Archive for the 'Betlehem' Category
PNN: Nonviolent Demonstration for Release of Journalist
March 12th, 2008Palestine News Network: for the original article click here
Bethlehem / Najib Farrag - Dozens of Palestinian journalists demonstrated on Wednesday morning at Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity in protest of the Israeli arrest of journalist Hassan Abdel Jawad.
The 53 year old is a member of the board of the Palestinian Journalists Union and also a local newspaper correspondent. Abdel Jawad is currently being held in the Israeli military prison Ofar, built on Ramallah lands.
His arrest came when six members of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine political party were blindfolded, bound and taken away on Monday morning.
Among the demonstrators this morning was Bethlehem Mayor Dr. Victor Batarsa, several police officials, and Palestinian Legislative Council member, Issa Qaraqa’.
They called not only for the release of the journalist, but for all political prisoners.
Head of the Palestinian Journalists Union, Naim Toubassi, said that the arrest of Abdel Jawad is the latest proof of the Israeli “policy of repression and harassment, not only against political activists, but also against journalists who transmit the truth and exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression.”
Toubassi commended the sacrifices made by Palestinian journalists in continuing to work in the face of “Israel’s continued aggression of decades, including all of the tools of repression, prosecution and punishment.” All journalists pay a high price for their work, he said, “including being killed, injured and imprisoned.”
Hundreds March Against the Wall in Betlehem
December 29th, 2007
In a demonstration yesterday orchestrated by the Popular Committee against the Wall in Betlehem and Mubadara movement, led by Mustafa Barghouti, protesters marched against the Annexation Wall in the city of Betlehem. The march began after a regional meeting in the International Center of Betlehem and went directly to a section of the Wall in which a tower stands manned with Israeli Occupation Force soldiers. Demonstrators convened at this portion of the wall, chanted, and many men beat their fists against the Wall in what became an emotionally charged protest against the 8-meter tall Wall which snakes through the streets of Betlehem in order to annex Rachel’s Tomb to the Israeli side. After the demonstration had come to an end, several Palestinian children began throwing stones at the Wall and watch tower in a common symbol of resistance to the Israeli Occupation. The Israeli soldiers responded by firing tear gas into the crowd, causing them to disperse.
Family Reunited in Betlehem After 6 Years
December 27th, 2007
Spend any time in Occupied Palestine and you will hear countless stories of how families are divided by various aspects of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine. One such story is that of the Al-Hreimi family, grandfather Yasin, father Jalal, and daughter Samaher Al-Hreimi.
Yasin Hreimi was one of twenty six Palestinians exiled to Gaza as part of a deal brokered between Israelis and Palestinians at the end of a month long Israeli seige of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002. Nearly 200 Palestinian men, women, and children sought refuge in the Church of the Nativity during this seige. The seige was part of a much larger Israeli offensive dubbed “Operation Defensive Shield.”
After just one month in Gaza, Yasin’s son, Jalal, was arrested and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment for participating in anti-Occupation activities. Yasin’s grief over his being forced into exile and his son’s imprisonment was only intensified further when, in 2003, another of his sons, Walid, died in Gaza after Israel denied him permission to return to the West Bank for life-saving kidney treatment.
Several attempts were made to visit the imprisoned Jalal in Gaza by family and friends but all attempts were for not, as everyone was denied access to Jalal. Finally, as a result of a brokered prisoner release deal between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, Jalal was released on 26 December 2007 after serving six of the twelve years he was sentenced to. He was reunited later in Bethlehem with his daughter, Samaher, after negotiations to move her from Gaza where she had gone in hopes of visiting her father to Bethlehem. Samaher was trapped in Gaza due to having gone on her grandmother’s permit, who died in Gaza, thus nullifying the permit and leaving Samaher stranded in the virtual prison that is the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Occupation Forces Bring Tanks, Hummers into Betlehem
July 9th, 2007
Today, July 9th, 15 hummers from the Israeli Occupation Forces entered Betlehem and occupied the home of Mohammed Khalil Atalah, 40, on Asaf street. Tanks were also brought in and closed the street. They shot live ammunition in the air and threw sound grenades in the streets in an act of intimidation of the residents of the area, including small children. While some soldiers were ransacking the home, including using police dogs, other soldiers beat passersby. Some soldiers were undercover, dressed as Palestinians. After searching the home for approximately 4 hours, Mr. Atalah was arrested.
Betlehem is in Area A, which, through the Oslo Peace Accords, is supposed to be under the complete control of the Palestinian Authority. However, the Israeli army frequently invades cities in Areas A, including Betlehem, Nablus, and Ramallah.
