any further down the road, and after a short while the villagers declared the demonstration over and we returned to the village.
- Jody
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/04/15/protest-at-beit-sira-2/ Later we joined the Demo at Bil In...
On Friday the 14th of April, the villagers of Bil’in held their weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall that is de-facto annexing over half of their land to Israel. Land that the government of Israel uses to build illegal Israeli settlements on.
The Popular Committee in the village organises different creative themes that illustrate the plight of the village and the Palestinians in general. This week, they wanted to draw attention to the economic strangulation of the Palestinians by the international community after the recent Palestinian elections. Palestinians, Israelis and international demonstrators bound themselves together with iron rings, and were led along by other demonstrators bearing US, EU and UN flag symbolising the control and oppression of the Palestinians people by the international community.
When we got to the gate in the fence, the way was barred by two jeeps on the opposite side. When we approached, singing and chanting, several soldiers with clubs and riot shields emerged and stood on the jeeps threatening to beat the demonstrators over the razor wire. Several of the demonstrators soon opened the gate and started trying to move the razor wire out of the way. Soldiers swung their clubs at the demonstrators, though they were usually too far away to make contact because of the wire.
After about half an hour standing-off in this way, we started to demonstrate around the perimeter of the fence. At several points along the way, demonstrators tried to crawl through gaps in the razor wire to reach the patrol road fence and access the annexed village land. The first attempt was thwarted by a wall of soldiers, but at two other points demonstrators managed to get through before the soldiers could take action and we held sit down demonstrations on the patrol road.
The soldiers tried unsuccessfully to drive us away with beatings, but since we were already on the road, there was little they could do. They hit one Palestinian, giving him a bloody nose. After about 20 minutes, we decided to end the sit down protests and retreat back to the village side of the razor wire, one by one in a calm fashion (Palestinians leaving first to avoid arrests). Four Israelis and a Jewish American student were detained for an hour and released without charges when the demonstration had finished.
photos at
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/04/15/bil%e2%80%99in-breaks-the-chains/ Proposal for UK Boycott action Group
This is a proposal to set up a group of ISMers and others to take action in
the UK to raise the profile of a boycott of Apartheid Israel
the purpose of an international boycott is to isolate Israel until the end
of the illegal occupation of Palestinian land
7see
http://stopthewall.org/news/boycot.shtml A UK boycott action group would carry out actions exposing those who are
profiting from Israel s occupation
examples of boycott actions
Blockade of Carmel Agrexco
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2006/01/332217.htm Actions against Caterpillar www.caterkiller.com
Actions against EDO MBM www.smashedo.org.uk
The group would take action publicly to maximise public awareness and media
focus on the idea of an international boycott
If you are interested or if you have suggestions for a boycott action grooup
please email
thewallmustfall@hotmail.com Boycott Racist Israel
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