Thousands of liters of raw sewage from the illegal Gush Etzion settlement flooded over 50 dunams of Palestinian farmland in the village of Beit Ommar last night. The sewage was pumped from a storage unit inside the settlement onto the land of the Sabarna family, flooding trees and submerging a bulldozer. As of 10 AM the water is still flooding.

Today marks the fourth time this year that the settlement has dumped waste water onto the Sabarna’s land. The settlement emptied sewage onto their land in March, April and June, destroying the crops and costing the farmers thousands of shekels in lost income. … Continue reading

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

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 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

A crowd of around thirty protesters gathered in al-Ma’asara today in protest of the direct negotiations that began Tuesday between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The demonstrators marched from the center of the village to the main road waving Palestinian flags and carrying a large banner that read “No Peace Show, We Want Justice, Freedom and International Law.” The protesters were met at the main road by five army jeeps filled with Israeli soldiers who immediately began throwing sound grenades at their feet. The soldiers pushed the demonstrators back about 30 feet, throwing dozens of sound grenades and some tear gas into the crowd. Demonstrators chanted against the … Continue reading

Two activists were arrested today in al-Ma’asara as demonstrations continued against the construction of the Annexation Barrier and the theft of the villages land by the Efrat settlement. A group of about 25 protesters marched with flags and a bullhorn from the center of town to the main road, where they were confronted by a line of heavily armed Israeli soldiers. Protesters chanted “soldiers go home” and gave speeches against the occupation and settlement expansion. Soldiers pushed back against demonstrators, who sat down and raised their arms in protest. After about twenty minutes soldiers began shooting sound grenades and tear gas into the crowd. Several activists were hit, but no serious injuries were reported. Two Israeli activists were arrested from … 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

On May 24th at around 9:00 a.m. the people of Nahalin woke up to see Israeli Bulldozers razing their land. The occupation forces targeted an area of about 5 dunums, called Jabal Abu Alqruun, in what is believed to be part of a plan to bulldoze and take over 2000 dunums belonging to this village south-west of Bethlehem. Some trees in the area were destroyed last year and were replanted. These new trees, along with dozens of older trees, clearly used and cared for for decades, were all uprooted.

The proprietors of the land have been identified as Nahalin residents Daoud Mahmood, Jameel Mahmood, A’ali Muhammad Taha … Continue reading

The weekly protest against the encroaching apartheid wall took place this Sunday, 23 May, in Beit Jala. Once again Palestinians were prevented from reaching the site by Palestinian Authority police, leaving the field to assorted international activists and a sizeable contingent of Israeli supporters – and, of course, Israeli security contractors, border police, soldiers and plainclothes agents.

Despite having to clamber down a precipitous terraced hillside to reach the site, a group of committed activists managed to seat themselves in the path of the leading bulldozer. By clinging determinedly to one another they managed to resist being dragged away into detention for upwards of an hour. They hung on … Continue reading