From Occupied Palestine, With Love

PCHR: 3 Years After Operation Cast Lead Justice has been Comprehensively Denied; 23 Narratives Documenting the Experience of Victims

2011-12-28T10:58:00.002-05:00

Today marks the third anniversary of the commencement of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip. 27 December also marks the anniversary of the single bloodiest day in the history of the occupation; on this day three years ago 334 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, 76.6% of whom were civilian.

In total, 1,419 Palestinians were killed during Operation Cast Lead, 1,167 (82.2%) of whom were civilians. A further 5,300 were injured. Israeli forces directly targeted and attacked private homes and civilian institutions, including hospitals and schools. Exacerbating the effects of the continuing illegal closure, the offensive had a devastating impact on the overall economy of the Gaza Strip. Civilian workshops and factories were directly targeted and agricultural land was razed, destroying farms, fields and irrigation systems that formed the basis of farmersʹ livelihoods. As reconstruction is virtually impossible due to the illegal closure, the hardship brought about by this destruction has only increased in the last three years.

To mark the anniversary of the attacks, and to highlight the continuing lack of justice, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) will release a series of narratives, documenting the experiences of victims in the three years since the offensive. The story of the Al Ashi family is released today. This series is also accompanied by a factsheet providing an overview of the flaws inherent in the Israeli justice system and the criminal complaints submitted to the Israeli authorities on behalf of victims of Operation Cast Lead. Further information is available in Genuinely Unwilling: An Update.

PCHR believes that Israeli forces committed serious violations of IHL and IHRL over the course of the offensive. Violations entailing individual criminal responsibility include – but are not limited to – the crimes of wilful killing, the extensive destruction of civilian property, the direct targeting of civilians and civilian objects, the use of human shields, and the launching of indiscriminate attacks.

PCHR has submitted 490 criminal complaints to the Israeli authorities, on behalf of 1,046 victims of Operation Cast Lead. To-date, only two substantive replies have been received. The overwhelming majority of complaints have been simply ignored.

It is evident that these crimes demand judicial redress. If the law is to be respected – if it is to prove capable of protecting civilian populations – it must be enforced; victims’ rights to the equal protection of the law and effective judicial remedy must be upheld. Those responsible for committing such crimes must be investigated, tried and prosecuted in accordance with international standards.

If the occupation has taught us anything it is that as long as Israel is granted impunity, it will continue to violate international law, Palestinian civilians will continue to suffer the horrific consequences.

In light of the clear and unequivocal failure of domestic justice systems, it is clear that recourse must be had to mechanisms of international criminal justice. PCHR call upon the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to refer the situation in Israel and Palestine to the International Criminal Court. PCHR also reminds States, as High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, of their pressing legal obligation, to search for and prosecute all those suspected of committing war crimes, regardless of their nationality.

Report: Israel issues over 1,000 settlement tenders

2011-12-18T14:23:00.001-05:00

Published today (updated) 18/12/2011 19:02

A general view of Har Homa settlement.(MaanImages/file)

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- The Israeli ministry of housing and construction announced Sunday that they will market tenders for over 1,000 housing units in illegal settlements in the West Bank.

"Some countries won't be pleased with this (tenders), but they won't be surprised," Ariel Atias, Israel's housing and construction minister, was quoted as saying by Israeli news site Ynet.

The housing units include 500 in Har Homa south of Jerusalem, 348 in Betar Illit, southwest of Jerusalem, and 180 in Givat Zeev, northwest of Jerusalem.

"The decision was reached last month after the Palestinians were accepted into UNESCO," Atias said.

Last week, Israel approved the construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new settler enclaves near Bethlehem.

"Israel's military establishment has approved the establishment of a new, permanent neighborhood and a farm near the West Bank settlement of Efrat," Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

"The building in Efrat is especially sensitive in my opinion, because it is east of the road leading to Bethlehem," Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP in response to the move.

"That means that if Israel wants to annex Efrat, it will cut off Bethlehem from the southern West Bank."

Israel has come under renewed international criticism for its surge of settlement activities since a government decision on November 1 to speed up building in response to Palestine joining UNESCO.

More than 310,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and the number is constantly growing.

Another 200,000 live in a dozen settlement neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967 and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.

The international community considers all settlements in territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 as illegal, whether or not approved by its government.

For more information:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-plans-to-build-more-than-1-000-homes-in-west-bank-east-jerusalem-1.402159

Israel builds Gaza sea border at 3 miles out

2011-12-15T12:24:00.000-05:00

Ref: 142/2011

Date: 15 December 2011

Time: 12:50

PCHR Condemns Placing Large Floats 3 Miles from Gaza Seashore to Tighten the Siege Imposed on the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the placing of large floats by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) 3 miles from the Gaza Strip seashore, beyond which Palestinian fishermen are banned from sailing. This measure serves to institutionalize the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, and enhances IOF’s control over the Gaza Strip’s regional water. PCHR warns that this measure will lead to more attacks by IOF against Palestinian fishermen, depriving them of their means of subsistence, under the pretest of sailing beyond the sea floats.

PCHR has obtained affidavits from a number of Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip, in which they expressed concerns that such Israeli measures would tighten the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip and restrict their work by limiting the permissible fishing area to only 3 nautical miles.

According to Mr. Mohammed Subhi al-Hissi, Head of the Union of Fishermen in Gaza City, the Israeli naval forces started to place large floats to serve as border signs, above which are lights and devices believed to be photographing and monitoring devices, at a distance of 3 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip seashore. The Israeli naval forces warned Palestinian fishermen through leaflets not to sail beyond such border signs, otherwise, they would be subject to shooting, detention and confiscation of fishing tools. Al-Hissi warned of the repercussions of this measure on the fishing industry in the Gaza Strip, which is the sole source of income for hundreds of fishermen and their families.

It should be noted that IOF have imposed a long term closure on the Gaza Strip since 1991, under which they have deprived Palestinian fishermen their right to fish Gaza’s waters. They also decreased the permissible fishing area in the Gaza Strip’s seawater from 20 nautical miles, as agreed under the Palestinian-Israeli Oslo Accords,[1] to 6 nautical miles in 2008, and to 3 nautical miles in 2009. During the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in the period 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009, IOF imposed a total closure on the Gaza Strip, completely preventing Palestinian fishermen from fishing. Following the offensive, IOF imposed a partial closure on the Gaza Strip preventing Palestinian fishermen from fishing beyond a distance of 3 nautical miles.

In light of the above:

1. PCHR condemns placing such large floats 3 miles from the Gaza Strip’s seashore, banning Palestinian fishermen from fishing beyond them.

2. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on IOF to open the fishing area up to 20 nautical miles.

3. PCHR condemns attacks by IOF against Palestinian fishermen, and believed that such attacks are part of the collective punishment measures against the Palestinian civilian population, including denying them of their means of subsistence, which is prohibited under the international humanitarian law and human rights law

IDF Kills Demonstrator at Weekly Nabi Saleh Protest Site

2011-12-11T13:26:00.001-05:00

Ref: 134/2011

Date: 11 December 2011

Time: 11:00 GMT

IOF Use Excessive Lethal Force and Kill Palestinian Civilian in al-Nabi Saleh Weekly Peaceful Protests

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the crime of killing a Palestinian who was peacefully demonstrating in al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). PCHR notes that IOF have intentionally used excessive lethal force against weekly peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians and Israeli and international human rights defenders against the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate action in order to put an end to IOF’s crimes. PCHR calls also upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 of the Convention which requires the Contracting Parties to respect and ensure respect for the Convention under all circumstances.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, following the Friday prayer on 09 December 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and Israeli and international human rights defenders gathered in the center of al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, to start the weekly peaceful protest against the construction of the annexation wall and settlement activities. The protesters walked towards the gate erected by IOF near the entrance of the village and leading to Palestinian lands that Israeli settlers from the nearby "Halamish" settlement are trying to seize. Israeli soldiers who had been extensively deployed in the area and near all the entrances of the village since the morning, began to confront the protesters who wanted to walk towards the affected lands. Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the protesters. A result, Mustafa Abdul Razzaq al-Tamimi, 27, was hit by a tear gas canister to the right side of his face. Al-Tamimi fell down and he was evacuated in a Palestinian taxi which drove towards Ramallah. IOF stopped the taxi, took al-Tamimi, and transferred him to a hospital in Israel. At approximately 10:00 on Saturday, 10 December 2011, medical sources at Israeli hospital pronounced al-Tamimi dead. Al-Tamimi's body was transferred to Ramallah Public Hospital at around 19:00 on Saturday, 10 December. Eyewitnesses told a PCHR fieldworker that the tear gas canister was fired at al-Tamimi from an Israeli military jeep that was located approximately 10 meters from him.

PCHR renews its condemnation of this crime and:

1. Stresses that the use of extensive lethal force against peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians has become a systematic policy by IOF, which reflects disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians;

2. Holds IOF accountable for the deterioration of the situation in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip;

3. Believes that it is time to convene a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions in order to take immediate action to protect Palestinian civilians in the OPT, in view of the continued violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention by the State of Israel and IOF.

For more information:

Palestinian dies after hit by tear gas canister

Thousands mourn protester killed at Nabi Saleh

In photos: Nabi Saleh mourns Mustafa Tamimi

Three hurt, eight arrested after funeral of Palestinian protester killed by IDF

A day of memorial for Palestinian human rights

Maan News Agency: Israeli military courts 'have 99 percent conviction rate'

2011-11-29T10:56:00.000-05:00

Maan News Agency: Israeli military courts 'have 99 percent conviction rate':

Published today 16:56

Two Palestinians arrested by Israeli troops squat against a closed shop in
Hebron. (AFP/Hazem Bader, File)

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli military courts in the West Bank have a 99.74 percent conviction rate for Palestinians brought before them, according to data published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Tuesday.

The newspaper, citing data from an annual military courts report, said military courts in the West Bank heard 9,542 cases in 2010, including over 2,000 involving "hostile terror activity."

Of those 9,542, just 25 resulted in full acquittals -- a conviction rate of 99.74, the newspaper said. But in four percent of all the cases heard, the defendant received a partial acquittal on one or more charge, it added.

The data also showed military tribunals overwhelmingly granted requests for administrative detention of Palestinians, approving 98.77 percent of the 714 requests received in 2010.

And, the newspaper said, the figures showed prosecution appeals to the military tribunals were granted much more frequently than those filed by the defense.

Prosecution appeals were upheld 67 percent of the time, the data showed, while defense appeals succeeded just 33 percent of the time.

Palestinians in the West Bank accused by Israel of criminal or security offenses are almost always tried before military tribunals, rarely appearing before Israeli civilian courts.

In addition to over 2,000 "terror" cases heard by the military tribunals in 2010, the courts also heard 763 cases involving "disorderly conduct" as well as cases involving illegal residence in Israel, traffic offenses and criminal activity, Haaretz said.

Israel effectively annexes Palestinian land near Jordan Valley - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

2011-11-18T01:29:00.002-05:00

Photo: Jordan Valley agricultural settlement

NEWS: Israel effectively annexes Palestinian land near Jordan Valley - (Haaretz)

Photo: apartheid roads and barriers

The Palestinian Freedom Riders

2011-11-16T17:32:00.002-05:00

Freedom Riders: “I felt like I was witnessing history”

Posted on: November 16, 2011 |

by Ben Lorber

15 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Earlier today, 7 Palestinian activists were arrested as part of the Freedom Rides attempt to board segregated buses going from the West Bank into occupied East Jerusalem.

Freedom Riders - Click for more images

Palestinians, Israelis and ISM activists waited at a bus stop outside the illegal settlement of Psagot, while four settler buses pulled up and drove away, refusing to open their doors. Israeli police and occupation army surrounded the activists, while a group of settlers massed to observe. Finally, a bus took the activists aboard, and the bus made its way to Hizmeh checkpoint, trailed by army jeeps and police vehicles.

At Hizmeh checkpoint, occupation forces stopped the bus, refusing to allow it to pass. During this time, border police attempted to enter the back of the bus and violently drag one Palestinian off the bus. When both attempts failed, border police commandeered the bus, and forced it to park by the side of the checkpoint.

After about half an hour, border police entered the bus, and forcibly dragged the six Palestinian Freedom

Riders off of the bus. “When they pulled them out of the bus, it was not gentle,” said ISM activist Crystal. “A girl next to me was almost crying.” Activist and lawyer Huwaida Arraf was rendered unconscious by the forcible removal.

The Palestinian activists were arrested and taken to Atarot prison, on the grounds that they had entered Jerusalem illegally.

Later that night, ISM activists held a demonstration outside of Atarot, demanding that occupation forces release the prisoners.

“I felt like I was witnessing history,” said ISM activist Wajed.

Ben Lorber is an activist with International Solidarity Movement and writer with Alternative Information Center.

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Freedom Riders: I witnessed six Palestinian activists demand freedom

Posted on: November 16, 2011 |

by Holly

16 November 2011 | Carbonating Change

Yesterday I witnessed six Palestinian activists demand freedom, justice and dignity as they defied Israel’s apartheid policies when the group successfully boarded settler-only buses and attempted to enter East Jerusalem, where they were eventually brutally dragged off and arrested by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF).

At the press conference and in the lead up to the event, the activists described how they had taken inspiration from the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the heroic actions of Rosa Parks. Drawing on the struggles of African Americans who fought against segregation and inequality in the Unites States, and South Africans who battled against apartheid, the Palestinian Freedom Riders aimed to draw the world’s attention to the similarity of the struggle faced by the Palestinian people on a daily basis.

However, it must be recognised that the formation and continued policies of Israel’s apartheid state have far superseded the actions of both the Jim Crow South in the U.S. and the white supremacists in South Africa. Only last week when visiting Ni’lin, I was told of how when the wall was being built (which stole 30% of Palestinian land from the people of this small village), the IOF imposed a four day curfew on the village. This was enforced night and day, and if the people tried to leave their homes, tear gas and sound bombs were fired relentlessly into the narrow streets.

In South Africa, the white settlers sought to dominate the native population by incorporating them as inferior citizens in a state under exclusively white control. Zionism is founded upon a similarly colonialist ideology, but goes further in its attempts to establish a Jewish demographic through an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from their land.

Unlike in the American South of the 60s, you will not see signs around the settlements or at the checkpoints stating “No Palestinians here” – Israel manages its PR machine far too well for such overtly racist statements to be witnessed by the other “democratic” countries which fund its existence. Similarly, Palestinians are technically allowed to ride “settler-only” buses and drive on “settler-only” roads, something repeated by the Israeli media and the settlers who came off the buses yesterday.

But the segregation, inequality and the denial of Palestinian’s rights to enter their own land is implemented in a far more covert way by Israel. Whilst Palestinians may be able to travel on the buses and roads, these buses lead either into the internationally recognisedillegal settlements, or into East Jerusalem where Palestinians are forbidden to enter. East Jerusalem is the intended capital of a future Palestinian state, yet Israel has denied the majority of Palestinians access to the city without a permit, which are almost impossible to obtain.

As a result, Israel has been able to continually expand the settlements in East Jerusalem, particularly in the highly contentious area of Sheikh Jarrah, and this has lead to the annexing of Palestinian populated areas in the city so that it is surrounded by Israeli settlements, systematically destroying the possibility of having a Palestinian controlled capital.

As I hope is becoming evident, the Palestinian Freedom Riders movement is not simply about the segregation of buses, the problem here is much larger. Palestinians face an apparatus of military control over Palestinians that needs to be dismantled, along with the settlements themselves.

The Israeli government will continue to defend their denial of Palestinians into East Jerusalem and the segregation of settler buses and roads because of the “security” threat from suicide bombings, their continual excuse and reasoning behind the occupation of Palestine. However, Israel’s colonialist project and abhorrent treatment of Palestinians began long before the first suicide bombing took place, and the continued occupation will do nothing to deter the desperate and destructive acts of suicide bombers.

However, the violence that has blighted the region for many years was far from the minds of anybody who witnessed the Palestinian Freedom Rides yesterday, as they took part in a determinedly non-violent resistance that attempted to demonstrate the popular, direct action movements which have been been gaining momentum in Palestine to resist Israeli occupation.

Yesterday’s action was a well orchestrated media circus, with hundreds of journalists swarming around the riders trying to get the best shots and interviews for their stories. However, in order for the Freedom Rides to have a true impact on Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, they will need to engage the wider Palestinian community and encourage these acts of civil disobedience in the next waves of the Freedom Rides. I have every faith that the activists involved in the initial wave will continue tirelessly to do so, facing arrest by the Israeli forces and attack by the settlers at every turn.

Furthermore, the onus is now on people around the world not to co-operate with the apartheid policies of the Israeli regime and to take action against them, starting with the boycott of companies – such as Egged and Veolia who run the settler buses – who profit from Israel’s illegal apartheid system.

This protest was not about the UN Statehood Bid. It had nothing to say about armed struggle. Instead, this is one of the most inspiring acts of people power I have seen since arriving in Palestine. The Freedom Riders are demanding that their very basic human rights are upheld in accordance with international law, and to demonstrate that they will continue to engage non-violently to win the freedom, justice and dignity for which the Palestinian people have struggled for so long.

Holly is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

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Palestinian 'freedom riders' board settlers' bus

The Freedom Riders say they are being discriminated against by the Israeli bus companies

Palestinian UN membership bid

Israeli police have detained six Palestinians dubbed West Bank Freedom Riders who boarded a Jerusalem-bound bus used by Jewish settlers.

The activists say they drew inspiration from 1960s US civil rights demonstrators who campaigned under the same name against segregated buses.

Palestinians from the West Bank are not allowed to cross into Jerusalem without Israeli permission.

Israel says such restrictions are for security reasons.

The group of six protesters gathered at a West Bank bus stop and waited for an Israeli bus to pick them up, then tried to enter Jerusalem, in what appears to be a first.

After being allowed to travel to an Israeli checkpoint at the edge of Jerusalem, the activists were eventually arrested when they refused to leave the bus.

The protesters say that by only serving Jewish settlements and not Palestinian areas in the West Bank, Israeli bus companies discriminate against them.

"These buses and this whole system is discriminatory to Palestinians," said activist Fadi Quran, as he waited at the bus stop.

The West Bank Freedom Riders punched above their weight, drawing a lot of publicity for what was a relatively small event, reports the BBC's Jon Donnison in the West Bank.

The comparison to the Freedom Riders of 1960s America seemed to capture the imagination as dozens of journalists gathered to see the small group board the bus, our correspondent says.

In actual fact, this was less a protest about segregation and more about freedom of movement, he adds.

There are around 500,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Settlements are illegal under international law although Israel disputes this.

French Consul, pregnant wife & 2 children injured in Israeli shelling of their home

2011-11-14T14:03:00.003-05:00

Ref: 113/2011

Date: 14 November 2011

Time: 12:50 GMT

The French Consul and his Family in Gaza were Wounded in an Israeli Attack on a Palestinian Navy Site in the Northern Gaza Strip

On Monday, 14 November 2011, the French Consul in the Gaza Strip, Majdi Jameel Yaseen Shaqqoura, 44, and his two children were wounded in an Israeli attack on the Palestinian Navy site in the southwest of Beit Lahia, located in northern Gaza. They were in their home when they were injured by shrapnel. Additionally, as a result of the same attack the consul's wife suffered from hemorrhage that led to a miscarriage.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Majdi Shaqqoura was in his home, located behind al-Nawras Resort in al-Soudaniya area, southwest of Beit Lahia, at the time of the attack. Shaqqoura was watching TV in the house’s sitting room which is surrounded by large windows, together with his relative and three children: Arwa, 9, Rawan, 13, and Mohammed, 8. At 2:00 in the morning they suddenly heard an explosion that rocked the house. In his testimony to PCHR, Shaqqoura said that windows of the sitting room broke in the blast. Him and his relative rushed to protect the children. Then a second explosion took place which broke all the windows, and resulted in shrapnel injuries to Shaqqoura’s leg and Rawan’s hand and back. Shaqqoura added that, at the same time, his wife Majda Shaqqoura, 42, and her brother were on their way to the home in her car. They were 150 meters away from the bombardment site. As a result, Majda suffered from a hemorrhage injury. Her brother transported her to al-Awda Hospital, where she miscarried, being in the second month of her pregnancy.

At approximately 01:55 on Monday, 14 November 2011, the Israeli warplanes launched four missiles at a Palestinian Navy site located at the beach, in front of al-Nawras Resort, in the al-Soudaniya area. This area is located in the southwest of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. The attack resulted in the killing of first sergeant Mohammed Zaher Zaki al-Kilani, 22, from Beit Lahia, whose body was torn into pieces. The Civil Defense found al-Kilani's body buried under the rubble after approximately one hour of searching for him. Five other members were wounded, one of whom sustained serious wounds. The attack resulted in the full destruction of the Navy's site, which is has an approximate surface of 2,000 square meters. The building consists of an operation office, bedroom, place for prayer, administration office, office of the site's chief, and five additional offices for meetings and detention. Besides, a blue Magnum jeep and a motorbike were destroyed.

Additionally, two other civilians were wounded by glass shrapnel throughout their bodies and were transported to the hospital for treatment.

PCHR reiterates its condemnation of these crimes, and:

1. Stresses that these crimes form part of systematic violations perpetrated in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, which reflects Israeli forces’ disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians;

2. Warns of further escalation in hostilities, which may result in the targeting of civilians and their property, in light of statements made by Israeli politicians and military leaders; and

3. Calls upon the international community to immediately take an action to stop such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1 which stipulates "the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances," and their obligations under Article 146 which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.

for more information:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-strike-on-gaza-wounds-french-consul-and-family-1.395754

http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=436721

Join Welcome to Palestine 2012

2011-10-24T14:00:00.002-04:00

Join Welcome to Palestine 2012, which begins on Sunday April 15^th with flights from many international airports to Occupied Palestine, by necessity via Tel Aviv Airport in Israel.

1. Join us on April 15^th flying into Palestine via Tel Aviv

2. Add your name and that of your organisation, trade union, campaign group, church, etc., to list of signatories endorsing the attached appeal. Forward the Call to other human rights supporters.

3. Go to www.welcometopalestine.info or email me for more information.

Mick Napier
UK Coordinator, Welcome to Palestine 2012
contact@welcometopalestine.info
http://www.welcometopalestine.info
00 44 (0)131 620 0052 / 00 44 (0)795 800 2591
Skype: michaelnapier

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English/French/Spanish/Italian/German/Greek/Turkish/Polish/Arabic/Dutch/Portuguese/Bulgarian/Norwegian/Malay

ENGLISH: Welcome to Palestine Initiative 2012
"We, the undersigned, endorse the call from the Welcome to Palestine 2012 initiative for supporters of Palestinian human and national rights around the world to openly visit Palestine during Easter 2012.

There is no way into Palestine other than through Israeli control points. Israel has turned Palestine into a giant prison, but prisoners have a right to receive visitors.

Welcome to Palestine 2012 will again challenge Israel's policy of isolating the West Bank while the settler paramilitaries and army commit brutal crimes against a virtually defenceless Palestinian civilian population.

We call on governments to support the right of Palestinians to receive visitors and the right of their own citizens to visit Palestine openly.

The participants in Welcome to Palestine 2012 ask to be allowed to pass through Tel Aviv airport without hindrance and to proceed to the West Bank to take part in a project there for children to benefit from the right to education."

Signed:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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FRENCH : Bienvenue en Palestine 2012
« Nous, signataires de la présente, adhérons à l’appel de "Bienvenue en Palestine 2012", visant à permettre aux défenseurs des droits de l’homme et des droits nationaux du peuple palestinien de se rendre librement en Palestine en avril 2012.

Il n’y a pas d’autre moyen, pour entrer en Palestine, que de passer par des postes de contrôle israéliens. Israël a fait de la Palestine une prison géante, mais depuis quand des prisonniers ne pourraient-ils mêmes pas recevoir de visites ?

"Bienvenue en Palestine 2012 va de nouveau contester la politique israélienne d’isolement de la Cisjordanie, à l’heure où les colons paramilitaires et l’armée commettent des crimes contre une population civile palestinienne sans défense.

Nous appelons les gouvernements à soutenir le droit des Palestiniens à recevoir des visiteurs, et le droit pour leurs ressortissants respectifs de visiter librement la Palestine.

Les participants à la mission Bienvenue en Palestine 2012 demandent à pouvoir transiter par l'aéroport de Tel Aviv sans encombre afin de pouvoir se rendre directement en Cisjordanie où ils sont attendus pour prendre part à un projet consacré au droit à l’éducation pour les enfants palestiniens.»

Signataires :
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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SPANISH: Bienvenidos a Palestina 2012
"Nosotros, los abajo firmantes, apoyamos el llamamiento "Bienvenidos a Palestina 2012", iniciativa dirigida a los partidarios en todo el mundo tanto de los derechos individuales de las ciudadanas y los ciudadanos de Palestina, como de los derechos nacionales del pueblo palestino a los que invitamos a visitar colectivamente Palestina durante la Semana Santa (Pascua) de 2012.

No hay ninguna posibilidad de entrar en Palestina que no sea a través de los puestos de control de los militares israelíes. Israel ha convertido Palestina en una gigantesca prisión, y nos gustaría recordar que hasta los presos tienen derecho a recibir visitas.

“Bienvenidos a Palestina 2012” volverá a desafiar la política de Israel de aislar a Cisjordania, mientras que los colonos paramilitares y el ejército cometen crímenes en contra de una población civil indefensa.

Llamamos a (nuestros) gobiernos a que apoyen el derecho de los palestinos a recibir a sus invitados de todo el mundo y el derecho de sus propios ciudadanos a visitar Palestina sin restricciones.

Los participantes en la campaña “Bienvenido a Palestina 2012” piden que se les permita aterrizar en el aeropuerto de Tel Aviv sin obstáculos para poder dirigirse a Cisjordania con la intención de participar en un proyecto colectivo dirigido a que los niños y las niñas de Palestina disfruten del derecho a la educación.

Firmado:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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ITALIAN: Benvenuti in Palestina

"Noi, firmatari della presente lettera, aderiamo all’appello di “Bienvenu en Palestine 2012” per permettere agli attivisti per i diritti umani e per i diritti nazionali del popolo palestinese di entrare liberamente in Palestina nell’aprile 2012.

Attualmente, l’unica possibilità per entrare in Palestina è quella di passare attraverso i posti di controllo israeliani, in questo modo Israele ha fatto della Palestina una gigantesca prigione, impedendo addirittura agli stessi prigionieri di ricevere visite.

“Bienvenu en Palestine 2012” contesta la politica israeliana d’isolamento della Cisgiordania, nello stesso momento in cui i coloni paramilitari e l’esercito israeliano commettono crimini contro la popolazione palestinese indifesa.

Noi ci appelliamo ai nostri governi affinché sostengano il diritto dei palestinesi a ricevere liberamente i loro visitatori, e il diritto per questi ultimi di visitare liberamente la Palestina.

I partecipanti alla missione “Bienvenu en Palestine 2012” chiedono che venga rispettato il loro diritto di transitare per l’aeroporto di Tel Aviv senza impedimenti, al fine di potersi recare direttamente in Cisgiordania dove sono attesi per la realizzazione di un progetto educativo dedicato ai bambini palestinesi."

Firmatari:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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GERMAN: Initiative „Willkommen in Palästina 2012“
„Wir, die Unterzeichneten, unterstützen den Aufruf der Initiative „Willkommen in Palästina 2012“ an alle Personen weltweit, die für die Menschenrechte und das nationale Recht der Palästinenser eintreten, zu einem offenen Besuch Palästinas über Ostern 2012.

Um nach Palästina einzureisen, führt kein Weg an den israelischen Kontrollpunkten vorbei. Israel hat aus Palästina ein gigantisches Gefängnis gemacht. Doch haben Gefangene das Recht, Besucher zu empfangen.

„Willkommen in Palästina“ wird erneut die israelische Politik herausfordern, welche das Westjordanland isoliert, während Paramilitärs der Siedler und die israelische Armee brutale Verbrechen gegen die praktisch wehrlose palästinensische Zivilbevölkerung begehen.

Wir rufen Regierungen dazu auf, das Recht der Palästinenser auf das Empfangen von Besuchern zu unterstützen sowie das Recht ihrer eigenen Bürger, Palästina offen zu besuchen.

Die Teilnehmenden an der Initiative „Willkommen in Palästina 2012“ verlangen die Erlaubnis, den Flughafen in Tel Aviv ohne Behinderung passieren und in das Westjordanland weiterreisen zu dürfen, um dort an einem Projekt für Kinder zur Nutzung ihres Rechts auf Bildung teilzunehmen.“

Die Unterzeichneten:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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GREEK: Πρωτοβουλία Καλώς ήλθατε στην Παλαιστίνη 2012
"Εμείς, οι υπογράφοντες, υποστηρίζουμε και υπογράφουμε το κάλεσμα της πρωτοβουλίας Καλώς ήρθατε στην Παλαιστίνη 2012 το οποίο καλεί τους υποστηρικτές των ανθρωπίνων και εθνικών δικαιωμάτων των Παλαιστινίων σε όλο τον κόσμο να επισκεφθούν την Παλαιστίνη κατά τη διάρκεια του Πάσχα του 2012.
Δεν υπάρχει άλλος δρόμος για να περάσεις στην Παλαιστίνη, παρά μόνο διαμέσου των ισραηλινών σημείων ελέγχου. Το Ισραήλ έχει μετατρέψει την Παλαιστίνη σε μια τεράστια φυλακή, αλλά και οι κρατούμενοι έχουν το δικαίωμα να δέχονται επισκέπτες.

Η Πρωτοβούλια Καλώς ήλθατε στην Παλαιστίνη 2012 θα προκαλέσει και θα αμφισβητήσει και πάλι την πολιτική του Ισραήλ. Μία πολιτική απομόνωσης της Δυτικής Όχθης, που παράλληλα επιτρέπει στις παραστρατιωτικές οργανώσεις των εποίκων και στις οργανώσεις του στρατού να πράτουν βίαια εγκλήματα εναντίον ενός ουσιαστικά ανυπεράσπιστου και άμαχου πληθυσμού.

Καλούμε τις κυβερνήσεις να υποστηρίξουν το δικαίωμα των Παλαιστινίων να δέχονται επισκέπτες και το δικαίωμα των πολιτών τους να επισκεφθούν ελεύθερα την Παλαιστίνη.

Οι συμμετέχοντες στο Καλώς ήρθατε στην Παλαιστίνη 2012 έχουν ζητήσει να τους επιτραπεί να περάσουν μέσα από το αεροδρόμιο του Τελ Αβίβ χωρίς εμπόδια ώστε να προχωρήσουν στην Δυτική Όχθη για να λάβουν μέρος σε ένα έργο το οποίο θα ωφελήσει τα παιδιά διαμέσου του δικαιώματος στην εκπαίδευση.

ΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΟΝΤΕΣ:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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TURKISH: Filistin’e Hoşgeldiniz 2012 Girişimi
"Biz, aşağıda imzası bulunanlar, Filistin'e Hoşgeldiniz 2012 girişiminin, dünya çapında Filistin'in insan ve ulusal hakları savunucularının 2012 Paskalyası süresince zorluk çıkarılmadan Filistin'i ziyaret edebilmesi çağrısını onaylamaktayız.

İsrail kontrol noktaları dışında Filistin'e herhangi bir giriş yolu yoktur. İsrail, Filistin'i dev bir cezaevi haline dönüşmüştür ama mahkumlar ziyaretçi kabul etme hakkına sahiptir.

Filistin’e Hoşgeldiniz 2012, hemen hemen savunmasız Filistin halkınakarşı, yerleşik milisler ve ordu acımasız suçlar işlerken, İsrail'in Batı Şeria'yı tecrit politikasına bir kez daha meydan okuyacak.
Biz Filistinlilerin ziyaretçi kabul etme ve kendi vatandaşlarının Filistin'i rahatca ziyaret etme haklarının desteklenmesi için hükümetlere çağrıda bulunuyoruz.

Filistin’e Hoşgeldiniz 2012 katılımcılari, Tel Aviv havaalanından engelle karşılaşmadan ve Batı Şeria'ya geçmek, ve orada çocuklarin eğitim hakkından yararlanmalari için bir projede yer almak üzere geçmek için izin verilmesini istiyorlar."

İmzacilar:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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POLISH: Zapraszamy do Palestyny Inicjatywa 2012
"My, niżej podpisani, popieramy wezwanie "Zapraszamy do Palestyny 2012" inicjatywy zwolenników Palestyńczyków i praw narodowych na całym świecie, na otwartą wizytę w Palestynie w czasie Wielkanocy 2012 roku.

Nie ma innego sposobu na dotarcie do Palestyny inaczej niż przez izraelskie punkty kontroli. Izrael zmienił Palestyę w gigantyczne więzienie, aczkolwiek więźniowie mają prawo do przyjmowania gości.

Iniciatywa "Witamy w Palestynie 2012 roku" ponownie kwestionuje politykę Izraela odnośnie izolowania Zachodniego Brzegu, podczas gdy paramilitarni osadnicy i armia popełniają brutalne przestępstwa przeciwko praktycznie bezbronnej palestyńskiej ludności cywilnej.

Wzywamy rządy do wspierania prawa Palestyńczyków do przyjmowania gości jak i prawa swoich obywateli do odwiedzenia Palestyny bez przeszkód.

Uczestnicy "Witamy w Palestynie 2012" proszą o możliwość przejścia na lotnisku w Tel Awiwie bez przeszkód oraz o możliwość udania się na Zachodni Brzegu w celu wzięcia udziału w projekcie wspierającym prawo do edukacji dla dzieci.
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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ARABIC : نؤيد "نحن الموقعون أدناه " مبادرة مرحبا بكم في فلسطين 2012 " التي تدعو تمكين ناشطي حقوق الإنسان والحقوق الوطنية للشعب الفلسطيني من التنقل بحرية في فلسطين في نيسان 2012
ليس هنالك طريقة أخرى لدخول فلسطين إلا من خلال نقاط التفتيش الاسرائيلية التي حولت فلسطين إلا سجن كبير و لكن لكل أسير حق استقبال الزوار

لهذا فإن قافلة مرحبا بكم في فلسطين ستتحدى سياسات اسرائيل التي تهدف لعزل الضفة الغربية في ظل استمرار المستوطنين و الجيش ارتكاب جرائمهم البشعة في حق المواطنين الفلسطينين العزل

اننا ندعو الحكومات دعم حق الفلسطينيين في استقبال الزوار و حق مواطنيهم زيارة فلسطين بحرية
المشاركين في قافلة مرحبا بكم في فلسطين ٢٠١٢ يطالبون بالسماح لهم بالعبور من خلال مطار تل ابيب دون عرقلة حركتهم الى الضفة الغربية من اجل المشاركة في مشروع ضمان حقوق الاطفال الفلسطينيين في التعليم
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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NEERLANDAIS :
« Wij, ondertekenaars, steunen de oproep van "Welcome to Palestine 2012" opdat de verdedigers van de mensenrechten en de nationale rechten van het palestijnse volk Palestina vrij zouden kunnen bezoeken in april 2012.

Er is geen andere weg om Palestina binnen te geraken dan langs israëlische controleposten. Israël maakt van Palestine een gigantische gevangenis, maar de gevangenen hebben geen recht om bezoek te ontvangen.
"Welcome to Palestine 2012 » wil opnieuw protesteren tegen de israëlische politiek van isolering van de Westbank en dat terwijl paramilitaire settlers en het leger misdaden plegen tegen de weerloze burgerbevolking.
Wij roepen de regeringen op om het recht van de palestijnen om bezoekers te ontvangen te ondersteunen, alsook het recht van hun eigen burgers om Palestina vrij te kunnen bezoeken. 
De deelnemers aan de missie « Welcome to Palestin2012 » vragen om vrije doorgang te krijgen op de vlieghaven van Tel Aviv, zonder hindernissen, zodat zij rechtstreeks naar de Westbank kunnen gaan, waar ze verwacht worden om deel te nemen aan een project voor het recht op onderwijs van de palestijnse kinderen.

Ondertekenaars :
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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PORTUGUESE: Iniciativa Bem-vindo à Palestina 2012
"Nós, os signatários, transmitimos o apelo da iniciativa Bem-vindo à Palestina 2012 aos apoiantes dos direitos humanos e nacionais dos palestinianos, espalhados em todo o mundo, para visitar a Palestina durante a Páscoa de 2012.
Não há outra forma de entrar na Palestina que não seja através dos postos de controlo israelitas. Israel transformou a Palestina numa enorme prisão, porém, os presos têm o direito de receber visitantes.
Bem-vindo à Palestina 2012 desafiará, novamente, a política de Israel de isolamento da Cisjordânia, enquanto os paramilitares e o exército cometem crimes brutais contra a indefesa população civil palestiniana.
Apelamos aos governos que apoiem o direito dos palestinianos de receber visitantes e o direito dos seus próprios cidadãos em visitar abertamente a Palestina.
Os participantes no Bem-vindo à Palestina 2012 solicitam que seja permitida a sua passagem pelo aeroporto de Tel Aviv sem obstáculos, e que possam prosseguir até à Cisjordânia para participarem num projecto sobre crianças e o benefício do direito à educação.”
Assinado
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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BULGARIAN: Добре дошли в Палестина 2012
"Ние, долуподписаните, потвърждаваме откриването на инициативата Добре дошли в Палестина 2012 за привържениците от цял свят на Палестинския народ и човешките права, за открито влизане в Палестина по време на Великден 2012.

В Палестина не може да се влиза по друг начин, освен през израелските контролни пунктове. Израел е превърнал Палестина в огромен затвор, но дори затворниците имат право на посещение.
Добре дошли в Палестина 2012 отново ще предизвика промяна в политиката на изолация на Западния Бряг, докато полувоенните заселници и армията извършват брутални престъпления срещу практически беззащитното Палестинко цивилно население.
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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NORWEGIAN: Velkommen til det Palestinske Initiativet 2012
”Vi støtter oppfordringen fra Velkommen til Palestina 2012 Initiativet, om at forkjempere fra hele verden for palestinske menneskerettigheter fritt kan besøke Palestina i påsken 2012.
For å komme til Palestina må en krysse israelske kontrollpunkter. Israel har gjort Palestina om til et gigantisk fengsel, men selv fanger har rett til å motta besøk.
Velkommen til Palestina 2012 Initiavitet vil fortsette å motarbeide israelsk politikk som vil isolere Vestbredden, mens bevæpnede bosettere og det israelske militæret fortsetter å utføre brutale overgrep mot den praktisk talt forsvarsløse palestinske befolkningen.
Vi oppfordrer regjeringer til å støtte retten til at palestinere kan motta besøkende og retten til at deres egne statsborgere fritt kan besøke Palestina.
Deltakerne i Velkommen til Palestina 2012 Initiavitet ber om tillatelse til å reise via Tel Aviv flyplass og videre til Vestbredden uten å bli hindret, for å delta i et prosjekt for barns rettigheter til utdanning.
Signert:
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

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MALAY: Inisiatif Selamat Datang ke Palestine 2012
“Kami, yang telah menandatangani surat ini, menyokong panggilan daripada Inisiatif Selamat Datang ke Palestine 2012 kepada penyokong hak asasi manusia dan hak negara Palestine di seluruh dunia, untuk melawat Palestine semasa tempoh Easter 2012.
Tiada jalan lain untuk masuki negara Palestine selain daripada stesen kawalan Israel. Israel telah mengubah Palestine menjadi penjara besar, tetapi banduan masih ada hak untuk menerima pelawat.
Insiatif Selamat Datang ke Palestine 2012 akan mancabar dasar Israel yang mengasingkan West Bank, dan di dalam masa yang sama, tentera Israel melakukan jenayah kejam ke atas penduduk awam yang tidak memiliki sebarang pertahanan.

Kami memanggil ke atas kerajaan-kerajaan untuk menyokong hak warga Palestine untuk menerima pelawat dan hak warganegara Palestine untuk melawat Palestine tanpa batasan.

Peserta-peserta Inisiatif Selamat Datang ke Palestine 2012 meminta agar diberi kebenaran untuk memasuki Palestine melalui Lapangan Terbang Tel Aviv tanpa halangan dan untuk meneruskan perjalanan ke West Bank, di mana peserta-peserta akan mengambil bahagian di dalam projek untuk kanak-kanak mendapat menfaat daripada hak mereka untuk mendapat pendidikan.”

Tandatangan
Sam Bahour
Tony Benn
Noam Chomsky
Jonathan Cook
Stephane Hessel
Ronnie Kasrils
Nurit Peled
John Pilger
Nawal Al Sadaawi
Vauro Senesi
Desmond Tutu

UN rights expert: Palestinian children subject to arrests, violence by Israel

2011-10-21T11:15:00.001-04:00

UN human rights rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Richard Falk calls on Israel to adopt international guidelines for protection of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation.

By DPA

A United Nations human rights expert urged on Thursday the international community to step up efforts to protect Palestinians children living in the West Bank, whom he claimed are subject to violence and arrest at the hands of Israeli authorities.

In a statement to the UN General Assembly, Richard Falk, a former New York University professor, cited particular cases in which Palestinian children in the West Bank were arrested or subjected to violence.

The UN human rights rapporteur for the Palestinian territories called on Israel to adopt international guidelines for the protection of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation.

"Prolonged occupation deforms the development of children through pervasive deprivations affecting health, education and overall security," Falk said in his statement.

He said the number of Palestinian children arrested and prosecuted by Israeli authorities has risen since 2007; however, he did not give a number to support this claim. He said some of those children, who were arrested for allegedly throwing stones at the settlers, were subject to interrogation and abuse.

Falk said 178 Palestinians suffered injuries as a result of violence from Israeli settlers so far in 2011, compared to 176 cases in 2010. The violence involved stone throwing, assaults and shooting by settlers.

"There are almost daily accounts of settler vandalism against Palestinian agricultural land and villages," he said. Falk added that several incidents were videotaped by individuals working for B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization

source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-rights-expert-palestinian-children-subject-to-arrests-violence-by-israel-1.391147

PCHR: Closure of Gaza Must Be Lifted as Shalit’s Pretext Diminished

2011-10-13T15:53:00.000-04:00

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) welcomes the prisoner swap deal between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), under which over a thousand Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive by the Palestinian resistance for more than five year. PCHR appreciates the role of mediation played by Egypt and related efforts exerted to achieve the deal. PCHR wishes that the coming period will also witness further Egyptian contribution to the implementation of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement that was signed last May between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo.

According to Israeli and Palestinian statements on the deal made in the media, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. Under this deal, all of the 27 female prisoners as well as 300 children will be released from Israeli prisons. The deal includes two phases; the first one will be completed within a week, during which Shalit will be released in exchange for the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners, including 279 prisoners serving life sentences and 27 female prisoners. The second phase will be completed within two months, during which 550 Palestinian prisoners will be released, but the IOF determines the conditions under which they will be released. Under the deal, 203 Palestinian prisoners will be deported; 40 of whom will be exiled overseas and 163 expelled to the Gaza Strip. PCHR expresses reservations on deporting the Palestinian prisoners and is concerned over this decision, as it is considered forced migration in violation of international law.

With the completion of this swap deal, over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, including approximately 400 people from the Gaza Strip, will remain detained under cruel and degrading conditions. In the past five years, their detention conditions have deteriorated in an unprecedented manner following the capture of Shalit by the Palestinian resistance in June 2006. Such cruel conditions include denial of family visits for Gazan prisoners; prevention of hundreds of families from visiting their imprisoned sons in the West Bank; naked body searches; night raids; solitary confinement; and medical negligence. Two weeks ago, hundreds of prisoners began an open-ended hunger strike protesting against additional punitive measures that had been taken against them by the Israeli prisons administration. The prisons administration responded to the hunger strike by imposing even more punitive measures, including the transfer of a large number of them to other prisons; confiscating salt which maintains the salt balance in the prisoners' bodies, due to which these prisoners’ health conditions have seriously deteriorated; confiscating electrical appliances; and attacks on the prisoners' rooms and firing tear gas inside them.

PCHR is gravely concerned over the continued deterioration of prisoners' conditions inside the Israeli prisons. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on the IOF to release more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, who have been detained in the Israeli prisons so far, to treat them humanely in conformity with the international law, particularly article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 1955, and to refrain from the punitive measures they have imposed on prisoners for more than five years now.

On the other hand, PCHR reminds that the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip in June 2006 was a direct result of the attack carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza on 25 June 2006, in which Shalit was captured. Later, IOF tightened the closure in an unprecedented manner, including closing all border crossings designated for the movement of persons and commercial purposes. Those collective punitive measures have a destructive impact on all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.

Thus, with the ending of Shalit's case and the end of the pretext used by the IOF to maintain the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip, PCHR calls for immediately lifting of the closure and an end to all collective punitive measures imposed on the civilian population. Additionally, PCHR calls upon the international community to intervene in order to end the suffering of the Palestinian civilians and lift the closure of the Gaza Strip

Israel approves 1,100 new homes "beyond Green Line"

2011-09-28T00:55:00.002-04:00

PA slams Israeli settlement plans

Published yesterday (updated) 27/09/2011 19:29

A woman stands near a construction site in Gilo, a Jewish settlement that Israel
erected on land it captured in 1967 on Sept. 27, 2011. (Reuters/Baz Ratner)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday slammed Israel's approval of construction plans to build 1,100 new housing units in a settlement in East Jerusalem.

Israel's regional planning and construction committee on Tuesday approved the plans, described by one committee member as "a nice gift for Rosh Hashanah," the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and illegally annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. All settlements built on occupied territory are illegal under international law.

The last round of peace talks collapsed over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building.

President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped building Jewish-only settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Netanyahu indicated Tuesday that he was not about to offer one.

The Palestinian Authority accused Netanyahu of "putting concrete preconditions on the ground," in a statement.

"The Israeli Prime Minister claims to have no preconditions, but with this decision is putting concrete preconditions on the ground. He says there should be no unilateral steps, but there could be nothing more unilateral than a huge new round of settlement building on Palestinian land.

"The Israeli Prime Minister told the UN that he had come to tell the truth, but it is this decision which tells the truth."

PLO official Saeb Erekat described the approval as a “slap in the face to all international efforts to protect the fading prospects of peace in the region.”

He added: “Israel responded to the Quartet Statement and French Initiative with 1100 no’s. Netanyahu has embarrassed all those in the international community who insisted that there was a peace partner in Israel.”

On Tuesday, the US ambassador to Israel reaffirmed Washington's opposition to a Palestinian call to halt Israeli settlement building before peace negotiations can resume.

US envoy Dan Shapiro said Washington had never favored making a freeze a condition for negotiations: "We've never set that, in this administration or any other, as a precondition for talks," he told Israeli Army Radio, in response to a question on whether he favored the Palestinian demand.

Netanyahu signaled that another moratorium on construction in settlements in the occupied West Bank, following a 10-month partial cessation that ended last September, was not on the cards.

"We already gave at the office," Netanyahu said in an interview in The Jerusalem Post, a phrase meaning that he believed he had done enough last year.

Shapiro noted that the United States has long opposed Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

But he added: "What we have said consistently is that we believe direct talks are the only way to resolve this conflict, and (it) can only be resolved by the parties themselves in those talks, and they should be entered without preconditions."

In New York on Monday, a divided UN Security Council met behind closed doors for its first discussion of last week's application for full UN membership as a state -- a move seen as certain to fail due to Israeli and US opposition, despite substantial support among other world governments.

International mediators, trying to salvage the Middle East peace process, have urged preliminary negotiations be held within a month.

source: http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424147

Additional coverage:

Israel set to approve 1,100 new Jerusalem homes beyond the Green Line

Western powers angered as Israel agrees settler homes

B'Tselem: Israel denies Palestinian 'right to protest' in West Bank

2011-09-12T18:11:00.002-04:00

Published today (updated) 12/09/2011 15:56

A Palestinian youth hangs his national flag in front of Israeli soldiers during
a demonstration against Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West
Bank town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem on July 11, 2010.
[MaanImages/Luay Sababa]

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Israeli military systematically denies Palestinians the right to protest in the West Bank, a report published Monday by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem says.

The 'Show of Force' report finds that Israel does not recognize the "basic right" of Palestinians to protest and responds to demonstrations with an "excessive use of crowd control weapons."

The army often fires tear gas canisters "directly at protesters," a practice which B'Tselem says violates the military's own orders.

In most cases the army treats protests as "disturbances" and disperses processions even in the absence of violent acts by protesters, according to the report.

B'Tselem examined the conduct of Israeli forces in weekly demonstrations held in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh over the past year and a half.

It found that the response of the Israeli army indiscriminately harms all village residents through the closure of roads and the imposition of Friday curfews which expose a large number of people to delays and restrictions.

Residents are also exposed to the effects of excessive tear gas which "penetrates their homes."

The Israeli rights group documented four consecutive demonstrations with video and field observation between June 17 and July 8 and interviewed village residents.

The Israeli military does not "recognize the right to demonstrate" in the West Bank, B'Tselem stated. It called on the Israeli army to respect Palestinians' right to protest and use "proportionate" means where necessary to disperse protesters.

The way in which Israeli forces conduct themselves during demonstrations in Nabi Saleh could well indicate how the military will respond to protests expected around the Palestinian UN bid, the rights group added.

REPORT PAGE:

http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201109_show_of_force

Ha'aretz: Friendly Fire & Doubts over Eilat Attack

2011-08-26T12:27:00.002-04:00

Doubts emerge over identity of terrorists who carried out attack in Israel's south

Published 02:01 25.08.11

Gazans doubt responsibility of Popular Resistance Committees and their military wing; Egypt newspaper identifies three of attack planners as Egyptians.

By Amira Hass

It has been one week since the terror attacks near Eilat, and there is no sign of the traditional mourners' tents for the relatives of militants killed by the Israel Defense Forces, or indeed any reports of Gazan families who are grieving as a result of IDF actions near the Egyptian border last Thursday. Nor were there reports of families demanding the return of their loved ones' bodies for burial. A longtime social activist told Haaretz that even in the event that families were instructed to conceal their grief, news like that is difficult to hide in the Strip.

The absence of mourners' tents reinforces the general sense in the Strip that the perpetrators of the attack were not from Gaza, contrary to Israeli defense establishment claims. Gazans also doubt that members of the Popular Resistance Committees and their military wing (the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades ) were behind the attack. Support for this view can be seen in a report on Monday by the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, according to which Egyptian security forces had identified three of the planners as Egyptians. A PRC spokesman responded to the report by announcing that the organization "praised" the attack but had not planned it.

Within hours after the attack, at about 5 P.M. Thursday, two IDF missiles killed PRC chief Kamal al-Nirab and three members of its military wing, who were in one of the men's homes in the Rafah refugee camp. The 2-year-old son of the homeowner also died in the missile strike.

Tens of thousands of people attended the funeral Friday morning of the five victims. A relative of Nirab's told Haaretz that there is a sense that people in Rafah want revenge.

Nirab was popular in the area less because of his military prowess than due to a role he embraced in the past few years, that of mediator and conflict-solver - within families and between Fatah and Hamas

Judging from conversations with a few people, the rest of the Strip is tending against escalation. "In the north people see Iron Dome in action," a man from the area of Beit Lahiya said, referring to the antimissile system protecting Israeli communities adjacent to Gaza. "The military ineffectiveness of our rockets was never so apparent to people as it is now," he added.

Palestinian media outlets reported that three children were killed in Israeli retaliatory air strikes. But one of them, a 13-year-old boy, actually died after being hit by a rocket or missile fired by Palestinian militants north of the Shati refugee camp on Friday. Such incidents, when rockets launched from the Strip fall in Gazan territory, causing injuries and damage, are not widely reported but are not rare.

The body of a 65-year-old man was found in farmland east of the Bureij refugee camp yesterday, according to local residents a victim of an Israeli air strike. No other details about the circumstances were available. Excluding him, since Thursday the IDF killed 14 Palestinians, four of them civilians (including a physician and his 2-year-old nephew ) and the remainder members of militant organizations. An additional 32 Gazans were injured in the attacks, including eight women and nine children, some of them critically. Researchers from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights counted 20 attacks (from the air, sea and ground ) between Thursday and Saturday evening.

-------------------------------------------------

IDF discloses soldier: killed by friendly fire in south Israel terror attack

Israel Defense Forces investigation reveals Golani Brigade soldier, Staff Sgt. Moshe Naftali, killed by friendly fire in confrontation with terrorist in August 18 attack.

By Anshel Pfeffer

An Israel Defense Forces investigation into the terrorist attacks on Israel's south on August 18, has revealed that Golani Brigade soldier, Staff Sgt. Moshe Naftali, who died in the attack, was killed by friendly fire.

Golani Brigade commander, Colonel Ofek Buchris, met Friday with the relatives of Staff Naftali, aged 22, to tell them that the preliminary findings of the IDF investigation lead to the conclusion that Naftali was killed by one friendly fire from a fellow soldier.

According to the investigation, four soldiers, including Naftali, who were first to arrive on the scene of the attack, alighted from their vehicle together in order to attack one of the terrorists. One of Naftali's fellow soldiers fired at the terrorist, and Naftali was hit by friendly fire.

"The results of the investigation show that the forces that dealt with the attack acted professionally and with determination, they brought a quick end to the incident and assassinated the terrorists," The IDF spokesman said.

"Staff Sgt. Moshe Naftali led his soldiers with courage in the face of terrorists and in the coming days the investigation will continue in order to learn lessons to evade a similar situation in the future."

Staff Sgt. Naftali was one of five people killed in the terror attacks in Israel's south on August 18. The remaining four victims are Yosef Levi, aged 52, from Holon; Sisters Flora Gez and Shula Karlitzky, aged 52 and 54 respectively, and their husbands, Moshe, aged 53 and Dov, aged 58. The two couples lived in Kfar Saba and were on their way to a vacation in Eilat when their car was attacked.

Israel to build thousands of new housing units in East Jerusalem - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

2011-08-11T13:27:00.000-04:00

Israel approves 1,600 Jerusalem settler homes

Published today (updated) 11/08/2011 15:38

A view of Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the mainly Palestinian eastern
sector of Jerusalem. [AFP/File Ahmad Gharabli]

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's interior minister Eli Yishai has given final approval for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, his spokesman told AFP on Thursday.

The move is likely to anger both the Palestinians and the international community, as it struggles to find a way to relaunch peace talks in a bid to head off a Palestinian plan to seek United Nations membership.

Roei Lachmanovich also said the interior minister was set to give final approval for another 2,700 settler homes in east Jerusalem neighborhoods in "a couple of days."

"He has approved 1,600 homes in Ramat Shlomo and will approve 2,000 more in Givat Hamatos and 700 in Pisgat Zeev," Lachmanovich said.

The 1,600-house construction in Ramat Shlomo has already caused a diplomatic rift between Israel and Washington.

It was first announced as US Vice President Joe Biden visited the region in March 2010 for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a bid to lay the ground for new direct peace talks between the two sides.

The timing of the announcement angered Washington and prompted the Palestinians to accuse Israel of lacking a commitment to restarting the peace process.

PA official Saeb Erekat slammed the most recent announcement on Thursday saying “this approval and the reported plan for additional expansion in illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian Territory, especially occupied East Jerusalem, is further proof that this government is committed to investing in occupation rather than peace.”

But Lachmanovich said the final approvals were "economic" not political, tying the final go-ahead to protests over housing prices and the cost of living that have shaken Israel in recent weeks.

"These are being approved because of the economic crisis here in Israel, they are looking for a place to build in Jerusalem, and these will help," he said.

"This is nothing political, it's just economic."

The latest escalation in settlement building comes as Israel's interior ministry announced last week that it had approved the construction of 900 new homes in the east Jerusalem settlement neighborhood of Har Homa.

The move was widely condemned by the international community, including the United States and the European Union.

Israel captured east Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Israel does not view construction in the east to be settlement activity, calling both east and west Jerusalem its "eternal, indivisible" capital, and some 200,000 Israelis now live in east Jerusalem amid nearly 270,000 Palestinians.

The international community, including the United States, has regularly criticized Israel for building settlements in the West Bank and particularly east Jerusalem, describing them as counterproductive and calling for a halt to all such construction.

More than 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and settlement construction is a major obstacle to the resumption of negotiations.

Israel openly opposes the Palestinian bid for UN recognition in September, instead insisting that the Israeli government is willing to begin peace talks.

---------------------------------------------

additional coverage on ha'aretz:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-to-build-thousands-of-new-housing-units-in-east-jerusalem-1.378146

Maan News Agency: Israel approves 900 settlement homes in East Jerusalem

2011-08-04T16:21:00.000-04:00

Israel approves 900 settlement homes in East Jerusalem

Published today (updated) 04/08/2011 17:58

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas last Friday at Palestinians protesting against
West Bank settlement expansion. [AFP/File Abbas Momani]

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's interior ministry has given final approval for the construction of 900 new homes in the east Jerusalem settlement neighborhood of Har Homa, a ministry spokeswoman told AFP on Thursday.

"This is a programme which was approved by the regional (planning and construction) committee two years ago," spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said.

"According to the planning process in Israel, (it) needed the completion of amendments, therefore it was finally approved today."

The approval marks the final planning stage for a project that has garnered fierce criticism from the Palestinians and the international community.

It will significantly expand the hilltop neighborhood, which lies in Jerusalem's southwest and is defined as being within the municipal boundaries despite lying directly next to the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Har Homa is known as Abu Ghnaim to Palestinians and used to be a lush forested area in northern Bethlehem before being destroyed to make space for the illegal settlement.

Hagit Ofran, who monitors settlement activity for the Israeli group Peace Now, described the final approval of the project as "a very dramatic development" because of where the new housing will be located.

"It adds a new ridge to Har Homa which blocks the territorial contiguity between east Jerusalem and Bethlehem and adds a further barrier to the possibility of east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital in a two-state solution," she told AFP.

Israel captured Arab east Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Israel does not view construction in the east to be settlement activity, calling both east and west Jerusalem its "eternal, indivisible" capital, and some 200,000 Israelis now live in east Jerusalem amid nearly 270,000 Palestinians.

But the Palestinians view settlement construction in Arab east Jerusalem as an Israeli attempt to extend control over the sector of the city that they want for the capital of their future state.

The international community, including the United States, has regularly criticized Israel for building settlements in the West Bank and particularly east Jerusalem, describing them as counterproductive and calling for a halt to all such construction.

Israel's settlement construction has also snarled peace talks, which were restarted in September 2010 but ground to a halt shortly after they began when a partial Israeli ban on settlement building expired.

Israel declined to renew the freeze, which covered the West Bank but not east Jerusalem, and the Palestinians say they will not negotiate while Israel builds on land they want for their future state.

More than 300,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and another 200,000 live in settlements in east Jerusalem, which is also home to some 270,000 Palestinians.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem since 1967.

Ma'an staff writers contributed to this report

Israeli Arabs more likely to be convicted for crimes than their Jewish counterparts

2011-08-04T00:31:00.001-04:00

Arabs more likely to be convicted and sentenced to prison, and stay in prison, than Jewish counterparts.

By Tomer Zarchin

Arab Israelis who have been charged with certain types of crime are more likely than their Jewish counterparts to be convicted, and once convicted they are more likely to be sent to prison, and for a longer time. These disparities were found in a recent statistical study commissioned by Israel’s Courts Administration and the Israel Bar Association.

The study found that 48.3 percent of Arabs who were convicted of violence, property crimes or drug or weapons offenses received custodial sentences, compared to 33.6 percent for Jews. The average prison sentence was nine and a half months for Jews and 14 months for Arabs.

	A class at Ayalon Prison. (Illustrative)
	Photo by: Nir Kafri

In their summary the researchers wrote that the principal finding was that Israel’s justice system tends to deal more harshly with Arab defendants when it comes to conviction rates, sentencing rates and the length of the sentences.

The study sought to examine the link between ethnicity and harsher sentencing for violent crimes, including assault and battery, as well as drug and weapons offenses and property crimes. It was conducted by professors Giora Rahav, Ephraim Yaar and Yoram Rabin.
A summary of the research findings was submitted to the courts, but the study has not been published.

The study is unique in that it is the first of its kind to be commissioned and funded in part by the courts administration, and in that it sought to examine claims by attorneys that Israeli judges deal more harshly with Arab criminals than with Jews.

The study involved 1,500 criminal cases in the categories noted above, in six magistrate’s courts and three district courts between 1996 and 2005. Arabs fared worse in eight of the nine courts, in terms of the frequency and size of fines levied on Arabs after conviction as well as sentencing rates and the length of the sentences.

The most dramatic finding concerned the disparity in custodial sentences for all of the cases that were reviewed. The difference was even more striking when the figures for violent crimes were examined separately. While 63.5 percent of Arabs convicted of violent crimes were sentenced to prison, only 43.7 percent of Jewish offenders were.

The disparities were smaller for probation sentences, at 71.2 percent for Jews and 78.7 percent for Arabs.

In a third of the cases there was no disparity in the number of fines levied and the amounts, which came to NIS 4,500 on average.

The researchers noted that factors other than ethnicity could account for the disparities, without pointing to judicial prejudice. These could include mitigating or aggravating circumstances, prior criminal record and the convict’s gender.

The courts administration said in a response: “This is not the final report and the report has not yet been discussed. The issue will be considered when the final report and its conclusions are presented to the courts administration.”

Attorney Barak Lazer of the courts administration stressed that the report was preliminary only. He said the study dispelled some concerns that had been raised about the treatment of defendants, and that any recommendations for action will be made only after the final report is submitted.

Source:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-arabs-more-likely-to-be-convicted-for-crimes-than-their-jewish-counterparts-study-shows-1.376521

B’Tselem: Israel convicts nearly 100% of stone throwing minors via malicious prosecution

2011-07-20T12:44:00.002-04:00

From the beginning of 2005 to the end of 2010, at least 835 Palestinian minors were arrested and tried in military courts in the West Bank on charges of stone throwing. Thirty-four of them were aged 12-13, 255 were 14-15, 546 were 16-17. Only one of the 835 was acquitted; all the rest were found guilty.

Palestinian minors charged with criminal offenses are tried under the military legislation applying in the West Bank, which grants them very few of the special rights relating to persons their age. These protections, such as separation from adults during detention and imprisonment, are not always maintained. The same is true regarding protections prescribed in the military legislation for all suspects that are especially important in the case of minors, such as the right to consult with an attorney. The military legislation dealing with minors does not conform to international and Israeli law, which acknowledge that the minor’s age affects his criminal responsibility and the manner in which he experiences arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment, and which assume that these experiences might harm the minor’s development. Consequently, under international law and Israeli law, suspected offenders who are minors are given special protections, their parents must be allowed to be present during their child’s interrogation, and their arrest and imprisonment are viewed as a last resort.

In November 2009, the Military Youth Court was established in the West Bank. The court was empowered to hear offenses committed by minors under age 16. The military judges, on their own initiative, expanded the jurisdiction of the court to cover all minors, i.e., up to age 18. A few judges expressed, in their judgments, their belief that the military justice system should try minors in accordance with the standard practice in juvenile courts around the world. The president of the Military Court of Appeals added that the military courts must operate in the spirit of the Israeli Youth Law, even though the Youth Law itself is not incorporated in the military legislation. Despite these declarations, institution of the Military Youth Court has brought limited change, and serious infringement of the rights of minors appearing before it continues.

In preparing this report, B'Tselem interviewed 50 minors, who described the events from the moment they were arrested to the time they were released from jail. Their testimonies indicate numerous serious violations of their rights, as follows:

The arrest: Thirty of the minors said they were taken from their home by soldiers in the middle of the night and that their parents were not allowed to accompany them.
The interrogation: Only three of the minors who were arrested at night said they were interrogated that night. Nineteen stated they were questioned the next morning, three were questioned in the afternoon, and two were not questioned until five days later. Only three of the minors who were arrested at night reported that they were given a reasonable chance to sleep prior to the interrogation, and five related that soldiers made a point of awakening them if they fell asleep while waiting for the interrogation. Nineteen also said they were treated violently and were threatened during the interrogation, and 23 said that they were not allowed, for many hours, to perform necessary functions, such as going to the bathroom, eating, and drinking.
Remand until the end of proceedings: The military justice system does not have an alternative to remand until the end of proceedings as the Israeli law does. In the vast majority of cases, the judges order the minor held in custody until the end of the proceedings. Of the 133 minors who were prosecuted for stone throwing in cases handled by DCI-Palestine in 2009 and 2010, only 23 (17 percent) were released on bail pending their trial. As a result, many minors prefer to enter into a plea bargain, in which they confess to the charges against them in exchange for a shorter sentence, fearing that, if a trial is held, they would be kept in jail during the long period of time that it takes to complete the trial.
Imprisonment: Imprisonment, rather than an alternative punishment, is the principal penalty chosen by the military courts. In the period 2005-2010, 93 percent of the minors convicted of stone throwing were given a prison sentence, its length ranging from a few days to 20 months. Nineteen minors under age 14, who accounted for 60 percent of this age group who were convicted of stone throwing during this period, were given a prison sentence. Under the law in Israel, incarceration of minors under age 14 is prohibited.

The age of the minor has a decisive effect on the length of the prison sentence: children under 14 on the day of sentencing served no more than two months’ imprisonment, 26 percent of minors aged 14-15 served sentences of four months and more, and among 16-17 year olds, 59 percent served a sentence of four months or more.

During their imprisonment, most of the minors interviewed by B'Tselem were not visited by their families. Of the 29 minors who were held in detention or were imprisoned for more than a week, only one said he had been visited regularly once every two weeks, and four others said they had been visited a few times. Being security prisoners, minors convicted of stone throwing are not allowed access to a telephone. The prison authorities enable them to study only some of the subjects they were taking at school, which reduces their chances of successfully completing the school work for the year and of being promoted.

All the officials engaged in handling Palestinian minors in cases of stone throwing – police, judges, and soldiers serving in the West Bank – are well aware of the reality described in the report. Yet, the only call for change has come in the form of declarations by a few judges, and no action has been taken to end the infringement of the minors’ rights. Israel has the obligation to ensure the rights of Palestinian minors under its responsibility, and bring the provisions of military law on par with those of Israel’s Youth Law.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published 02:35 18.07.11Latest update 02:35 18.07.11

Israel convicts most stone-throwing Palestinian children, right group says

B’Tselem says nearly 100% of Palestinian children charged with rock-throwing are convicted, because of overwhelming pressure to plea bargain.

By Anshel Pfeffer

Only one Palestinian minor of 853 charged with rock-throwing between 2005-2010 was acquitted, according to a new report by the human rights group B’Tselem.

B’Tselem based its report, which is being released Monday, on data it obtained from the Israel Defense Forces spokesman about minors who were arrested during those six years and charged solely with rock-throwing; it does not relate to those charged with other crimes.

The nearly 100-percent conviction rate stems from, among other things, the willingness of the detainees to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement, the report says. The pressure to plead guilty is great, because generally minors charged with throwing rocks are held in custody until the end of legal proceedings; a regular trial could keep them detained for longer than the sentence they receive after pleading guilty, which is usually no more than a few months.

Of the 853 arrested, 18 were aged 12-13 and 255 were 14-15.

Sixty percent of the 12-13 year-olds received prison terms ranging from a few days to up to two months.

Fifteen percent of all the minors served terms of more than six months and 1 percent served longer than a year.

Because of the frequency of these incidents, B’Tselem was not able to get an exact tally of how many had actually occurred in the West Bank during those years. The Judea and Samaria police reported 2,100 to 3,000 incidents annually during those years, while the IDF Spokesman reported 3,600 to 4,300 incidents each year.

Nor could B’Tselem ascertain how many minors had been detained by the security forces for stone-throwing but were let go without being charged.

Because military law does not afford minors the same rights that they have under Israeli law, in many of the cases B’Tselem investigated, the minors were arrested at night, were not allowed to be accompanied by a parent or other adult when arrested, and were brought before a judge only eight days after being taken into custody.

“In terms of numbers, the [B’Tselem] report is not accurate, because during this period, I personally acquitted a number of minors,” said one judge in the army reserves, who dealt with many cases of stone-throwing minors.

“But there’s no doubt that it reflects a very problematic situation. Nearly all minors are convicted of stone-throwing because they have no choice but to sign a plea agreement, for which the punishment is usually between one to three months, and if they go to evidence they’ll sit longer. The High Court has ruled that anyone throwing stones at a person or vehicle can be remanded until the end of legal proceedings.

“Of course, it’s terrible that they arrest them in the middle of the night and question them without lawyers,” the judge said. “Sometimes this provides an impetus to release them. But there should be a legal mechanism under which a minor who throws stones for the first time and doesn’t hurt anyone can be released, and for the responsibility of probation to be imposed on the father, who will have to keep an eye on him.”

The IDF Spokesman, in a detailed response to B’Tselem, wrote: “Although legal systems that are established under military law do not include special arrangements for judging minors, over the past year a youth court has been established that improves the defense of minors’ rights.

“The Military Youth Court protects minors’ rights, allows the minors to be heard without adults present, gives more freedom of expression to the minors and allows for a broader discussion of parental responsibility as a substitute for punishment.”

The IDF Spokesman added that although it had asked B’Tselem to deal with the issue of judging minors in a fair and complete fashion, and had given B’Tselem information about 160 cases in which minors who were used by terror groups to carry out serious terror attacks, “the group chose not to deal with the issue of judging minors in a balanced manner and did not deal with the use of minors by terror groups in a fashion that violates human rights and contravenes international law.”

source:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-convicts-most-stone-throwing-palestinian-children-right-group-says-1.373807

Beitar Illit Settlement to Grow by 294 Units!

2011-07-18T12:38:00.003-04:00

Israel approves more settlement units in West Bank

Published today (updated) 18/07/2011 18:49

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's Construction and Housing Ministry approved Monday a tender for the construction of 294 housing units to be built in the West Bank settlement Beitar Illit, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank units are part of 7,000 being planned as a response to housing concerns in Israel. Over 1,000 of the units are to be built in northern towns like Tiberias, Nahariya and Afula, the Ynet news site reported.

The construction of the Beitar Illit units will be offered to the bidder offering the lowest price per unit, the Ynet report said. Lots allotted for 42 one-floor homes will be auctioned off in the Karnei Shomron settlement.

source:

http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=406269

----------------

Government resumes settlement construction

State unveils plan for construction of 7,000 affordable housing units nationwide; over 300 of units planned for Beitar Illit, Karnei Shomron
Attila Somfalvi

The Construction and Housing Ministry announced Monday issued a tender for the construction of 7,000 housing units nationwide, 294 of which are to be built in the West Bank settlement Beitar Illit, Ynet has learned.

Plans for construction beyond the Green Line often draw criticism from the United States and European nations.

As per Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Atias's plan, the construction of 294 housing units in Beitar Illit will be offered to the bidder offering the lowest final sale price per unit. Lots allotted for the construction of 42 one-floor homes will be auctioned off in the settlement Karnei Shomron.

Contractors will be able to bid on the sites within 60 days.

Over a thousand of the units are to be built in northern Israeli towns, including Tiberias, Nahariya and Afula.

source:

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-4096868,00.html

------------------------------

Published 15:33 18.07.11
Latest update 15:33 18.07.11

Palestinians: New Israeli settlement building hardens our resolve to seek UN recognition

Developers competing to build 294 apartments in Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron; spokesman for housing ministry says work will be completed within three years.

By ReutersTags: Israel settlements Israel settlers West Bank Palestinians

Israel announced plans on Monday to build another 294 homes in two Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the Palestinians said the move hardened their resolve to seek statehood recognition from the United Nations.

Israel's Housing Ministry linked the new construction to a nationwide plan to lower housing prices, which have skyrocketed in recent years, and appease protesters demanding affordable living space.

The tenders seek builders for the projected expansion of the Beitar Illit enclave outside Jerusalem and Karnei Shomron, a settlement on the outskirts of the West Bank's largest Palestinian city of Nablus.

Ariel Rosenberg, a ministry spokesman, said it could take as long as two to three years before the homes were built, adding that the tenders were the first issued for occupied areas beyond Jerusalem since a building freeze expired in September.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November 2009 had ordered a 10-month temporary halt to new settlement-building on territory Israel captured in a 1967 war. He declined U.S. appeals to extend the moratorium late last year.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to hold peace talks with Israel unless it completely freezes settlement activity. He has instead focused efforts on a unilateral bid for statehood recognition from the United Nations in September.

"This decision is another reason calling on us to go to the United Nations and the Security Council to ask for recognition of the state of Palestine and gaining full membership for it in the United Nations," Nabil Abu Rdainah, an Abbas spokesman, said in a statement.

Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for Israel's settlements watchdog group Peace Now, charged that the new construction plans "show the public the Israeli government isn't moving toward peace."

Rosenberg said the new construction was part of a wider plan to build another 7,000 homes across Israel, releasing his statement as hundreds of protesters pitched tents in the business hub of Tel Aviv to demand more affordable housing.

"The ministry is constantly seeking to market land to cope with a housing shortage," Rosenberg said.

In contrast with the United States and Europe, Israeli housing prices have soared by an average of 50 percent in the last three years, an issue

Netanyahu has said he would address by efforts to cut red tape he says often hinders new construction.

source:

http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/palestinians-new-israeli-settlement-building-hardens-our-resolve-to-seek-un-recognition-1.373880?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.216%2C2.218%2C

Israeli Passes Law Banning "Geographic" Boycotts

2011-07-12T11:20:00.003-04:00

11 July 2011 Last updated at 16:29 ET

Israeli lawmakers pass West Bank settlement boycott law

The Israeli parliament has passed a controversial law that will punish any Israeli individual or organisation boycotting West Bank settlements.

Rights groups say the legislation stifles freedom of speech and compromises Israeli democracy.

After failed attempts to delay debate, it was voted through 47-36.

It follows several Israeli calls to boycott institutions or individuals linked to Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The settlements are deemed illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. Recent peace talks with the Palestinians were derailed over the issue of continued building in settlements.

The Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future state.

Among the recent initiatives that angered settlers and their influential political patrons was a pledge by Israeli academics and artists to boycott the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Israeli developers also agreed not to use products or services from settlements when they signed on to help build a new modern Palestinian city, north of Ramallah.

Under the new law those who sponsor a "geographically based boycott" - which includes any part of the Jewish state or its settlements - could be sued for damages in a civil court by the party injured in the boycott call.

The petitioner is not required to prove that "economic, cultural or academic damage" was caused, only that it could reasonably be expected from the move.

"The State of Israel has for years been dealing with boycotts from Arab nations, but now we are talking about a homegrown boycott," said the author of the legislation, lawmaker, Zeev Elvin, the Associated Press news agency reported.

"It is time to put an end to this travesty. If the State of Israel does not protect itself, we will have no moral right to ask our allies for protection from such boycotts."

Fierce opposition

The new law has been strongly opposed by rights groups in Israel.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri) described it as "deeply anti-democratic" and a violation of Israelis' freedom of speech.

"There is no question that promoting boycotts is a legitimate, democratic, non-violent form of protest that is being used by Israelis on a wide variety of issues from environmental issues to opposing the prices of certain products," said ACRI executive director, Hagai el-Ad.

"No reasoning has been suggested to explain why the boycott of settlement goods should be uniquely cherished as opposed to the right of the Israeli citizen to protest."

On Sunday, activists opposed to the boycott ban held a noisy demonstration outside the Justice Ministry. They carried banners which read "the boycott law boycotts democracy."

There are plans to challenge the legislation in Israel's High Court.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has led an increasingly concerted campaign against the settlements.

Last year, it passed a law banning settlement produce from Palestinian shops in the West Bank. Traders who break the law face prison and a heavy fine.

However the PA has yet to pass promised legislation making it illegal for Palestinian labourers to work in settlements.

more coverage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14125033

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-passes-law-banning-calls-for-boycott-1.372711

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/the-boycott-law-is-unconstitutional-and-undemocratic-1.372728

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/heated-debate-in-knesset-over-boycott-law-legislation-will-stain-israeli-democracy-1.372697

http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404493

http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404363

ARIJ: Israel's wall segregates 13 percent of West Bank

2011-07-11T11:51:00.001-04:00

Study: Israel's wall segregates 13 percent of West Bank

Published today 17:56

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's separation wall will annex 773 sq. km. of Palestinian land, a study by the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem said on the anniversary of a judicial ruling which called on Israelis to stop building.

Just 6.5 percent of the wall is constructed along the pre-1967 armistice lines internationally recognized as the basis of an independent Palestinian state, ARIJ said Saturday in the report marking the International Court of Justice advisory opinion.

The wall, 473 km. of which has been constructed, 54 km. under construction, and 247 km. planned for building, separates Palestinians from 13 percent of the total area of the West Bank, ARIJ said in its survey of the June 2011 status of the wall.

This area includes 348 sq. km. of agricultural land, 250 sq. km. of forest areas and 25 sq. km. of Palestinian built-up areas, the study noted, as well as 110 sq. km. where Israeli settlements and military bases are built.

There are 107 Jewish-only settlements in this zone, where 582, 000 Israeli settlers live, over 80 percent of their total number in the West Bank, the ARIJ report added.

The Battle for Internationals to Visit Palestine

2011-07-06T15:03:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Palestine – if you can get in

Posted on: July 5, 2011 |

5 July 2011 | The Guardian, Sam Bahour

Palestinians have globally touted an array of rights that Israel systematically denies. There is the right of return, the right of freedom of movement, the right to water, the right to education, the right to enter (not to be confused with refugees’ right to return) and so on.

But the right to receive visitors, or lack thereof? This is the most recent addition. The prohibition on freely receiving foreign visitors is as disturbing as it is shocking, especially for a country that claims to be the only beacon of democracy in the Middle East.

Yes, you read correctly. Israel is threatening to refuse to allow Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territory to receive visitors from abroad. We are not talking here about visitors such as the 5 million Palestinian refugees whom Israel has refused to allow to return to their homes after being expelled by force and fear when Israel was founded in 1948. Rather, the issue now is that foreigners who desire to visit the occupied Palestinian territory are being denied entry into Israel.

Remember, there is no other way to get to the Palestinian territory of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is under military occupation by Israel, except by passing through Israeli-controlled points of entry such as Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv or one of Israel’s sea ports or land crossings. The entry point to the Gaza Strip from the West Bank requires passage through Israel as well.

So, more than 300 international activists plan to arrive in Tel Aviv during the week of 8 July at the invitation of 30 Palestinian civil society organisations, to participate in an initiative named “Welcome to Palestine”. Delegations from France, Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, the USA, Japan and several African countries are expected.

Upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport, the invited guests, all from countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel, will make no secret of their intent to go to the occupied Palestinian territory. This nonviolent act, a civil society tsunami of sorts, only comes after Israel’s restriction of movement and access to and from Palestine for Palestinians and foreigners has exhausted all established channels that carry the responsibility to uphold international law first and their domestic laws second.

The greatest inaction has come from the US state department, even though it has put on record, multiple times, the fact that Israel is discriminating at its borders against US citizens.

It is also worth noting that the 1951 Israel friendship, commerce and navigation treaty explicitly states: “There shall be freedom of transit through the territories of each Party by the routes most convenient for international transit …” and persons “in transit shall be exempt from … unreasonable charges and requirements; and shall be free from unnecessary delays and restrictions.” So much for respecting signed agreements.

Israel, as a state and previously as a Zionist movement, has gone to every extreme to fragment and dispossess the Palestinian people. It has had accomplices every step of the way, starting with Great Britain and continuing to this very day with the US and the flock of UN member states that act more like parakeets to the US than sovereign states when it comes to Palestine.

Well, the game of inaction is coming to an end. When states fail, people take over. It is these people, like those coming to Palestine this week, or those attempting to reach the Israeli- blockaded Gaza Strip by sea, or those living in Palestine and resisting the occupation day in and day out, who will prove to historians once again that history is made of real people who have a keen sense of humanity and the courage to sacrifice.

• Sam Bahour is one of the co-ordinators of the Right to Enter Campaign.

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On July 8th we are flying for Palestinian freedom — and for our own

Posted on: July 4, 2011 |

3 July 2011 | Welcome to Palestine

For Immediate Release

Hundreds of internationals on their way to visit Palestinians in Gaza have been prevented from departing from the ports in Greece. However, we hope that on July 8th, 2011, hundreds of others of us from many countries will succeed in reaching Palestine by flying to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. We have been invited by some forty Palestinian organizations to “Welcome to Palestine,” a week of activities in Palestine. It should be a wonderful visit, but most of us are frankly a bit scared. This is because of one decision we’ve all made: to tell the truth that our plan is to visit Palestine. It should be so simple, shouldn’t it? But it is not, because Israel controls all access to Palestine — by air, and by land, as well as by sea.

Even the website of the U.S. State Department warns of “prolonged questioning and thorough searches by Israeli authorities upon entry or departure,” of particularly “probing questioning” visited upon “U.S. citizens whom Israeli authorities suspect of being of Arab, Middle Eastern, or Muslim origin,” who are frequently denied entry. This is also true of visitors who are suspected to sympathize with Palestinians. The U.S. and the European countries refuse to protect their own citizens against these abuses by Israeli authorities.

The draconian and discriminating procedures at the borders of Israel have but one aim: to further isolate Palestinians and reinforce their inferior status; to trap them, away from any outside witnesses, in an increasingly constrictive maze of bantustans, separated by checkpoints and walls. By failing to insist that Israel allow travel to Palestine, our western governments support Israel’s apartheid policies. In fact, occupied territory is not sovereign territory and Israel’s authority over the occupied Palestinian territories is subject to international humanitarian law. This authority does not include the right to arbitrarily deny entry of foreign passport holders wishing to visit, reside, or work in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT — Seehttp://www.righttoenter.ps/etemplate.php?id=146.)

We are flying to Ben Gurion on July 8th to visit friends in Palestine, and we insist that our own governments support us in doing so. Supporting our visit to Palestine will be one small step towards bringing about the freedom of movement for all the peoples of Israel/Palestine that is essential for peace and justice in the Middle East.

English articles and stories on the event:
Dissident Voice
AlterNet

Other related websites/links:

http://www.righttoenter.ps

http://www.palestinejn.org

http://bienvenuepalestine.com (French and English)
http://www.kopi-online.de/8juli2011/ (German)

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Israel to expel pro-Palestinian airport protesters

Published today 17:00

Passengers wait at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport in May. Israel's
public security minister on Tuesday slammed the hundreds of pro-Palestinian
activists who plan to flood Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport this week as "hooligans"
who would be barred entry. [AFP/Jack Guez]

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's public security minister on Tuesday slammed the hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who plan to flood Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport this week as "hooligans" who would be barred entry.

Israel will not tolerate mass protests at its international airport, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told a ceremony in the north of the country.

"These hooligans who try to break our laws will not be allowed into the country and will be returned immediately to their home countries," he said.

Israeli media reported that flights landing on Friday from Europe would be taken to a separate terminal and all passengers carefully screened.

Pro-Palestinian activists have said they plan to arrive in their hundreds at Ben Gurion airport on July 8 to protest Israeli restrictions on the movements of Palestinians and their supporters.

"We have responded to a call from Palestinian associations and about 500 of us -- women, men and children -- will leave on July 8 to show them the world hasn't forgotten them," organizers said on the website www.bienvenuepalestine.com.

The group is said to include about 300 French nationals and others from Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United States.

"We are not going to hide the fact that we are coming to visit our Palestinian friends," they said on the website. "The Israeli government has no right to refuse us entry to the occupied Palestinian territories."

The move comes as a flotilla of international activists who planned to try to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza by sea failed to get permission to set sail from Greece, apparently as a result of Israeli diplomatic pressure.

"Hundreds of internationals on their way to visit Palestinians in Gaza have been prevented from departing from the ports in Greece," Elsa Rassbach, one of the activists, wrote in a statement received by AFP on Sunday.

"However, we hope that hundreds of others of us from many countries will succeed in reaching Palestine by flying to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

"Supporting our visit to Palestine will be one small step towards bringing about the freedom of movement for all the peoples of Israel/Palestine that is essential for peace and justice in the Middle East," she said.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said "this planned event is a continuation of the attempts to undermine Israel's right to exist and to attempt to breach its borders and sovereignty by sea, land and by air."

UK medical journal the Lancet: Checkpoints & Health

2011-07-05T15:02:00.001-04:00

Born at a checkpoint

Published today (updated) 05/07/2011 18:19

A Palestinian ambulance worker opens his jacket as he is checked by Israeli
soldiers at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Jenin on December 11, 2005.
[MaanImages/Mohamad Torkoman]

LONDON (IRIN) -- For three years now a UK medical journal, the Lancet, has been working with Palestinian health professionals and researchers to document the effects of stressful living - coping with economic difficulties and shortages, restrictions on movement, political tensions and fear of outside attack - and has just published its latest findings.

Restrictions on movement are an everyday irritant in the occupied Palestinian territories. Apart from tedious and humiliating searches at checkpoints, residents never know for sure how long their journeys will take, or whether, indeed, they can be made at all. But in a medical emergency these restrictions can be a matter of life or death.

Last year the Lancet's collaborators described vividly the terror of women waiting to give birth during Israeli bombing raids on Gaza in early 2009: They knew they might need urgent medical care at a time when they were trapped in their homes during the attacks. This year another of their researchers has looked at what happens to women already in labor who are caught at checkpoints.

Halla Shoaibi of Ann Arbor University in the USA estimates that in the period she studied (2000-2007) 10 percent of pregnant Palestinian women were delayed at checkpoints while traveling to hospital to give birth. One result has been a dramatic increase in the number of home births, with women preferring to avoid road trips while in labor for fear of not being able to reach the hospital in time.

Their fears are well founded. Ms Shoaibi says 69 babies were born at checkpoints during those seven years. Thirty-five babies and five of the mothers died, an outcome which she considers to amount to a crime against humanity.

When the Lancet group held their first meeting in March 2009, Gaza was still reeling from the Israeli attacks known as Operation Cast Lead, which led to the deaths of over 1,400 people. In the latest publication, researchers return to that period, with further analysis of survey material about the effects of the attack on the civilian population.

The disruption to normal life was great. Forty-five percent of those surveyed had to leave their homes and move in with other people for at least 24 hours; 48 percent had other people moving in with them; 48 percent of homes were damaged. Nearly everyone had power cuts all or part of the time, and many also suffered disruption to other services - telephone, water supply and rubbish collection.

Psychological effects

In terms of psychological effects, over 80 percent reported a family member screaming or crying or having nightmares. Loss of appetite was also commonly reported.

But although Gaza is a relatively small area, the effects varied considerably according to where the respondents lived, with the governorates of Gaza and North Gaza the most, and Khan Younis and Rafah (near the border with Egypt) the least affected.

Another study looked at the feelings of insecurity which remained, even six months after the end of the attacks. Women felt more nervous and insecure than men. The groups who reported lower levels of insecurity were those who were better educated, and had a better standard of living, and also older people, those over 65.

Not all the studies published are directly linked to the Palestinian political situation; topics include smoking among teenagers, the number of pharmacists working in the territories (rather high, as it turns out) and the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine.

The Lancet's editor, Richard Horton, stresses the importance of encouraging academic research into all aspects of health, as part of the process of rebuilding Palestinian society and strengthening its academic institutions.

He says he sees two immediate priorities: "First, while the collaboration between scientists in Gaza and their colleagues in the West Bank is encouraging, even more effort needs to be invested to create productive alliances between Palestinian academic institutions. And second, while there is much strength in public health research, there is a gap in the clinical sciences. More attention needs to be paid to strengthening research in the many excellent clinical facilities in the region."

B'Tselem: Sharp increase in home demolition

2011-06-26T16:29:00.000-04:00

Published yesterday (updated) 23/06/2011 14:56

Members of the Younis family watch while their home is demolished
in the West Bank village of Azzun Atma near Qalqiliua, January 11, 2011.
[MaanImages/Khaleel Reash]

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- In the first six months of 2011, a report from the Israeli rights group B'Tselem said Wednesday, Israeli forces have demolished more homes than in the 12 months of the year before.

"Last week alone, 33 residential structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley and southern Hebron hills," the report said, and cataloged the displacement of 706 individuals, including 341 minors.

The report noted that the figures released included only residential structures, and not the dozens of animal shelters, water wells, storage and business structures that were also forcibly taken down.

Most of the homes demolished, the report said, were in Area C, a zone declared under the Oslo Accords to be under Israeli military and civil control.

In 2010, it noted, Israel's Civil Administration demolished 86 residential structures. In 2009, the figure was 28.

"Israel continues to control all aspects of Palestinian life in Area C, including planning and building. Yet few Civil Administration outline plans have been made for Palestinian communities, and they do not enable any construction or development beyond what already exists, making it impossible for Palestinians to build legally in these areas," the report comments.

First Signs of Victory for Bil'in!!

2011-06-25T16:26:00.004-04:00

Barbed wire first phase of wall relocation in Bil'in

Published Thursday 23/06/2011 (updated) 23/06/2011 21:39

Israeli army machinery dismantle a section of Israel's separation fence in the
West Bank village of Bil`in [AFP/Abbas Momani]

BIL'IN, Ramallah (AFP) -- Israeli troops on Wednesday began taking down barbed wire around the West Bank village of Bil'in, focus of years of protests against Israel's controversial separation barrier, an AFP correspondent reported.

Army bulldozers were seen razing a watchtower on a hill overlooking the village but the military declined to comment on the significance of the operation.

In 2010, the country's defense ministry announced that it would begin altering the course of the barrier around Bil'in in conformity with a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that it significantly impinged on the property rights of Palestinian landowners.

Israel says the wall is designed to prevent attacks but it is widely viewed as a land grab, isolating villagers from fertile farmland, towns from water sources, and communities from relatives, in parts of the West Bank illegally annexed to Israel.

The total separation it ensures between the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Israelis without personal connections in the area, have resulted in the popular term for the network of concrete walls, fence, ditches and watchtowers as the "apartheid wall."

When the 709-kilometer barrier is complete, 85 percent of it will have been built inside the occupied West Bank, cutting at times as many as 22 kilometers into the occupied land.

"The Israeli army began removing the barbed wire around the village today, four years after the ruling of the Israeli court," said Rateb Abu Rahmah, one of the organizers of the weekly protests in the village.

"The dismantlement of the wall is the fruit of the struggle by the people of the village," he added.

The Palestinians' protests against the barrier in Bil'in have met with a sometimes deadly response from the Israeli security forces.

In January, a woman protester, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, died after inhaling tear gas. Her brother Bassem Abu Rahmah died in April 2009 after being struck on the head by a tear-gas canister.

In a non-binding 2004 judgment, the International Court of Justice called for the dismantling of all parts of the separation barrier built on occupied territory.

After a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories last month, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos described the barrier's impact on the lives of ordinary Palestinians as "devastating."

"I witnessed first hand the impact of the barrier on Palestinian communities. I was deeply disturbed by what I saw," she said.

"I recognize Israel's concern about security but the impact of the barrier is devastating. It's clear that civilians are bearing the brunt of the continuing conflict and occupation."

In a statement sent out Thursday morning, the village's Popular Committee declared the following day, when dozens are expected to come out for the weekly Friday protest, to be the "last day of the old path of the Barrier on village's lands, and the beginning of the struggle against the new path."

The statement said the protesters planned to take down the wall and regain access to their lands on the far side.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Protesters in Bil’in drive bulldozer at the Wall

Posted on: June 24, 2011

24 June 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Hundreds of protesters led by a bulldozer marched on the Wall in Bil’in today after the Israeli army began dismantling it earlier this week. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad ank MK Mohammed Barakah participated in the demonstration.

Israeli soldiers open fire at a Palestinian protester driving a bulldozer at the site of the Wall in Bil’in today, shattering one of the vehicle’s windows and pancturing two of its tires. At the time of the shooting, the bulldozer was dismantling the gate in the section of the Wall that is being relocated by the army these days.

The 500 protesters, among them Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli MK Mohammed Barakah, marched from the village’s mosque towards the Wall. On arrival to the gate, and as the bulldozer advanced at the gate, the protesters were attacked with rubber-coated bullets, tear-gas and foul-smelling water shot by a water-cannon. Two people were lightly injured.

At a demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh, also today, the army attacked a group of children dressed as clown who were running kites inside the village. In Deir Qaddis, the Nili settlement’s security guard shot live fire at protesters who flew the Palestinian flag from one of the houses being built in the new neighborhood of the settlement.

The Bil’in Popular Committee has declared today as the last day of the old path of the Barrier on village’s lands, and the beginning of the struggle against the new path. A mass demonstration will march on the Barrier to dismantle it and access the lands sequestered behind it.

On Tuesday morning this week, army bulldozers began work to dismantle the Wall in Bil’in. As early as 2007, after two years of weekly protests in the village and following a petition filed by the residents, Israeli high court declared the path of the Barrier illegal. The court ruled that the route was not devised according to security standards, but rather for the purpose of settlement expansion. Despite the high court’s ruling four more years of struggle had to elapse for the army to begin dismantlement. During these years two people were killed in the course of the weekly protests and many others injured.

Yet even according to the new path, sanctioned by the high court, 435 acres of village land will remain on the “Israeli” side of the Barrier.

On September 4th, 2007, the high court ordered the state to come up with an alternative path for the existing Barrier in Bil’in within a reasonable period of time. Despite the ruling, many months elapsed and no new plan was offered. On the May 29th, 2008, the residents of Bil’in filed a petition to hold the state in contempt of the court due to this delay. In response to the petition, the state offered an alternative path. However, the plan failed to comply with the high court’s ruling as the proffered path left a large area designed for settlement expansion on the “Israeli” side of the Barrier. The only difference between the two paths being that the latter offered to award 40 acres of land back to the residents.

A second petition claiming the alternative path not in accordance with court ruling was then filed. On August 3rd, 2008, the court declared that the first alternative path indeed fails to adhere to the ruling. The court ordered the state to come up with another alternative path.

On September 16th, 2008, the state offered a second alternative path. This path also left a large area designed for settlement expansion on the “Israeli” side, offering to return a100 acres of village land to the residents. A lawyer for the residents asked that the state be held in contempt of the court for violating a court ruling for the second time.

On December 15th, 2008, the high court ruled that the second alternative path was not in accordance with the original court ruling.

In April 2009 the state offered a third alternative path which left most of the area destined for settlement expansion on the “Palestian” side of the Barrier, thereby returning to the village 150 acres of 490 acres annexed by the original path.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel begins rerouting barrier at protest site

Published yesterday 20:46

BIL'IN, West Bank (AFP) -- Israel on Sunday began rerouting the fence around the West Bank village of Bilin, the focus of protests against Israel's controversial separation barrier, the military said.

The barrier's route in the area will be moved away from the village and closer to a nearby Israeli settlement, in line with a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said it significantly impinged on the property rights of Palestinian landowners.

"The new security fence enlarges the territory belonging to Palestinians in the area," the army said in a statement, adding that it was allocating five million shekels (one million euros) to rehabilitate farmland in the area.

"During the project, the Israel Defence Force relocated and replanted tens of Palestinian olive trees in order to protect them during the industrial works," the statement said.

Bil'in is the site of weekly protests against the fence.

During protests on Friday, Palestinians tried to use bulldozers to tear down the fence ahead of the army works. The army had begun preparing for the move last week, removing barbed wire that was part of the barrier.

A military official said the new stretch of the barrier would be "rebuilt out of concrete, so that it can withstand Palestinian sabotage attempts."

Israel says the barrier is designed to prevent attacks, but the Palestinians view it as an "apartheid wall" that carves off key parts of their promised state.

When the 435-mile barrier is complete, 85 percent of it will have been built inside the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians' protests against the barrier in Bil'in have resulted in sometimes deadly consequences.

In January, a woman protester, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, died, apparently after inhaling tear gas. Her brother Bassem Abu Rahmah had died in April 2009 after being hit on the head by a tear-gas canister.

In a non-binding 2004 judgment, the International Court of Justice called for the dismantling of all parts of the separation barrier built on occupied territory.

-------------------------------------------------------

New neighborhood in Bil'in after wall moved

Published today (updated) 30/06/2011 19:21

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Bilin residents are due to start the construction of a new neighborhood on land returned to them following the re-routing of Israel's separation barrier.

Villagers will start building "Bilin West" on Friday as part of the weekly demonstration against the wall, a statement from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said Thursday.

The Popular Committee announced a new strategy of building community and public buildings on lands that were returned as a way to assert their possession of them.

Six years after the struggle began and four years after the Israeli High Court had ordered the re-routing of the wall, residents will finally have access to 600 dunams of land previously annexed behind the wall, the statement said.

The fight will continue for the 1350 dunams of village land still effectively annexed to the settlements of Modin Illit, the Popular Committee added.

The village of Bilin, west of Ramallah, has been the scene of weekly protests for years as Palestinians have fought to protect their land from annexation.

Israel says the barrier is designed to prevent attacks, but the Palestinians view it as an "apartheid wall" that annexes key parts of their future state.

When the 435-mile barrier is complete, 85 percent of it will have been built inside the occupied West Bank.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice called for the dismantling of all parts of the separation barrier built on occupied territory.

PSP: 2 Shot with Live Ammunition, Regional Leader Arrested in Deir Qaddis

2011-06-17T20:53:00.001-04:00

In this Digest:

1. 2 Shot with Live Ammunition, Regional Leader Arrested in Deir Qaddis - June 15, 2011
2. 18 Demolitions in Fasayel, Southern Jordan Valley - June 14, 2011
3. Regular Protests Begin in At-Twani, Three Injured - June 10, 2011
4. 11 Killed, Hundreds Injured at Nakba Day Demonstrations - May 15, 2011
5. Three Injured in Beit Ommar Demonstration - May 7, 2011
6. Palestinian Women Smuggled into Israel for 6th Time
7. Italian Activist Abducted, Killed in Gaza City - April 15, 2011
8. 200 Trees Planted in Saffa Despite Military Harrasment - April 9, 2011
9. 26 Israeli Activists Arrested as Beit Ommar Residents Demonstrate Against Closures - April 2, 2011
10. Three Beit Ommar Residents Arrested As Israeli Forces Close Village Streets - March 23, 2011
11. Two Palestinians Injured as Settler Opens Fire on Funeral Procession in Beit Ommar - March 21, 2011
___________________________________________________

1. 2 Shot with Live Ammunition, Regional Leader Arrested in Deir Qaddis

Demonstrations began again this week in Deir Qaddis, a small town in the Ramallah district, against the expansion of the Nili settlement onto village land. Residents, joined by Palestinian activists from nearby Ni’lin and Budrus, as well as Israeli and international solidarity activists, have successfully stopped the bulldozers destroying village lands in successive demonstrations. On Wednesday, June 15, two residents, aged 22 and 24 were shot with live ammunition by Israeli forces who invaded the village following protesters retreating after having stopped the bulldozers for nearly an hour. While a small group of residents and activists sat in front of a bulldozer, Mohammed Amireh, member of the Ni’lin Popular Committee, was arrested. He is accused of incitement and will be appearing in Israeli military court on Sunday.

Deir Qaddis was once part of a wide range of villages protesting the construction of the Annexation Barrier and settlement expansion in 2004. Watch the video.

2. 18 Demolitions in Fasayel, Southern Jordan Valley

On Tuesday, June 14, the Israeli army demolished 18 structures in Fasayel, in the southern Jordan Valley. At 6 o’clock in the morning, about 10 military jeeps, one civil administration vehicle and 3 bulldozers entered the Palestinian villages of Fasayel, Wasta and Foqa, turning the area into a ‘closed military area’, preventing anyone from entering the village for more than 3 hours. The army demolished 9 homes and 9 animal shelters, leaving 9 families homeless and without any source of income. All of the families except the Taamri family received demolition orders from the Israeli military 3 months prior to the demolition. Soldiers attacked Omar Taamri’s wife and daughter, hitting both of them. The army also cut electrical lines that provide electricity to the Fasayel/Wusta area. The residents now have no access to electricity.

3. Regular Protests Begin in At-Twani, Three Injured

On Friday, June 10, about 40 people gathered for the first of what will become regular, weekly demonstrations in At-Twani, a small Palestinian community south of Hebron. Protesters marched through town towards the nearby settlement of Ma’on, often a source of settler violence and harassment. Before they could get there, they were stopped by a group of about twenty Israeli soldiers. The army refused to let the demonstration pass. Protesters and soldiers argued for about ten minutes. Then the military grabbed a member of At-Twani’s Popular committee and an Israeli activist and pushing the rest of the activists back. One soldier threw a sound bomb into the crowd, which landed between the legs of the demonstrators. Three men were injured when it detonated: Rami Jabarin, Adham Ashwaheen and Fadl Abu Iram. They received medical attention from a Palestinian ambulance.

Palestinians and solidarity activists stayed at the scene, chanting slogans and demanding the release of the detained protesters. Finally, the military released the Popular Committee member. Protesters continued to demand the release of the Israeli activist, as well as their rights to continue the protest, but the soldiers ignored their demands. The demonstration lingered for another half hour, then dispersed peacefully. The Israeli activist was held for several hours before being released.

Settlers living in Ma’on, next to the At-Twani, often attack village children on their way to a newly-constructed school. The situation has gotten so bad that internationals and Israeli soldiers now escort the children so they can safely walk to school. Today’s protest sought to highlight this egregious situation.

4. 11 Killed, Hundreds Injured at Nakba Day Demonstrations

At least 11 people were killed and hundreds injured following demonstrations throughout the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan commemorating the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine, or “Nakba.” In Beit Ommar, one resident was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers, and another hospitalized due to tear gas inhalation.

On the morning of May 15th, Israeli soldiers gathered near the checkpoint leading out of Beit Ommar, locking the main gate. One group of Israeli soldiers also moved into the terraces south of the main road. At 11:00 am, around forty school girls between the ages of 9 and 15 marched towards army stationed near the main gate, chanting against the Occupation and for Palestinian liberation. They were driven back with tear gas. They attempted to approach the military twice more, but the soldiers again fired tear gas at them. Many canisters landed in the playground of a neighboring preschool, and around 30 preschoolers suffered tear gas inhalation. Young Beit Ommar residents threw stones at the army, who shot tear gas, sound grenades rubber bullets at residents and occupied several houses.

Around 2:00 pm, the army began firing live ammunition into the air. Units occupying houses pulled out and rejoined the main contingent near the gate, and more soldiers arrived to further strengthen these numbers. The IDF then began to move in with jeeps and armored personnel carriers. They occupied a new house along the main road, and fired both tear gas and live ammunition from it. Around the same time what appeared to be an unmanned drone circled above Beit Ommar. It completed several circles over the town before returning towards the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. Several helicopters also flew over the village.

Soldiers shot tear gas into the homes of several Beit Ommar residents, and one young man was taken to the hospital from excessive exposure to tear gas. Yousef Abu Hashem, age 18, was shot in the leg with live ammunition. He too was taken to the hospital where he was treated and released that day.

The army controlled several hundred meters of Beit Ommar’s main street for several hours, chasing off residents with more gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets, and live ammunition. No further injuries were reported to the Palestine Solidarity Project.

The Israeli army also repressed demonstrations in Aroub refugee camp, where refugees from 1948 demanded the right to return to their homes, as stipulated in UN Resolution 194. Youth from the village resisted Israeli incursions into the camp with stones and flaming tires.

Israeli military responses to Nakba Day protests across the region killed and injured many. In Gaza City, one was killed and 80 injured. Near Qalandiya checkpoint, 40 were reported seriously injured. In protests along the Lebanese border, six were killed and 71 injured, while in the Golan Heights, four protesters from Syria were killed and another four seriously injured. Clashes between police, military, and protesters were found throughout the West Bank, and scores were arrested. Reports from Jordan indicate that Jordanian security forces opened fire on Palestinian protesters there, though the number of injuries and deaths is not yet known.

5. Three Injured in Beit Ommar Demonstration

Three members of the Beit Ommar National Committee against the Wall and Settlements were injured this afternoon in a demonstration near the Israeli Karmei Tsur settlement. Yousef Abu Marya, age 36, had his wrist broken in two places by Israeli soldiers, while Ahmed Abu Hashem, age 42, and Mousa Abu Marya, 33, sustained leg injuries.

The demonstration was organized by the National Committee Against the Wall and Settlements to celebrate the unity agreement made between Hamas and Fatah this past week in Cairo. Demonstrators held signs proclaiming “Unity is Our Strength” and “Unity = Liberty.” This weeks demonstration included participants from other villages and regions, including Wad Rahal and the Jordan Valley, as well as international and Israeli solidarity activists.

Demonstrators went to the land of Ahmed Abu Hashem, a member of the National Committee whose land has been partially annexed by the Karmei Tsur settlement. Demonstrators were forcefully prevented from working on Abu Hashem’s land, and several, including the landowner, were pushed from the 8-foot-high terraces that bisect the hillside. Ahmed Abu Hashem and Mousa Abu Marya both sustained leg injuries after being pushed from the terraces by Israeli soldiers.

About 15 minutes into the demonstration, soldiers charged the crowd and attempted to arrest Yousef Abu Marya, a cousin of the land owner who also owns land inside the Karmei Tsur settlement. Israeli soldiers twisted his arm and wrist until it was broken in two places, and released him only when it became clear that he was seriously injured. Abu Marya was taken to a hospital in Hebron, where he was treated for a broken wrist and sprained leg.

An Israeli supreme court ruling in 2006 declared that farmers whose land had been annexed by the Karmei Tsur settlement, including Ahmed Abu Hashem, Yousef and Mousa Abu Marya, should be allowed to access their land with permits from the Israeli authorities. To date no permits have been issued.

6. Palestinian Women Smuggled into Israel for 6th Time

Earlier this week, a group of 12 Israeli women smuggled 8 Palestinian women and 4 children into Israel, in defiance of Israeli law. The trip was an act of civil disobedience intended to spark debate about Israel’s system of segregation that denies Palestinians access to most of historic Palestine. This was the 6th trip the group has organized in the past year.

The group assembled in the West Bank, split into several cars, and drove to Jaffa. All vehicles passed through the Israeli checkpoints unhindered. The group enjoyed a pleasant afternoon along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and in a nearby park before returning home. In the past 9 months over 100 women have been smuggled into Israel in this fashion, defying Israel’s discriminatory checkpoint system that allows Israelis to travel freely throughout almost all of historical Palestine, while denying Palestinians this same right.

All of the women engaging in this act civil disobedience risk jail time if caught. In the spring of 2010 the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel filed a complaint demanding that the attorney general prosecute the woman for smuggling illegal residents into Israel. To date no charges have been filed.

7. Italian Activist Abducted, Killed in Gaza City

Article from Ma’an News Agency

The Ministry of Interior in Gaza said early Friday that an abducted Italian solidarity activist was found dead hours after being kidnapped by radical Islamists. The government in Gaza “condemns the heinous crime that does not reflect our values, our religion or our customs and traditions,” a statement from the ministry said vowing to hunt down those responsible. Local sources told Ma’an that Vittorio Arrigoni’s body was found in an empty home northwest of Gaza City in the Mashrou Amer area.

In a statement, the Hamas government press office said Arrigoni “was found by security hanging in an abandoned house in northern Gaza.” “When news of the kidnapping of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni became known security services went on general alert and the investigation has led to a member of the group who gave away the other members and showed the place where the activist was kept,” Hamas government spokesman Ihab al-Ghoussein said in a statement read on television.

“The security services moved competently and quickly and found the body of the hostage who had been killed several hours earlier in an atrocious way according to a forensic doctor.” Salafist radicals in Gaza were suspected in the kidnapping of Arrigoni, an activist for the International Solidarity Movement, last seen alive in a video posted online Thursday.

8. 200 Trees Planted in Saffa Despite Military Harrasment

On Saturday, April 9th, around forty Beit Ommar farmers and international solidarity activists planted over 200 olive trees in the Saffa region of Beit Ommar. The planting began around 7:00 am, and was half-finished when Israeli Defense Force soldiers arrived at 8:30. The soldiers said that the area was a Closed Military Zone, but lacked the paperwork legally required to enforce the designation. As the collected farmers and activists continued to plant trees, the soldiers attempted to deter them by kicking dirt into holes and confiscating their tools. A young boy’s jacket was also taken.

Several members of the planting crew began arguing with the soldiers about the return of their tools and the rightful ownership of the land. The remaining activists and farmers continued planting out of eyesight of the military. Settler security forces outside Bat Ayn monitored their progress, but did not approach.

At around 9:45, more IDF soldiers and members of the Civil Administration arrived with documentation for the Closed Military Zone. They presented it to the farmers, and another argument quickly ensued. While the military area was clearly marked, the area where the farmers were planting was well outside the line. The soldiers refused to accept this, insisting that the landmarks around Saffa corresponded with different elements on the map.

All the while, farmers and activists continued planting. When the large group near the soldiers had planted all their trees, they began walking towards Beit Ommar. The soldiers followed, reminding everyone that anyone who stopped would be arrested. When the IDF was satisfied that all civilians were back in the village, they returned to their vehicles and left the valley. All items confiscated were recovered by the villagers.

9. 26 Israeli Activists Arrested as Beit Ommar Residents Demonstrate Against Closures

On Saturday, April 2nd, 2011, around two dozen Israeli and international solidarity activists joined with an equal number of Palestinian residents of Beit Ommar to protest the prolonged road closures in the village. While the main gate was opened by security forces late on Friday evening, other roads leading into the village remain blocked by cement barriers.

Waving Palestinian flags, the protesters marched down the main street towards the front gate of Beit Ommar. They were stopped before the gate by large numbers of Israeli Forces. The soldiers produced paperwork to show that the area around Beit Ommar remained a closed military zone, and threatened to arrest anyone trying to cross it. An Israeli activist attempted to negotiate with the military, but was arrested. Soldiers then threw tear gas and sound bombs at the remaining demonstrators, and in the ensuing confusion, arrested two more Israeli activists. All three were released several hours later.

As the tear gas faded, the demonstrators regrouped and again approached the line of Israeli soldiers. The soldiers closed and locked the main gate, then threatened to arrest the remaining international activists. One soldier demanded that the internationals leave through the main gate, while another insisted that they must return in the village. The confusion seemed to stem from the ambiguous borders set in the closed military zone order: according to the paperwork, the closed area covers at least the area between the village and Route 60, but possibly as much as the entirety of Beit Ommar. As the soldiers argued among themselves about how to interpret and enforce the order, the protesters dispersed without incident.

Several hours after the end of the demonstration, a group of twenty-three Israeli solidarity activists arrived at the main gate of Beit Ommar. They protested its closure until Israeli security forces closed in and began to beat and kick them. All twenty-three activists were subsequently arrested. Fifteen have since been released; the remaining eight remain in custody at the Kiryat Arba settlement police station.

10. Three Beit Ommar Residents Arrested As Israeli Forces Close Village Streets

On the afternoon of Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Israeli Defense Forces closed the main entrance to Beit Ommar, following the the injury of two settlers in a confrontation between them and several villagers. Israeli military and police lined Route 60, checking vehicles and papers, and arresting 32-year-old Saddam Hussein Za’aqeeq, who is a local taxi driver. No explanation was given for his arrest.

Around 5:00 pm later that evening, a special unit of armed soldiers in civilian clothes entered the village in a white van with Palestinian license plates, and began firing tear gas and rubber-coated ammunition. They were followed by seven IDF vehicles (jeeps and armored personnel carriers) that entered the village from the west. A few minutes later, a similar detachment of seven soldiers entered the village from the east. The two forces approached the center of town, where they arrested two men, Sohil Brigheth, age 27, and Nabil Hamad Humeidan Abu Maria, age 28. Sohil Brigheth had been injured by IDF soldiers at the main road, and was arrested by the special unit of soldiers as he tried to return to his house. When the arrests were completed, all the military forces left the village.

Volunteers with the Palestine Solidarity Project moved to observe the group of military and police force still gathered near Route 60. One international volunteer was detained and taken to the police station at Karmei Tsur settlement. He was released after to hours. At around 8:30 pm, Israeli Forces opened the main gate to the village, closing it again two hours later. Israeli Police and military stayed at the entrance throughout the night.

The next morning on, Thursday March 24, Israeli police and military forces closed the major entrances to Beit Ommar. Village residents in vehicles were still capable of passing through an alternate way in a gap in a cement roadblock near the cemetery. However, Israeli Forces closed this street by mid-afternoon. By evening, only one road to the village remained open; a forty-five minute detour through the neighboring village of Surif.

Israeli Forces remained at at the main gate near Route 60, checking IDs and vehicles in the rain. One group of women from Beit Ommar were forced to wait in the rain for two hours until soldiers returned their IDs.

As of Friday, March 25, the gate to the village remain closed and all entrance to Beit Ommar blocked. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli Forces arrested Bassem Tamimi, organizer for the Popular Committee in the village of Nabi Saleh. Bassem was placed under arrest prior to a visit with the French Consular General.

11. Two Palestinians Injured as Settler Opens Fire on Funeral Procession in Beit Ommar

21 March 2011

Around 12pm on Monday, March 21st, 2011, two Palestinian residents from the village of Beit Ommar in the southern West Bank were shot with live ammunition by an Israeli settler. The settler stopped his car on Route 60 as a funeral procession was moving towards the village cemetery and started firing indiscriminately into the crowd of mourners.

59-year-old Mohammad Ali Abu Safiyya was hit in the chest and is in critical condition in a Hebron hospital. 32-year-old Eyad Bassem Za’qiq was shot in his right thigh. The settler who shot the two men was not arrested.

Israeli Forces arrived on the scene and used sound bombs and tear gas to disperse the gathered crowd as medical teams evacuated the wounded. Several international human rights activists, as well as members of the Palestine Solidarity Project, a Palestinian group which organizes against the occupation in Beit Ommar, were on hand to witness these events.

The attack came hours after Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad was stabbed in the chest by settlers from Ma’on, south of the city of Hebron. His wounds were considered moderate.

Ramzy Baroud: "One missile, one playground: The will of Gaza"

2011-06-10T14:29:00.000-04:00

One missile, one playground: The will of Gaza

Published today (updated) 10/06/2011 17:27

By Ramzy Baroud

A "Hamas commander" drove a beat-up gray van in northern Gaza and theatrically spoke on his walkie-talkie as I sat in the passenger seat.

The van was almost barren, save for the most basic equipment propelling it to move forward over the bumpy roads of an overcrowded refugee camp.

Iyad was not here to show me any militant training camp, or even to assess the damage that had befallen the impoverished Gaza Strip during Israel's devastating war, Operation Cast Lead, which killed and wounded thousands in 2008-09.

Scars of the damage sustained during the three-week onslaught are still visible throughout the Strip. But Iyad was here to show me his latest personal project: a playground for refugee children.

At first glance, the "playground" did not seem impressive at all. All I noticed was a small plot of dirt jammed between two unsightly concrete buildings.

"So, what do you think?" asked Iyad, with a proud smile. His attempt at growing a full beard was not entirely successful, giving him a younger, albeit disheveled appearance.

"It's impressive," I replied, still trying to understand the nature of the accomplishment.

I learned later that the achievement was creating space out of the debris. At one time prior to December 2008, when an Israeli missile decided to drop in, a family had lived in this spot. The house had collapsed, and its residents became mere posters of mourned Palestinian faces adorning the walls of other houses in the neighborhood.

Iyad and few of "Shabab Al-Masjid" -- youth of the mosque -- cleared almost everything, using only their bare hands and other primitive means.

The siege had made it nearly impossible to access modern technology to clear the uncountable tons of concrete scattered in and around Gaza as a result of the war. Cement remains a precious commodity in an area that needs building material above most other resources.

People here somehow remain positive.

"And here will be a soccer field," continued Iyad, who seemed to have no budget whatsoever, except the will of the "shabab."

Predictably, Iyad's residence is located in a refugee camp. What seemed to be a large crack around much of the house was in fact a mark left by an Israeli missile, which blew up most of the house. Iyad's entire family -- his brothers, their wives and about two dozen children -- were watching TV in a room that miraculously managed to stay still as the house imploded. The neighbors rushed looking for dead and survivors, only to find everyone alive and well.

Iyad smiled in wonder.

When the unmanned drone began circling above his head, Iyad knew that the Israelis had located him. So he began running.

"I didn't want them to know where I lived, so I began running without a clear sense of direction," said Iyad, who reiterated that he always prepared himself for such a moment.

"I am not scared of death. Life and death is in God's hand, not some Israeli pilot, but I worried about my family."

Then, Iyad's house came down.

Since then, the house has been rebuilt, although in a haphazard way. New additions to the house stand above the deep cracks. There are no guarantees that the foundation is safe, or if the house is even inhabitable at all. Oblivious to war, death, unarmed drones and shaky foundations, the children are full of life.

Three of the boys in Iyad's household carry the same name. It was the name of Iyad's brother who was killed by an Israeli sniper as he protested the occupation during the First Palestinian Uprising (Intifada) of 1987. It was this very event that changed Iyad's life forever. In a moment, the little boy had become a man, as expected of any "brother of a martyr."

Iyad's niece -- a cute girl in a checkered dress -- was asked to perform her nashid, a song she had learned in the street. She did so with untold enthusiasm. The song referenced paradise and martyrs and "right of return," and of children facing missiles with bare chests.

The crowd clapped, and the girl huddled by my side bashfully. Perhaps she had not expected such a passionate response from her audience. She was five years old.

Iyad, who is now studying at a local Gaza university, already speaks of a Master's degree and a teaching career. He also remains consumed by his playground and the challenges awaiting him and the "youth of the mosque" once the uneven ground is completely flattened.

His nieces and nephews sing for the martyrs, but they are also keen to do their homework. They discuss end-of-year exams with dread and excitement. All the boys are fans of Barcelona, and devotees of a man named Lionel Messi.

"When I grow up, I wanted to study physical education," said one of the boys, a teenager of about 14. "I will specialize in soccer, just like Messi's major at the University of Barcelona," he added excitedly.

I laughed, and so did everyone else.
----
Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).

Ma'an: Non-violence activist addresses Israeli military court

2011-06-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

Non-violence activist addresses Israeli military court

Published today (updated) 06/06/2011 19:20

Bassem Tamimi on trial at Israel's Ofer military court near Ramallah. The
non-violence activist is charged with inciting and organizing "unauthorized
processions" in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. Photo provided by Popular
Struggle Coordination Committee [MaanImages/PSCC]

Non-violence activist Bassem Tamimi's address to Israel's Ofer military court during his trial for organizing protests in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. A military judge refused to allow Tamimi to read his full statement in court.

Your Honor,

I hold this speech out of belief in peace, justice, freedom, the right to live in dignity, and out of respect for free thought in the absence of Just Laws.

Every time I am called to appear before your courts, I become nervous and afraid. Eighteen years ago, my sister was killed by in a courtroom such as this, by a staff member. In my lifetime, I have been nine times imprisoned for an overall of almost 3 years, though I was never charged or convicted. During my imprisonment, I was paralyzed as a result of torture by your investigators. My wife was detained, my children were wounded, my land was stolen by settlers, and now my house is slated for demolition.

I was born at the same time as the Occupation and have been living under its inherent inhumanity, inequality, racism and lack of freedom ever since. Yet, despite all this, my belief in human values and the need for peace in this land have never been shaken. Suffering and oppression did not fill my heart with hatred for anyone, nor did they kindle feelings of revenge. To the contrary, they reinforced my belief in peace and national standing as an adequate response to the inhumanity of Occupation.

International law guarantees the right of occupied people to resist Occupation. In practicing my right, I have called for and organized peaceful popular demonstrations against the Occupation, settler attacks and the theft of more than half of the land of my village, Nabi Saleh, where the graves of my ancestors have lain since time immemorial.

I organized these peaceful demonstrations in order to defend our land and our people. I do not know if my actions violate your Occupation laws. As far as I am concerned, these laws do not apply to me and are devoid of meaning. Having been enacted by Occupation authorities, I reject them and cannot recognize their validity.

Despite claiming to be the only democracy in the Middle East you are trying me under military laws which lack any legitimacy; laws that are enacted by authorities that I have not elected and do not represent me. I am accused of organizing peaceful civil demonstrations that have no military aspects and are legal under international law.

We have the right to express our rejection of Occupation in all of its forms; to defend our freedom and dignity as a people and to seek justice and peace in our land in order to protect our children and secure their future.

The civil nature of our actions is the light that will overcome the darkness of the Occupation, bringing a dawn of freedom that will warm the cold wrists in chains, sweep despair from the soul and end decades of oppression.

These actions are what will expose the true face of the Occupation, where soldiers point their guns at a woman walking to her fields or at checkpoints; at a child who wants to drink from the sweet water of his ancestors' fabled spring; against an old man who wants to sit in the shade of an olive tree, once mother to him, now burnt by settlers.

We have exhausted all possible actions to stop attacks by settlers, who refuse to adhere to your courts' decisions, which time and again have confirmed that we are the owners of the land, ordering the removal of the fence erected by them.

Each time we tried to approach our land, implementing these decisions, we were attacked by settlers, who prevented us from reaching it as if it were their own.

Our demonstrations are in protest of injustice. We work hand in hand with Israeli and international activists who believe, like us, that had it not been for the Occupation, we could all live in peace on this land. I do not know which laws are upheld by generals who are inhibited by fear and insecurity, nor do I know their thoughts on the civil resistance of women, children and old men who carry hope and olive branches.

But I know what justice and reason are. Land theft and tree-burning is unjust. Violent repression of our demonstrations and protests and your detention camps are not evidence of the illegality of our actions. It is unfair to be tried under a law forced upon us. I know that I have rights and my actions are just.

The military prosecutor accuses me of inciting the protesters to throw stones at the soldiers. This is not true. What incites protesters to throw stones is the sound of bullets, the Occupation’s bulldozers as they destroy the land, the smell of teargas and the smoke coming from burnt houses. I did not incite anyone to throw stones, but I am not responsible for the security of your soldiers who invade my village and attack my people with all the weapons of death and the equipment of terror.

These demonstrations that I organize have had a positive influence over my beliefs; they allowed me to see people from the other side who believe in peace and share my struggle for freedom. Those freedom fighters have rid their conscious from the Occupation and put their hands in ours in peaceful demonstrations against our common enemy, the Occupation. They have become friends, sisters and brothers. We fight together for a better future for our children and theirs.

If released by the judge will I be convinced thereby that justice still prevails in your courts? Regardless of how just or unjust this ruling will be, and despite all your racist and inhumane practices and Occupation, we will continue to believe in peace, justice and human values. We will still raise our children to love; love the land and the people without discrimination of race, religion or ethnicity; embodying thus the message of the Messenger of Peace, Jesus Christ, who urged us to "love our enemy." With love and justice, we make peace and build the future.

IDF Kills 14-25 at Syrian-Israeli Border, Injures Scores More

2011-06-05T16:24:00.003-04:00

Photographs from the Washington Post

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Video from CNN

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'14 dead' as Israel opens fire on Golan

Golan: Israel troops fire on pro-Palestinian protesters

Deaths reported as Israeli troops open fire

Report: Up to 20 protesters killed as hundreds of Syrians storm Israel border

Israeli left-wing leader: IDF used 'excessive force' in Naksa Day protests

Calm returns to Israel-Syria border after day of deadly violence

Foreign Policy: "Palestine's Hidden History of Nonviolence"

2011-05-29T17:36:00.002-04:00

Palestine's Hidden History of Nonviolence

You wouldn't know it from the media coverage, but peaceful protests are nothing new for Palestinians. But if they are to succeed this time, the West needs to start paying attention.

BY YOUSEF MUNAYYER | MAY 18, 2011

Last weekend, as tens of thousands of unarmed refugees marched toward Israel from all sides in a symbolic effort to reclaim their right of return, the world suddenly discovered the power of Palestinian nonviolence. Much like the "Freedom Flotilla," when nine activists were killed during an act of nonviolent international disobedience almost a year ago, the deaths of unarmed protesters at the hands of Israeli soldiers drew the world's attention to Palestine and the refugee issue.

The world shouldn't have been so surprised. The truth is that there is a long, rich history of nonviolent Palestinian resistance dating back well before 1948, when the state of Israel was established atop a depopulated Palestine. It has just never captured the world's attention the way violent acts have.

Indeed, by the issuance of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, well before the establishment of the state of Israel, and during a period when the Jewish population of historic Palestine had yet to reach 10 percent, the native Arabs of Palestine could already see that their hopes for self-determination -- in a homeland where they constituted a vast majority -- were being jeopardized by their soon-to-be colonial master.

Resistance to Zionism during this period was characterized by various efforts led by elite members of Arab society who raised awareness about the dangers Zionism posed. Just before the war, Palestine saw a huge spike in new newspapers, and writers and editors such as Ruhi al-Khalidi, Najib Nassar, and Isa al-Isa regularly zeroed in on the threat of Zionism to Palestinian life. Diplomatic efforts to lobby the mandatory government ensued while concurrently peasants occasionally clashed with the European newcomers, but violence was largely localized and communal and took place amid larger, more peaceful, and political efforts to resist Zionist aims.

As Jewish immigration into Palestine increased and the implementation of the Balfour Declaration became more apparent, Palestinians who feared marginalization (or worse) under a Jewish state continued to resist. In the early 1930s, numerous protests and demonstrations against the Zionist agenda were held, and the British mandatory government was swift to crack down. The iconic image of Palestinian notable Musa Kazim al-Husseini being beaten down during a protest in 1933 by mounted British soldiers comes to mind.

It wasn't until nonviolent protests were met with severe repression that Palestinian guerrilla movements began. After the 81-year-old Husseini died a few months after being beaten, a young imam living in Haifa named Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam (the namesake of Hamas's military wing) organized the first militant operation against the British mandatory government. His death in battle with British soldiers sparked the Arab rebellion that began in 1936 and lasted until 1939.

The first phases of this revolt began with nonviolent resistance in the form of more strikes and protests, and the economy ground to a halt for six months when Palestinian leaders called for a work stoppage. This was put down harshly by the mandatory government, according to British historian Matthew Hughes, including the bombing of more than 200 buildings in Jaffa on June 16, 1936. The repression of both violent and nonviolent Palestinian dissent significantly destroyed the capacity of Palestinian society, paving the way for the depopulation of Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel a decade later.

During the Nakba, which is what Palestinians call the period of depopulation from 1947 to 1949, nonviolent resistance became harder to see again, as armed conflict and violence dominated headlines. But one anecdote, which hits close to home, suggests that thinking about nonviolent resistance in the Palestinian context requires broadening our conventional understanding of the concept.

My hometown, Al-Lyd, (which is today called Lod), was besieged by Haganah troops in mid-July 1948. As part of Operation Dani, Al-Lyd and the neighboring town of Ramla were depopulated of tens of thousands of Palestinians. At the time, the city was filled with at least 50,000 people, more than twice its usual population, because it had swelled with refugees from nearby villages. After the siege, my grandparents were among the 1,000 original inhabitants who remained. They and many others refused to flee during the fighting and hid in the city's churches and mosques. Unlike their neighbors, who were hiding in the Dahmash mosque where scores of refugees were massacred by Haganah troops, they managed to survive and walk out of their refuge into the destroyed ghost town they called home.

We tend to think of nonviolent resistance as an active rather than passive concept. In reality, even though the majority of the native inhabitants were depopulated during the Nakba, thousands of Palestinians practiced nonviolent resistance by refusing to leave their homes when threatened. Today, through its occupation, Israel continues to make life unbearable for Palestinians, but millions resist the pressure by not leaving. This is particularly notable in occupied Jerusalem, where Palestinians are being pushed out of the city. For those who have never lived in a system of violence like the Israeli occupation, it is hard to understand how simply not going anywhere constitutes resistance, but when the objective of your oppressor is to get you to leave your land, staying put is part of the daily struggle. In this sense, every Palestinian living under the Israeli occupation is a nonviolent resister.

The first and second intifadas were very different. In the first intifada of the late 1980s, Palestinians employed various nonviolent tactics, from mass demonstrations to strikes to protests. Even though the vast majority of the activism was nonviolent, it is the mostly symbolic stone-throwing that many remember. The Israeli response to the uprising was brutal. In the words of Yitzhak Rabin, then the Israeli defense minister, the policy was "might, power, and beatings" -- what became known as the "break the bones" strategy, depicted in this gruesome video. Mass arrests also ensued, and according to the NGO B'Tselem more than a thousand Palestinians civilians were killed from 1987 to 1993. Thousands more were injured or crippled at the hands of Israeli troops. Yet, only 12 of the 70,000 Israeli soldiers regularly posted in occupied territories during the intifada died in the four-year uprising, clearly demonstrating the restraint with which Palestinian dissent was carried out.

The second intifada, which began in 2000 after a decade of negotiations yielded only more Israeli settlements, violence was used much more readily, including armed attacks. Yet while the acts of violence by both sides were more likely to feature in the headlines, many Palestinians were still employing nonviolent means of resistance; protests and marches, many at nearly daily funerals, were commonplace. It is during this period that the seeds of present-day nonviolent resistance in Palestine were planted.

Before we can think about whether nonviolent resistance is likely to factor heavily in the next chapter of the Palestinian struggle, we must first consider its aims. Nonviolent resistance, like armed resistance, is a tactic or tool primarily used to draw attention to a cause. The difference between the two is, of course, more important than the similarities. While armed resistance is likely to draw more attention to a cause by grabbing headlines, it's also likely to bring with it plenty of negative attention. Nonviolent resistance is far less likely to make it into the international news, though when it does get coverage, it's usually overwhelmingly positive. But a strategy of nonviolence only works if the world is paying attention and rewarding nonviolence with meaningful action.

The atmosphere in the Middle East and North Africa today is electric. Thanks to the scenes of peaceful protesters ousting dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, belief in nonviolent people power is at an all-time high. But for Palestinians to continue making the same decision, they have to believe they will succeed. If nonviolent Palestinian protesters are crushed by force and their repression is met with silence from the Western states that support Israel, many might choose an alternate path. That's why the U.S. response to the Nakba Day protests -- pointing the finger at Syria instead of criticizing Israel for shooting unarmed demonstrators -- is so disappointing.

If ever there were a moment for Palestinians to overwhelmingly embrace nonviolence, that moment is now. The new media environment has created space for peaceful Palestinian voices that would never have been heard in the past. Many nonviolent protests continue to take place regularly: from the aid flotillas and convoys, along with repeated demonstrations against buffer zones in Gaza, to protests against the separation wall in Bilin, Nilin, Nabi Saleh, and al-Walaja; to demonstrations against home eviction and demolition in Jerusalem neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan; to regular marches in refugee camps inside and outside of Palestine.

But Western governments need to end their silence. By condemning Palestinian violent resistance while failing to condemn Israel's repression of nonviolent resistance, Israel's allies -- above all the United States -- are sending the dangerous message to young Palestinians that no resistance to Israeli occupation is ever acceptable. The fact that the nonviolent protest of the Arab Spring has come to Palestine is not a threat. It's a historic opportunity for the West to finally get it right.

Support the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza

2011-05-29T12:44:00.002-04:00

**please circulate widely**

Sign the petition and get updated news about the Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human: http://bit.ly/stayhuman

We are writing to ask for your support for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla scheduled to set sail in the second half of June to the besieged Gaza strip.

At least ten ships with dignitaries, doctors, professors, artists, journalists, and activists, as well as construction supplies and humanitarian aid, will sail from ports in Europe to Gaza in an act of non-violent civil disobedience to persuade the international community to fulfill its obligations towards the Palestinian people and end Israel's four-year illegal blockade of Gaza.

This is the second, large-scale citizen-to-citizen flotilla to be launched by international grassroots groups. Organized by 14 national groups and international coalitions, the flotilla will carry approximately 1,000 passengers. It includes a US boat named The Audacity of Hope, which will have aboard dozens of dedicated social justice activists (visit: http://ustogaza.org/).

The last Freedom Flotilla in May 2010 included seven vessels carrying nearly 700 passengers from 36 different countries. Israeli commandos attacked the boats, shooting and killing nine passengers, injuring over 50 and imprisoning all aboard.This tragedy opened the subject of Gaza on the world stage and put considerable pressure on Israel to ease the draconian siege on Gaza – something the international community had failed to do for 3 years. For more information about the Free Gaza Movement, visit: http://www.freegaza.org/

We ask you to sign this petition to show the overwhelming public support for an end to siege of Gaza and the rights for Palestinians. We also demand that the American administration apply pressure on Israel to ensure that passengers are not violently attacked and to allow the flotilla to sail to Gaza.
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PETITION LETTER

Freedom Flotilla to Gaza

Dear President Obama,

We demand that the US government apply political pressure on Israel to ensure that passengers aboard the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza are not violently attacked by the Israeli military.

The Freedom Flotilla II, to sail in late June, will hold around 1,000 passengers demanding for an end to the draconian siege on Gaza. International organizations, including the United Nations, have condemned the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Your administration must pressure Israel to uphold international law and allow the Flotilla to pass to Gaza.

Around 35 American social justice activists will partake in this mission aboard a boat named, The Audacity of Hope. We ask for your support in ensuring their safety on this passage.

Ma'an: "29 years of nonviolent resistance to occupation"

2011-05-25T15:09:00.000-04:00

Analysis: 29 years of nonviolent resistance to occupation

Published today (updated) 25/05/2011 15:16

An International Committee of the Red Cross truck, laden with apples, enters
Syria over the Quneitra crossing between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights,
February 26. [MaanImages/Moti Milrod]

By Mya Guarnieri

"Here comes your nonviolent resistance," The Economist proclaimed in an article two days after the events of Nakba Day.

The writer pointed out that the demonstrations demanding an end to occupation and the right of return for Palestinian refugees that took place on May 15 were in the spirit of the First Intifada which was, by and large, nonviolent.

My colleague Joseph Dana voiced the same sentiment, in an article on Alternet:

"Many in the international press are claiming the Nakba day protests show that the Arab spring has arrived in Palestine…It was Palestinians who organized mass unarmed resistance against Israeli occupation in the late 1980s…It is in villages like Bil'in, Budrus and Nabi Saleh that Palestinians have continued this spirit of unarmed resistance every week for the past eight years despite continued Israeli attacks. The Arab spring has not arrived in Palestine; it has always been here."

I endorse these articles. They offer important, nuanced takes on the Nakba Day protests, the First Intifada, and Palestinian resistance to the occupation.

But they’re both wrong.

Just as the siege on Gaza did not begin, suddenly, in 2006 as a tremendous majority of journalists and commentators say (the closure was gradual, starting with movement restrictions during the First Intifada. And economic de-development of the Strip began even earlier); neither did nonviolent resistance to the Israeli Occupation begin during the First Intifada.

Nor did it begin in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Nonviolent resistance began in 1982, in the Golan Heights.

Israel—a country whose leaders have condemned Palestinian plans to unilaterally declare a state—annexed the Golan, unilaterally, in December of 1981 with the Golan Heights Law. The move was condemned by both the United States and the United Nations, with the latter going on to issue multiple resolutions against it. Before annexation, the Golan spent 14 years under the Israeli occupation that followed the 1967 war.

In early 1982, 15,000 Israeli soldiers poured into the Golan Heights in an attempt to force citizenship—in the form of blue ID cards—on the less than 10,000 Syrians that lived in the area. That’s more than one soldier per person.

But the army encountered widespread resistance. Nonviolent resistance. Massive strikes and protests against the annexation began on February 14, 1982 and went on for six months. The Syrian residents of the Golan were partially successful—while they didn’t manage to end the occupation or annexation, they were not forced to take citizenship. They became, instead, permanent residents.

Every year, on February 14, these Syrian residents of Israel mark the anniversary of their resistance with a protest in Majdal Shams.
I attended the annual demonstration, where I met Siham Monder. She stood on Shouting Hill, which overlooks the demarcation line between the occupied Golan and they Syrian Golan, waving a Syrian flag at the crowd that had gathered on the other side of the border.

Monder was 14 in 1982, during that six month period she called "the Intifada of the people of the Ramat Golan."

When the army attempted to distribute the teudot zeut- the compulsory identity document - Monder and other Syrians threw them on the ground. Some flung them in the soldiers’ faces.

Monder and the other locals I interviewed all described the same scene: the streets were blue from all the Israeli ID cards.

As for the soldier’s reaction?

"The police and the army used violence against them even though the people didn’t have weapons," Monder said. "And almost every day, we went out into the streets. All the people, everyone—little children, grown-ups—joined in."

The Golan merits attention for another reason—the elderly residents are eyewitnesses who challenge the Israeli "they attacked, we defended ourselves" take on history.

I sat down with several older men from Majdal Shams. They were elegantly dressed, their crisp, button-down shirts and sweaters topped off by paperboy caps. We sipped coffee and ate baklava. They smoked cigarettes. I did not.

When I asked Hael Abu Jabal what he remembered about the 1967 war, he answered, "I was 25 in 1967. I remember everything."

I pointed out to Abu Jabal that many Israelis say the Golan was "empty," that the occupation and annexation don’t count because "there was no one there."

Abu Jabal laughed and gestured to his friends. "And we know this is a lie," he said. "Let’s start with 1948," when all of the Golan Heights was under Syrian control, and Palestinians were being driven out of their homes by Jewish forces during the war that would culminate in the declaration of the state of Israel.

"The Palestinians fled to here, from their land, from their earth, and they came here looking for refuge. There was hope that they would get their rights, but the powerful don’t give justice and, today, they’re sitting as refugees in all the lands.

"So from the time of 1948 to 1967, I grew up. And, as I got smarter, I noticed how every so often, the Israeli soldiers came into the area and they would come close and the Syrians would shoot at them."

The Israeli army went on like this, darting across the Green Line, until 1967, Abu Jalal said, "when they started a war so they could occupy the Golan."

The work of Jerome Slater and other historians confirm this version of events.

"And after the Israelis entered [during the war], they began to force the people to leave… They shot into the air and forced people from their homes."

According to the Al Marsad Arab Centre for Human Rights in the Golan, some 131,000 Syrians were expelled from the area shortly after the 1967 war—which is how the place became "empty," open for settlement.

That the Golan’s history of nonviolent resistance went overlooked in last week’s parsing of the Nakba Day protests hints at what could happen in the West Bank, if Israel annexes it.

The world could forget.

Israelis have. Over the years, public support for returning the Golan has dropped. According to Haaretz, a 2009 poll found that 60 percent of Israelis oppose any withdrawal.

And so the Syrian residents of the Golan go on—paying taxes, receiving little in return, enduring the pain of families split between two "enemy" countries—and waiting for the world to help.

The author is an Israeli-American journalist based in Tel Aviv.

source: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390802

Palestinians mark 63rd Nakba anniversary

2011-05-15T15:02:00.002-04:00

Palestinians mark 63rd Nakba anniversary
Red Crescent: 1 dead, 182 injured in Nakba protests
In photos: Palestinians mark dispossession

Interactive map of Palestine villages destroyed in Nakba

Clashes erupt as Nakba Day protests sweep Palestinian territories
Clashes at Qalandiya see 40 seriously injured
Eight said killed as IDF fires on infiltrators from Syria and Lebanon
Border incidents took IDF by surprise

Thousands of Palestinians in Israel march to return

Ethan Bronner’s Nakba denial in The New York Times

Nakba Survivor: new website highlights testimonies of the Nakba

PSP: Send a kid to summer camp in Palestine!

2011-05-13T14:47:00.003-04:00

For just $40 you can send a kid to summer camp in the West Bank village of Beit Ommar.

Donate Now!

From June 20 – July 20 the Center for Freedom and Justice will be hosting its second annual summer camp for Palestinian youth. The summer camp will give Beit Ommar kids an inspiring, empowering and educational way to spend their summer vacation.

Last years summer camp, named the Freedom Flotilla Summer Camp by the camp counselors, had over 100 participants. The camp combined educational, recreational and cultural activities, including sports, English lessons, traditional Palestinian dance classes and workshops on a wide range of topics, including settlement expansion, Israel’s “separation barrier,” international law, conflict resolution and human rights.

This years camp, entitled the Yousef Ikhlayl Summer Camp*, will offer an even wider range of activities, including arts and crafts, drama, music, sports and gardening programs, as well as nonviolence workshops and trainings. Weekly field trips will also be offered to different areas throughout the West Bank. Through a program of enriching experiences and educational opportunities, the summer camp will give Palestinian youth a chance to enjoy what the Israeli occupation has systematically denied them: a chance to just be kids.

Give a Palestinian kid a summer they’ll remember – Donate Now

*Yousef Ikhlayl was a participant in the Center for Freedom and Justice’s Freedom Flotilla Summer Camp in 2010, and a regular attendee at the Center’s events and programs. On January 28, 2011, Yousef was shot and killed by an Israeli settler while working in his family’s vineyard. The 2011 summer camp has been named in his honor. The case of Yousef Ikhlayl illustrates the dangers Palestinian youth in Arroub and Beit Ommar face, and the need for a safe, positive program for young people in this region.

For general contributions, or to donate an unfixed amount, visit our donate page.

Music Video: "Vittorio Arrigoni, Onadekom (Calling You) - DARG Team (Official Video)

2011-05-13T14:46:00.001-04:00

Ha'aretz: "Israel admits it covertly canceled residency status of 140,000 Palestinians"

2011-05-11T10:28:00.001-04:00

Published 02:47 11.05.11
Latest update 02:47 11.05.11

Document obtained by Haaretz reveals that between 1967 and 1994 many Palestinians traveling abroad were stripped of residency status, allegedly without warning.

By Akiva Eldar
Israel has used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994, the legal advisor for the Judea and Samaria Justice Ministry's office admits, in a new document obtained by Haaretz. The document was written after the Center for the Defense of the Individual filed a request under the Freedom of Information Law.

The document states that the procedure was used on Palestinian residents of the West Bank who traveled abroad between 1967 and 1994. From the occupation of the West Bank until the signing of the Oslo Accords, Palestinians who wished to travel abroad via Jordan were ordered to leave their ID cards at the Allenby Bridge border crossing.

	Israeli soldier checks Palestinians' identification.
	Photo by: Baz Ratner

They exchanged their ID cards for a card allowing them to cross. The card was valid for three years and could be renewed three times, each time adding another year.

If a Palestinian did not return within six months of the card's expiration, thier documents would be sent to the regional census supervisor. Residents who failed to return on time were registered as NLRs - no longer residents. The document makes no mention of any warning or information that the Palestinians received about the process.

Palestinians could still return in the first six months after their cards expired, or appeal to an exemptions committee.

The Center for the Defense of the Individual said yesterday it knew that a clear procedure was in place, but the details and the number of Palestinians denied their right to return remained classified. A former head of the Civil Administration in the 1990s was surprised to hear of the procedure when contacted by Haaretz.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. (res. ) Danny Rothschild, who served as coordinator of government activities in the territories from 1991 to 1995, said he was completely unaware of the procedure, even though it was in use during his term. "If even I wasn't told of the procedure, one may infer that neither were residents of the occupied territories," he said.

The Central Bureau of Statistics says the West Bank's Palestinian population amounted to 1.05 million in 1994, which means the population would have been greater by about 14 percent if it weren't for the procedure.

By contrast, Palestinians who immigrated from the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority was set up retained residency rights even if they did not return for years.

Today, a similar procedure is still in place for residents of East Jerusalem who hold Israeli ID cards; they lose their right to return if they have been abroad for seven years.

Palestinians who found themselves "no longer residents" include students who graduated from foreign universities, businessmen and laborers who left for work in the Gulf. Over the years, many of them have started families, so the number of these Palestinians and their descendants is probably in the hundreds of thousands, even if some have died.

Also, several thousands Palestinians with close links to the Palestinian Authority were allowed to return over the years, as did a number of Palestinians whose cases were upheld by the joint committee for restoration of Palestinian ID cards. As of today, 130,000 Palestinians are listed as "no longer residents."

Among them is the brother of the Palestinians' chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Erekat's brother left for studies in the United States and was not allowed to come back; he still lives in California.

Erekat told Haaretz he had learned from his brother's experience, and when he himself left for studies abroad, he made sure to visit home from time to time so as not to lose his right to return.

The regulation's existence was discovered by the Center for the Defense of the Individual by pure chance, while it was looking into the case of a West Bank resident imprisoned in Israel.

The Civil Administration told the prisoner's family his ID card was "inactive." After a request for a clarification, Israel's legal adviser for Judea and Samaria said this was a misapplication of a certain policy by the census supervisor in the occupied territories.

The adviser added that three residents were mistakenly defined as no longer residents while in prison or in detention, and that their residency had now been restored. He wrote that their status had been changed not because of a policy but because of a technical error, without any connection to their imprisonment.

The Center for the Defense of the Individual said that "mass withdrawal of residency rights from tens of thousands of West Bank residents, tantamount to permanent exile from their homeland, remains an illegitimate demographic policy and a grave violation of international law."

It noted that an unknown number of Gaza residents had lost residency rights in a similar manner, but that the exact number was still a secret the center vowed to uncover. "The State of Israel should fix the ongoing wrong at once, restore residency rights to all affected Palestinians and allow them and their families to return to their homeland," the center said.

source: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-admits-it-covertly-canceled-residency-status-of-140-000-palestinians-1.360935