Gaza explodes with non-violent resistance

gaza: the second human shield action in three days succeeds!!

"picture balata: a photography workshop," this outlines the 'picture balata,' project which i am currently helping to find touring venues in philadelphia and washington, dc. if you like what you see in thr article, and you live in or near these two cities, and would like to help out, please leave a comment and i will get back to you.

israel news paper ha'aretz, "25-year-old Palestinian shot for protesting IDF's treatment of women:"

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from inside the west bank:
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sunday, occupation forces invaded tammun, south of tubas in the northern west bank. soldiers patrolled the streets, fired at the town and invaded at least one civilian home. the home of awad bani odeh was forcibly entered and searched.

sunday, occupation special forces invaded yatta, in southern al-khalil (hebron) and seized one man. masked soldiers invaded and attacked a shop in the city, seizing ahmad muhammad an-najjar, 22, the shop owner. ahmad is said to be a fighter with fatah's al-aqsa martyrs brigades.

sunday, armed colonial settlers attacked palestinian civilians in the town of yatta, south of al-khalil (hebron). several palestinian families were attacked, and had private property destroyed by the israeli colonists. the colonists attacked men, women and children with rifles, clubs and rocks. they also damaged water tanks, providing the community with fresh water, and also damaged a power transmitter. the colonists continually attack the palestinian residents of this community, in an attempt to force them to leave to allow for the further expansion of maoon, a colony east of yatta.

sunday, occupation forces invaded the village of deir abu mash'al, northwest of ramallah. palestinian demonstrators responded by throwing stones, bottles and moltov cocktails, including one that lit an army jeep on fire.


monday, occupation forces invaded bethlehem, injured a number of palestinians and seized one. during the invasion, at least three palestinians were shot. one was shot with live ammunition in the head, and two were hit with live ammunition in the legs. also injured was ahmed mezher 28, a journalist for the palestinian news agency WAFA, on the scene to film the incursion. upon entering the city, at lest 30 military vehicles and occupation soldiers headed towards the home of sharif abu hadid, an activist with islamic jihad. soldiers detained members of his family and used them as human shields to conduct a search of the house. the use of human shields is an internationally illegal war crime. later, bulldozers began to demolish the building. while they attacked the building, palestinian demonstrators responded to manger square, outside of the church of the nativity, the birthplace of jesus christ. in the square, palestinian demonstrators threw stones, bottles and moltov cocktails. the demonstrators lit tires on fire. occupation soldiers responded with live fire, rubber-coated metal bullet fire and tear gas.


monday, it was announced today that effective january 19, 2007, palestinians from the west bank, including the jordan valley, are no longer allowed to ride in cars with yellow (israeli) number plates. if the palestinian passenger wishes to ride in a car with a yellow license plate, he will have to obtain the proper permits. both the driver and passenger, if either is palestinian, will require a permit. if a driver or passenger is palestinian, and driving in a yellow plated car without a permit after january 19, he can be arrested. palestinian are already prevented from driving on 40% of the roads in the palestinian west bank. these roads are only accessible to israelis.

monday, occupation forces KILLED ONE palestinian at a checkpoint in jericho, in the eastern west bank. occupation sources announced that soldiers at the checkpoint saw the palestinian approach, and after he was seen with a toy gun, he was shot dead. the victim's identity and age are not known at this time.

monday, occupation forces invaded qalqiliya, invaded a number of homes and seized one man, omar maraba, 25.

monday, occupation forces invaded balata refugee camp in nablus, and seized ten citizens. soldiers conducted house-to-house searches before seizing the ten men,

monday, occupation forces invaded the town of beit kahel, north of al-khalil (hebron), and seized two men.

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from inside the gaza strip:
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sunday, THREE PALESTINIANS DIED from injuries they sustained in last week's occupation assaults on northern gaza. najwa awad, 25, a kindergarten teacher, was injured when occupation forces attacked a bus najwa was on carrying children. the second causality, shadi jamal al shareef, 26, died in an egyptian hospital after he was injured in the siege of beit hanoun. shadi was a fighter with hamas' al-qassam brigades, and was injured in a missile strike on november 2nd. a third man, mohammad abu jalhoum, 17, from beit lahiya was seriously injured on the attacks of november 8th in beit hanoun, and died today from his injuries.

sunday, occupation forces KILLED ONE palestinian and injured ten others in an air strike on a car. an occupation attack helicopter fired at least one air-to-surface projectile at a car in the zaitoun neighborhood of gaza city. the car carried three people, rabah haji, 75, was killed while the other passengers were injured, one critically. seven other people, not in the car, were also injured including a 14 and 16 year old, two additional teenagers, a five year old boy, and a 13 year old boy. these injuries were due to flying shrapnel in the explosion.


sunday, united nations officials confirmed that occupation gunfire directed at a united nations elementary school in beit lahiya, in northern gaza, injured two children, one 7 and the other 12. ahmed abdel aziz, a 7 year old boy was shot in the head as he sat at his desk, and an unnamed 12 year old girl was shot in leg as students fled the building following the gunfire. ahmed left the hospital today while the girl is still recovering after the bullet was removed from her leg.

sunday, the palestinian ministry of health released a health report for the first 19 days of november. in the gaza strip, in only 19 days, occupation forces killed 96 palestinians, including 25 children. in this 19 days, children accounted for 26% of the causalities. 15 women were also killed, accounting for 15% of the total citizens killed.

monday, occupation forces have re-invaded beit hanoun, in northern gaza. occupation soldiers, vehicles and armored bulldozers entered the city and closed it off from the north and south. upon entering, occupation artillery fired four shells into the town's abed rabbo area. one of the shells hit the home of abdul halim khadir, damaging the structure. following the shelling, occupation special forces invaded further and were met with resistance from palestinian fighters from hamas' al-qassam brigade.

monday, occupation forces fired at least one artillery shells at the mount kashif area of jabalia.


monday, occupation forces KILLED TWO palestinians in an air strike. occupation war plaes fired at least two missiles at a car driving on al-mansoura street in the al-shuja'iya neighborhood, east of gaza city. abdul qader habeeb and basil obeid, both field commanders with hamas' al-qassam brigades, were killed. five other palestinians, including two infants and their father, were injured in the air strike. the infants were 9 months and 19 months old, and were brothers.

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from the resistance:
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saturday, the non-violent collective action organized quickly by palestinians to protect the home of a fighter whose home was to be bombed was successful!! the occupation air force was forced to cancel the air strike after several hundred palestinians, many of which were women, positioned themselves in, on top of and around the home. occupation officials reported that the attack was called off to "avoid inflicting civilian causalities." nizar riyan, a hamas leader in the area, told the BBC, "Now, men and women are taking it in turns. Women came in the morning and said to us they will be here during the day, and you men will be here during the night...Our sisters are now sitting on the roof. They told us to have some rest inside the house. This is a great stance by our people, women and men, and will break the power of F-16 planes." following the successful action, a spokesman for the popular resistance committees said to reuters news, "We call upon all the fighters to reject evacuating their houses and we urge our people to rush into the threatened houses and make human shields."
among others, hamas' news service reported on the action. their article can be viewed here:

the BBC also wrote an article on this sucessful act of non-violent resistance:

saturday, the al-qassam brigade released an english language summary of their operations for the day, only a fraction of which i reported when they occurred. on saturday, the qassam brigade fired one yassin missile at occupation soldiers in beit lahiya, injuring three soldiers. the brigades also fired on rocket-propelled grenade at an occupation tank in beit lahiya. the brigades also fired on yassin missile at an occupation troop transport in beit lahiya. the brigades also fired on mortar at occupation vehicles in beit lahiya, one qassam home made rocket at ba'eri settlement, and two qassam roakets at an occupation airstrip near zekim settlement. to view the statement, click here:

saturday, palestinian youths attacked a car carrying a colonial settler on a road near the village of husan, west of bethlehem. the car was struck with stones and the colonist. the nature of the colonist's injuries are unknown.

sunday, the al-qassam brigades, the military wing of hamas, launched five home made qassam rockets at sderot, two home made rockets at an occupation military airstrip at zikim, near ashkelon, and at least three home made rockets at kfar ma'imon and ma'agalim. one settler in the western negev desert received moderate to serious wounds from rocket fire. three others were lightly wounded.

sunday, the nasser salah addin brigades, the military wing of the popular resistance committees, launched one home made nasser-3 rocket at ashkelon while occupation attack helicopters hovered in the area.

sunday, the national resistance brigades, the military wing of the democratic front for the liberation of palestine, launched one home made rocket at kibbutz sa'ad, east of gaza city.

sunday, the abu ali mustafa brigades, the military wing of the popular front for the liberation of palestine, attacked a grouping of occupation soldiers north of beit lahiya, in northern gaza. the brigades claim to have injured three occupation soldiers.

sunday, the al-quds brigade, the military wing of islamic jihad, launched four home made rockets at an occupation military post, east of kisufim, in gaza.

sunday, the al-aqsa martyrs brigade, the main military wing of fatah, launched two home made rockets at ashkelon.

sunday, occupation military sources reported today that 420 home made palestinian rockets and mortar shells have been fired at targets since the beginning of 2006. in 2005, 487 rockets and mortars were fired.

monday, for the second time in one week PALESTINIAN NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE IN GAZA HAS WORKED!! after the home of wael rajab in beit lahiya, was marked for a bombing via a phone call from occupation forces, palestinians began to surround the home and gather on the roof to prevent its destruction. wael is a commander of the executive force of the palestinian interior ministry for beit lahiya. like the previous home shielding action saturday, and the mosque shielding action it the beit hanoun two weeks ago, in today's action, many of the participants were women. because of the high number of bystanders, the home was not bombed. following this second successful action in gaza inj only three days, dr. nizar rayyan, a local hamas leader, called for a national campaign to defend the homes of palestinian resistance fighters. dr. nizar announced the plan and stated, "Those fighters are sacrificing their souls in defense of the Palestinian people, and therefore, we should pay them back and sacrifice our souls in protecting their homes."

monday, the al-qassam brigade, the military wing of hamas launched six home made rockets at settlements and military positions including sderot and kfar ma'imon.

monday, the national resistance brigades, the military wing of the popular front for the liberation of palestine, launched two home made rockets at the kissufim occupation military post.

monday, the nasser salah addin brigades, the military wing of the popular resistance committees, launched one home made rocket at kfar azza.

monday, the al-quds brigade, the military wing of islamic jihad, launched three home made rockets at the town of kissufim, northeast of khan younis in southern gaza.

monday, the al-aqsa martyrs brigades, the main military wing of fatah, launched one modified home made rocket at kibbutz sa'ad in the western negev desert.
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Ha'aretz--Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz plans to appoint a major general to investigate the use of cluster bombs - some of which were fired against his orders during the Lebanon war. Halutz ordered the IDF to use cluster bombs with extreme caution and not to fire them into populated areas.

Nonetheless, it did so anyway, primarily using artillery batteries and the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). IDF artillery, MLRS and aircraft are thought to have delivered thousands of cluster bombs, containing a total of some 4 million bomblets, during the war...Each rocket or shell can contain as many as several hundred bomblets, which are meant to disperse over an area of hundreds of square meters, exploding as they hit the ground.

Since the cease-fire went into effect on August 14, at least 22 civilians, including many children, have been killed and 134 others injured by unexploded bomblets. To date, roughly 58,000 unexploded bomblets have been discovered at about 800 different sites in southern Lebanon. Most are near populated areas.

The United Nations demining unit believes that as much as 30 to 40 percent of bomblets may be duds. This translates into hundreds of thousands of unexploded bomblets throughout southern Lebanon, which endanger the lives of residents and block farmers from working their land.

According to testimony of an MLRS battery commander published in Haaretz, MLRS rockets were heavily used, even though they are known to be very inaccurate the rockets may deviate up to 1,200 meters from their target and a substantial percentage of the bomblets are known not to explode, thus becoming mines. In light of this, most experts view cluster ammunitions to be "non-discerning" weapons prohibited for use in a civilian environment.

According to the officer, in order to compensate for the rockets' lack of precision, they were told to "flood" the area with them. "We have no option of striking an isolated target, and the commanders know this very well," he said.
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Ha'aretz--The Israel Defense Forces on Monday admitted for the first time to having targeted populated areas with cluster munitions during the recent war in Lebanon...

The upper echelons of the IDF ordered the use of cluster munitions during the war in Lebanon and authorized every target north of the Litani River, including those in densely populated areas, a commander in the IDF's Multiple Launch Rocket System unit said Monday.

The commander said that his unit, which was responsible for all cluster bombs fired at the Litani, had fired numerous rockets north of the river. He said all targets had been described as "General Staff targets."

IDF artillery, MLRS and aircraft are thought to have delivered thousands of cluster bombs, containing a total of some 4 million bomblets, during the war.

The United Nations bomb dismantling teams have located many sites north of the Litani that were struck by cluster bombs, including populated areas.

MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), a reserves colonel who led an artillery support unit in the first Lebanon war, called the use of cluster bombs a "very unusual" measure..."This is a very grave matter," Cohen said. "If cluster bombs were used in populated areas, it is an indescribable crime. There is no goal that can't be reached without the use of clusters. The massive use the IDF employed during the war testifies to a lack of control, to complete hysteria."