On the evening of Sunday, March 27th, Israeli Defense Forces from Karmei Tsur and Gush Etzion settlements entered the village of Beit Ommar. The soldiers arrested fifteen young men, then left the village.

Jameel Ahmad Za’aqeeq, 14, Allam Yousif Awad, 14, Hasan Majed Solieby, 14, Mahamad Yasir Za’aqeek, 19, Ahmad Yasir Za’aqeek , 19, Ahmad Mohamed Ehklail, 16, Ahmad Yousif Sabarnah, 18, Mohamad Yousif Sabarnah, 16, Mohamad Azzam Za’aqeek, 16, Montasir Mohamed Ehklail, 16, Ameer Alkam, 17, Mohamad Jadallah Solieby, 19, Malik Naif Solieby, 16, Shareef Fathy Abu Ayyash, 18, and Yousef Ayesh Sabarneh, 14, were all taken in the operation. No reason was given for their arrest.

The next morning, around 7:00 am, another group of IDF soldiers took … Continue reading

On Sunday, March 27, Israeli police and military forces began stricter enforcement of the recently-declared Closed Military Zone surrounding Beit Ommar. While some villagers are still allowed through, many now are regularly turned away from the roadblocks, effectively imprisoning them within the village. It remains to be seen whether emergency vehicles would be allowed to pass through.

Israeli forces are also considering a more permanent blockade. In current plans, the main gate would be moved further into the village, while cement barriers and chain-link fences would be replaced with permanent walls. The Palestine Solidarity Project has also heard of plans to encircle … Continue reading

On Saturday, March 26, 2011, international and Israeli activists joined with Beit Ommar villagers to protest the road closures of the area, now in their third day. Around fifty participants and twenty journalists gathered near the village cemetery, where Israeli Defense Forces had closed off the road with large blocks of cement. The strongest members of the group began pushing one of the blocks, attempting to roll it aside to allow the passage of cars. Israeli military forces arrived and looked on until the group began to lever the block with a long steel pole. At this point, a soldier approached and confiscated the pole. An Israeli activist was arrested, but was released after an … Continue reading

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 … Continue reading

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 … Continue reading

On Tuesday, March 15th, 2011, hundreds of students and faculty from Hebron University marched from the campus to a rally before the City Center in a demonstration aimed to encourage a unity Palestinian party. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and carried signs decrying both internal political jockeying and the divisive struggle between rival Fatah and Hamas groups, as well as calling for an end to the Israeli occupation.

The conflict between Fatah and Hamas has been at times violent and, more recently, a political battle to lay claim to the voice of Palestine. Many Palestinians blame the continued occupation by Israel on this fractured infighting; with a single, powerful voice, … Continue reading

A motion to boycott Israel was overwhelmingly passed at the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) General Meeting on Monday 14th March. In what was described as a ‘landslide’, the motion, ‘Boycott Israeli Goods in EUSA shops and supply chains’ received around 270 votes in favour, with only 20 students voting against.

Despite the meeting requiring over 300 students to attend for it to be quorate and for decisions taken to be binding, the huge level of student support for the motion means that EUSA will be under severe student pressure to adopt it as official policy.

Proposed by students from Edinburgh University Students for Justice in Palestine, the motion noted that Israel is an apartheid state and resolved to affiliate EUSA to … Continue reading

On Saturday, March 12th, 2011, over three hundred women gathered together in the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar for conference organized by the Center for Freedom and Justice, with the support of the Palestine Solidarity Project. Among the participants were approximately 100 Israeli women solidarity activists and about 20 internationals. The 200 Palestinian women attendees came from Beit Ommar and from surrounding villages such as Surif, Al-Arroub Refugee Camp, Al-Jab’a, and Halhoul.
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The conference was a new step in a long-standing political cooperation between a group of Israeli women anti-occupation activists and Palestinian women from Beit Ommar area, which began last year with a highly-publicized campaign of Israeli women bringing Palestinian women to the sea and … Continue reading

On Saturday, March 12, 2011 at around 8pm, three bus loads full of Israeli settlers entered the village of Beit Ommar, breaking into at least two residences and beating the Palestinian occupants. The attacks seemed to be coordinated as part of other settler violence across the West Bank. Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in villages near Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron.

In Beit Ommar, three buses of settlers from Bat Ayn and Kiryat Arba Settlements stopped on Route 60 near the entrance of the village. The settlers entered a residence close to the Israeli watchtower, breaking everything inside the house and smashing flower pots … Continue reading

Thursday, March 10th, 2011, 7am: Responding to an international call to action, Palestinian solidarity activists in Chicago renamed street signs on downtown street corners commemorating a Palestinian youth killed two years ago by the Israeli military. The activists used ladders just as morning rush hour commuters were starting to arrive in Chicago’s loop, and replaced street signs that read “Honorary Ben Gurion Way” with “Honorary Mehdi Abu Ayyash Way.”

According to the activists, David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, was responsible for drafting policy which intentionally drove Palestinians from their homes and disallowed them from returning. The activists also gave out … Continue reading