On the morning of June 23rd, 2010 Jewish settlers rioted and attacked Palestinian property in the neighbourhood of Saffa, Beit Ommar. On the most recent example of the so-called ‘price tag’ policy, dozens of residents of the illegal settlement of Bat Ayn attempted to set fire to private Palestinian land before throwing stones and bottles at nearby houses.

Israeli soldiers began firing tear-gas canisters and stun grenades after awoken Saffa residents had gathered around dawn, lightly injuring a number of Palestinians. Members of the Beit Ommar National Committee and Palestine Solidarity Project arrived in Saffa shortly after and recorded the incident.

The more radical of Israel’s 500,000 settlers in the … Continue reading

This Saturday a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists were met in the vineyards of Beit Ommar by several Israeli soldiers as they attempted to make their way to the fence surrounding the illegal Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur, built on Beit Ommar land. The soldiers insisted on preventing the group from even approaching the outer fence, declaring the entire area a closed military zone and arresting two Israeli activists. Unlike the international and Palestinian activists who have been arrested in the same area in recent weeks (the Palestinian arrested last week is still in jail; the internationals were banned from the entire West Bank for the remainder of their visas, pending appeal), the Israeli activists were released … Continue reading

Friday, June 18, 2010 – Today between 30 and 40 Palestinians, internationals and Israelis marched from inside of Wad Rahal to the outskirts of town where the Annexation Barrier is being built, cutting off expropriating agricultural land to the Efrat settlement which is currently expanding. The demonstrators peacefully walked along the road, carrying flags, chanting songs and banging on drums until they were prevented from going further by Israeli soldiers. Beit Sahour resident Mazin Qumseyer gave a speech in English to the soldiers stating that they were 12-15 km within the 1967 green line, and therefore were breaking international law under the Geneva convention. He also described … Continue reading

Early this morning, Wednesday, June 16, 7 year-old Muhsen Yousef Awwad was handed a summons by Israeli forces ordering him to report to the Etzion settlement police station for interrogation during an arrest campaign throughout the village of Beit Ommar. Two young men were also arrested this morning, bringing the total to six arrests this week of young men from Beit Ommar, most residing near the Karmei Tsur settlement and ranging in age from 15-24.

On Saturday, June 12, a group of farmers, Palestine Solidarity Project activists, and members of the Beit Ommar National Committee held a protest at the fence around the Karmei Tsur settlement, built on Beit Ommar agricultural land. They carried Palestinian flags and chanted against the settlements and the theft of their land. There were Israeli soldiers already waiting on the other side of the fence. The demonstrators stood on their side of the fence, planted their flags in some of their own land and continued chanting. The soldiers watched for a few minutes until they came across the fence, down a hill to the ground that the demonstrators were standing on. One soldier, carrying an M16 and a … Continue reading

Wad Rahhal
A peaceful demonstration took place in Wad Rahal this afternoon (Friday 11th June 2010). A group of around fifty activists both Palestinian & internationals marched with banners & flags from the community centre to the edge of the settlement, where they were met by the IDF whom prevented them from progressing further. Several participants made anti-occupation speeches in Arabic, Hebrew & English. The group chanted with good volume & was then told that they must disperse. The demonstration ended how it began, peacefully. There were no arrests or injuries.

Al-Ma’asara
Later Friday, a small group of activists from Al-Ma’asara marched towards their village lands. In a symbolic protest, one … Continue reading

Jamie, a British national, was arrested today during a demonstration in Beit Ommar. While the main group of Palestinians were prevented from participating, a small group including PSP activists and Beit Ommar National Committee members, walked through the fence that was cut open in a previous demonstration and marched along Route 60 (not stopping traffic), carrying Turkish and Palestinian flags. They were soon corralled into an area in front of a shop where they stopped and made speeches of solidarity with the people on the Freedom Flotilla, the recently stopped Rachel Corrie boat, as well as the 3 people injured and 2 killed by settlers in the … Continue reading

On June 4, well over 100 people participated in the third Friday demonstration against the wall in Wad Rahhal. They walked past the settlement of Efrat, along the planned Wall route until met by two Israeli military jeeps. (Later a third jeep pulled up.)

Boys stood in front of the march, facing the Israeli military, one with a sign in Hebrew reading No Wall. Many carried flags, including the Turkish flag, and spoke words of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and with the passengers of the humanitarian aid flotilla.

The marchers were nonviolent. A handful of settlers, including two children wearing bicycle helmets, stood on a hill above the road and … Continue reading

By Ali Abunimah

[PSP Editor note: the fabricated video and the original video are available below. Both from the IDF Youtube channel.]

Today, Israel released what it claimed to be the audio of a conversation between Israeli naval vessels and the Turkish-owned ship Mavi Marmara which occurred prior to the Israeli assault that killed at least 9 passengers and injured dozens more in the early hours of 31 May in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean. This audio clip, which the Israelis titled “Radio Transmission from Mavi Marmara to Israeli Navy” appears to be fabricated.

The following is a transcript of the audio:

ISRAELI SHIP “This is the … Continue reading

From Aljazeera.net/english
Jamal Elshayyal was aboard the Turkish Aid ship the Mavi Marmara on the top deck as the Israeli raid began. He managed to get one live report off before communications were lost. His footage of the events, which he witnessed, has been confiscated by the Israeli military. Still, he states unequivocally that the Israeli military used lethal force against the demonstrators before even boarding the ship, in direct contradiction to Israel’s official line. This has also been supported by testimony from Haneen Zuabi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Parliament, who was also aboard the Mavi Marmara.
Here is Elshayyal’s report after he was released from Israeli detention:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cQ69oKFtVg