The recent Army arrests of five young men in Beit Ommar have re-infected festering wounds among the families of the village. For the Abu Ayyesh family the arrests of two sons Mohammed, 24, and Thaer, 19, come on top of the October death of their brother Mehdi, 17. In March 2009, Mahdi was shot in the head from less than 20 metres while shopping for a falafel sandwich during an Israeli army incursion. The army is reported to have delayed calling for medical help and then set up a checkpoint to further prevent the ambulance from reaching critically injured Mehdi. 27 pieces of metal were discovered in Mehdi’s head and he died without regaining consciousness in October, 2009. … Continue reading

On Thursday, December 10th activists from PSP took part in a solidarity march in the village of At-Tuwani. The children of the At-Tuwani school (along with other Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals) marched south from the village of At-Tuwani to the school in Al-Fakhit. Al-Fakhit school opened this school year to accommodate students living in Maghayir Al-Abeed, Markaz, Halawe, Fakhit, Majaaz, and Jinba. The teachers at Al-Fakhit school travel from Yatta each day and pick up schoolchildren along the route. The purpose of this 10 kilometre march was to draw attention to the ongoing obstacles children and teachers face when traveling to school. The … Continue reading

On Wednesday, December 9th volunteers from PSP joined other international and Palestinian solidarity activists and farmers in Um Salamuna to continue the planting of olive and almond trees. This planting project is an effort to reclaim the land around South Bethlehem in an attempt to prevent the surrounding settlements from expanding into and occupying it. This project began in early November and has been very successful, despite repeated harassment from local settlers and the Israeli military. However, on Thursday, December 3rd settlers uprooted and burned several dozen olive trees that had been recently planted. When the landowner complained to the Israeli Police, he was told that it … Continue reading

Demonstrations across Occupied Palestine this Friday had remarkable energy, despite the winter weather. In Ni’lin, more than 100 Palestinians were joined by Israeli and international activists in their routine march towards the Annexation Barrier. They were met with a barrage of tear gas and the return of the use of .22 caliber Ruger rifles, which the Israeli military claims are “crowd dispersal” weapons and “non-lethal”. Several Palestinians have been killed by these bullets which are only .003 inches smaller than the regular live ammunition used by the Israeli army in M-16s (they claim the .22 ruger is non-lethal because of a suppressor used on the guns, the logic of which has been rejected by human rights organizations … Continue reading

From Al Jazeera English

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Note from PSP

We bring this story to our website not to condone or condemn the actions of the Palestinian who lightly wounded 2 Israeli settlers, or what he “deserved” but to point out the total lack of control or will to control the settler population by the Israeli military. The Palestinian population of the West Bank has no other recourse but the Israeli military involving incidents with Israeli settlers, though time and again the Israeli military has demonstrated and stated explicitely their inability to control the Israeli population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While the Israeli soldiers not only … Continue reading

At approximately 2am Wednesday, December 3, 25 Israeli military jeeps, carrying over 100 soldiers, entered the village of Beit Ommar in the Hebron District. They then set up three checkpoints inside the village, one on the north-west side of town near the city council building, and two in the center of the village. The soldiers split into 3 groups and began invading homes and destroying property. They broke into the homes of Ahmed Abu Maria, a PSP volunteer, Ahsan Abu Ayyesh, Sa’id Abu Ayyesh, the father of Mehdi Abu Ayyesh who … Continue reading