On Sunday, October 3, 2010, farmers from Saffa, accompanied by international and Israeli solidarity activists, worked their lands near the illegal Israeli settlement of Bat Ayn. The Palestine Solidarity Project has organized a campaign in the Saffa Valley to support the farmers every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday over the next couple of months as they clear their lands in preparation for planting. Over the last several years, the farmers have been harassed by settlers from Bat Ayn or prevented from reaching their lands by the Israeli military.

This past Sunday, on the first day of the campaign, farmers cleared the land by burning and … Continue reading

Protesters gathered in Beit Ommar today for the weekly demonstration against the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement. A crowd of about seventy demonstrators marched from the village towards the fence that surrounds the settlement, chanting against the occupation and carrying cardboard “settlements” labeled Efrat, Karmei Tsur, Migdal Oz, Bat Ayn and Karmei Tsur, all settlements built on Beit Ommar land. The protesters took a new route this week, surprising the soldiers by arriving at a new part of the fence.

Protesters got nearly all the way to the fence before the soldiers blocked their path. The protesters then proceeded to set fire to the cardboard settlements in an act of symbolic … Continue reading

A children’s circus was tear gassed in Al Ma’asara today following the weekly demonstration against the annexation barrier. Like every week, protesters gathered in the center of the village after midday prayer. A crowd of about twenty demonstrators marched to the edge of the village carrying banners, waving flags and chanting against the occupation and the settlements. This week’s demonstration commemorated the anniversary of the second intifada, a popular uprising against the Israeli occupation which began in October of 2000. The demonstration also marked the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian activist famous for leading his people in a nonviolent revolution against the British occupation of India.

[caption id=”attachment_1771″ align=”alignleft” width=”300″ caption=”A Palestinian flag hangs from the back of an … Continue reading

On Monday, September 27th, 2010, at around 7am, Israeli settlers from Migdal Oz used a bulldozer to clear 2 dunams of Palestinian land in the southern West Bank. The land belongs to Abed al Halim Abu Ayyesh from Beit Ommar. The settlers began clearing his land close to the entrance of Migdal Oz just hours after the expiration of a 10-month freeze in settlement construction. Part of the land was cleared with the bulldozer, presumably for construction, while rocks were piled in another area. Migdal Oz was constructed in 1977 on land stolen from Beit Ommar villagers, and now houses 300 settlers.
… Continue reading

On Saturday, September 25, the National Committee in Beit Ommar, together with the Palestine Solidarity Project, organized a demonstration near the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement after midday prayers. The protesters held signs expressing solidarity with Silwan, where demonstrators have clashed with the Israeli military for three days after two Palestinians were shot and killed by settler security guards. The demonstration also commemorated the anniversary of the massacres of hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. Additionally, the villagers demanded the release of Palestinian political prisoners, and particularly the release of Yousef Abu Maria, a 17 year old boy from Beit Ommar who has been held in Israeli prisoner for 3 months despite an … Continue reading

On Friday, September 24th, 2010, weekly nonviolent Palestinian demonstrations continued in the villages of Ni’lin, Bil’in, al-Walaja, an Nabi Saleh and al-Ma’asara. In al-Ma’asara in the southern West Bank, villagers were joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists after noon prayers. Together, the demonstrators marched towards the entrance of al-Ma’asara, where their path was blocked by around a dozen Israeli soldiers and border police and three army jeeps. Villagers wore T-shirts reading, “Stop supporting Rami Levi, Stop Supporting Settlements” and carried cardboard boxes representing settlement products.

When the demonstrators moved to set the boxes on fire, Israeli forces threw sound bombs and at least one tear gas canister at the crowd. The sound bombs themselves … Continue reading

by Joseph Dana

“At 3:30 or 4am I heard some noise outside of my window,” Silwan resident Abdallah Rajmi told me as we stood on a narrow street in the middle of a battle between young Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli occupation forces from the Border Police. “I thought it was a simple drunken fight but then I heard a lot of noise coming from the people involved and my neighbors began waking up.”

Silwan is a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, near the walled Old City, and is the target of an ongoing Israeli government plan to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes and replace them with Israeli settlements and … Continue reading

Updated: Video Below

For the first demonstration since the Ramadan break, a large group of Palestinians, joined by a dozen international activists, marched again towards Karmei Tsur settlement, built on Beit Ommar land in the 1980′s. This week, the demonstration carried a more somber tone, as the participants were including a call for the 17 year-old son of Popular Committee member Ahmed Abu Maria, to be released from prison. He is being held pending trial and has a serious medical condition for which he was hospitalized this week. A few participants carried signs in several languages stating “I am Yousef Abu Maria”. … Continue reading

For the second time in the past several months, a group of about 25 Israeli women successfully smuggled 23 Palestinian women and 7 children from the West Bank into Israel in defiance of Israeli law. The Israeli women met the Palestinian women at their homes in the West Bank, and drove them through the checkpoints into Israel, evading Israeli security. They gathered in Jaffa for a day of swimming, shopping, dining, and general merriment before returning to their homes in the West Bank. Organizers explained that the trip was an act of civil disobedience intended to spark debate about Israel’s system of segregation, which denies Palestinians in … Continue reading

A crowd of about 30 Palestinian, international, and Israeli activists gathered at 1 o’clock in Al Ma’asara to protest against the settlements and the construction of the Annexation-Barrier. It was the first day of Yom Kippur, so a more tense atmosphere was expected. Demonstrators chanted against the settlements and the occupation, and gave speeches commemorating the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Yom Kippur, the Jewish “Day of Atonement,” is the holiest day in Judaism. Jews are required to refrain from doing any form of work, including driving a car or even flipping a light switch. The irony of this day is that while Israelis aren’t allowed to work … Continue reading