Articles Archive for Year 2009
Apartheid Wall, Ni'lin »
for the original article on Maan click here
More than 100 of farmers, youth, international and Israeli peace activists marched against the Israeli separation wall Friday, and armed with car tires and home made ladder to climb the high wall they managed to burn one section and pull down three others.
According to participants one of the youth passed over the wall and set fire to car tires, damaging the fence and the sensors attached to it. A second group of youth burned a stack of 10 tires at one of the gates in the concrete wall, with black smoke billowing toward the nearby settlement.
“This is the first … Continue reading
BDS »
From The Nation
By Naomi Klein
When I heard the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was holding a celebratory “spotlight” on Tel Aviv, I felt ashamed of Toronto, the city where I live. I thought immediately of Mona Al Shawa, a Palestinian women’s rights activist I met on a recent trip to Gaza. “We had more hope during the attacks,” she told me. “At least then we believed things would change.
Al Shawa explained that while Israeli bombs rained down last December and January, Gazans were glued to their TVs. What they saw, in addition to the carnage, was a world rising up in outrage: global protests, as many as 100,000 on the streets of London, a group of Jewish women in … Continue reading
Hebron District, settlement expansion »
From Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove
At a time when the international community is calling for a freeze on new building in settlements and the disbanding of settlement outposts, the settler community of the South Hebron Hills is continuing its expansion unabated.
Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement on Ma’on, in the South Hebron Hills area, are constructing at least five new caravans on the south-west side of the settlement. Internationals based in the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani first observed building preparatory work in Ma’on a few days ago. Today, as the new caravans were being built, settlers began preparatory work on a nearby hilltop for further settlement … Continue reading
settlement expansion »
For the original article on aljazeera.net/english click here
Israel has officially approved the construction of 455 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, defying demands by the US and others for a freeze on settlement building.
Israel’s defence ministry announced the decision to continue with settlement building on Monday.
“Defence Minister Ehud Barak has authorised the construction of 455 housing units in settlement blocs” in the occupied West Bank, the ministry said.
The US wants Israel to stop settlement activity and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has demanded a freeze as a condition for returning to peace negotiations.
Israeli officials announced on Friday that Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, intended to give the go-ahead for the new projects before considering a halt.
Netanyahu’s move is … Continue reading
Apartheid Wall »
On Friday, Palestinian residents of the Ramallah-District village of Ni’lin, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, totaling around 100 participants, met after noon prayers and marched towards the newly-constructed concrete wall in the agricultural fields of the village. One group of demonstrators began defacing the wall, and taking apart the barbed-wire fence adjacent to it, both illegally constructed on Ni’lin land and preventing the residents from reaching their privately-owned agricultural land.
Israeli soldiers responded with tear gas and sewage-smelling spray for several hours. Later in the afternoon, when much of the demonstration had dispersed, Israeli soldiers inexplicably resorted to using live ammunition. A young reporter with Press TV from Ni’lin, Mohammed Amireh, was grazed in the leg with … Continue reading
Other »
For the original article on Aljazeera.net/english, click here
Israel’s prime minister is set to approve plans to build hundreds of new homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, before considering US demands for a construction freeze.
Aides to Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the prime minister would consider a settlement freeze, but first planned to authorise the new building work.
The comments, quoted in Israeli media, are the first time an aide has said in the name of the prime minister’s office that a freeze could be imminent.
But the plans for new settlements are likely to anger Palestinians, who have said they will not resume peace talks unless Israel suspends construction on lands they want for a future state.
Settlement … Continue reading
Other »
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the willful killing of a 15-year-old Palestinian child by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). The attack occurred Monday, 31 August 2009, near the entrance of al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah.
According to investigations conduced by PCHR, at approximately 21:30 on Monday, 31 August 2009, IOF troops stationed at a military observation tower inside “Beit Eil” settlement, north of Ramallah, opened fire at five Palestinian children who were near al-Jalazon UNRWA School, located near the southeastern entrance of al-Jalazoun refugee camp. One of the children, 15-year-old Mohammed Riad Nayef ‘Elayan, was wounded by three bullets to the chest. An ambulance from Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah attempted to reach the … Continue reading
Beit Ommar »
At approximately 2:30 am Monday morning, several units of Israeli forces entered Beit Ommar. They barged into more than a dozen homes, ransacking them, and eventually arresting 7 youth. The young men, ages 17 to 21, were from the Abu Maria, Awad, and Ikhlayl families. Israeli forces have once again begun a series of raids of the village, home to 17,000 people, both during the day and in the night. For the past three days, Israeli soldiers have set up flying checkpoints in the Tariq Al-Ayn section of Beit Ommar, near the Palestine Solidarity Project home and center, detaining drivers, stopping and searching random residents, and otherwise harassing local men. The reasons for the … Continue reading
Apartheid Wall, Ni'lin »
Just over one week ago, the Israeli military began construction of a new concrete wall to ‘supplement’ the fence and patrol road that had already been completed on the agricultural land of Ni’lin as part of the Annexation Barrier. Apparently, the construction of the concrete wall, which is between 4 and 8 meters in height, is due to the success of the weekly demonstrations in Ni’lin this summer, when large sections of the fence, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice 5 years ago, were damaged by residents. Over 100 Palestinians, joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists, once again marched after midday prayer on Friday to the site of the wall. One young participant quickly … Continue reading
BDS »
On Haaretz.com
By Anat Matar
Several days ago Dr. Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev published an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times. In that article he explained why, after years of activity in the peace camp here, he has decided to pin his hopes on applying external pressure on Israel – including sanctions, divestment and an economic, cultural and academic boycott.
He believes, and so do I, that only when the Israeli society’s well-heeled strata pay a real price for the continuous occupation will they finally take genuine steps to put an end to it.
Gordon looks at the Israeli society and sees an apartheid state. While the Palestinians’ living conditions deteriorate, many Israelis are benefiting from the occupation. … Continue reading
