14-Year old Nassim Abu Maria was released late Sunday 14th of April after spending 4 ½ months in Ofer Prison, which is located between Jerusalem and Ramallah. He was arrested during a surprise night raid and it was his first time in prison. During the night raid, soldiers came to his house unexpectedly at 3 am and he was told that he was being arrested because the soldiers possessed photos of him throwing stones. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken into custody. After ten court appearances, the soldiers were unable to bring forward the photos they allegedly possessed of Abu Maria’s stone throwing, yet, he was still sentenced to prison, without any evidence of his alleged political activity.

Abu Maria … Continue reading

Even though the economic conditions of Palestinians are becoming worse day by day, Israeli occupation military courts continue to impose heavier fines and bails on the Palestinian prisoners, especially children and youth. These fines and bails constitute a public punishment for the prisoners and their families.

This brutal practice is not in accordance with international law which states that prisoners must get a just judgement even in the occupation courts.

By imposing such heavy fines and bails, the Israeli occupation courts aim at discouraging young Palestinians from taking part in the non violent popular resistance and ultimately to abandon it. These military procedures are also used as a source of income for the Israeli occupation legal system.

PSP take the responsibility of raising … Continue reading

Olive harvest is upon us. Many Palestinians, as well as internationals, have been looking forward to this season. All family members, including small children and grandparents, gather to pick olives in the beautiful fields throughout the West bank.

Every autumn PSP participate in the olive harvest in solidarity with Palestinian farmers that experience harassment and attacks from either colonists or the Israeli occupation forces. Presence of internationals are also sometimes helpful in preventing or documenting such harassment. PSP contributes to the olive harvest in area C, close to either the segregation wall or Israeli colonies and the purpose of this work is to support and encourage farmers to continue to cultivate their land. It is important not to give up cultivating … Continue reading

On Sunday morning, October 14th, 2012, at 7 a.m. a farmer, Mohammed Abd Alhamid Soleibi, was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces as he was harvesting olives in his fields. His olive trees are located in Area C, in Saffa, close to Bayt Ain an Israeli colony and a part of the Gush Esion block.
Israeli
Mohammed is one of many Palestinians that have to cultivate their land in fear of colonist attacks because their fields are located close to an Israeli colony. Last year he was harassed by extreme colonists together with the Israeli occupation forces.
[caption id=”attachment_2517″ align=”alignright” width=”300″ caption=”Acording to the Israeli occupation forces it is … Continue reading

On Monday 15th of October at 3 a.m. Israeli occupation forces came in ten military jeeps and two prisoner vans and raided four family homes in the village of Beit Ommar.

One child and three youths of Beit Ommar were arrested; Ahmed Ali al-Alami (17), Rifat Sadi al-Alami (18), Mutaz Yousef al-Alami (18) and Mohammed Sami Sabarna (22). Ahmed is still in school while the others are students at the university.

Three of them have never been arrested before. For Mohammed this is his second time in prison.

The activists marched to the illegal fence separating Palestinians from their own land and from the illegal colony Karmei Tsur, condemned by 14 of 15 countries in the UN security council, excluding the US. As the activists walked towards the fence, a large group of soldiers from the Israeli occupation forces tried to chase them. However, despite pushing and pulling the soldiers did not succeed their attempts to provoke the activists. Provocations remained unanswered as the activists carried on in a peaceful manner and sat down refusing to leave until they had presented their message.

The last couple of weeks the house of the committee member Ahmed Abu Hashem has been raided at night twice, resulting in the arrest of his … Continue reading

On Thursday 27th of September the Center for Freedom and Justice and Palestine Solidarity Project got a visit from the Freedom Bus, an initiative of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin. The Freedom Bus is a solidarity ride through occupied Palestine.

The visitors, from Sweden, Germany, the United States amongst other countries, met members of the Popular Committee in Beit Ommar and international activists at the Center for Freedom and Justice. They got a brief lecture about the village by the executive manager of the center, Younes Arar who told them about the historically Beit Ommar and the six colonies surrounding the village. The visitors learned more about the weekly demonstrations arranged by the popular committee in Beit Ommar and the … Continue reading

This is a video from the night raid where the Israeli occupation forces arrested Hamza Ahmed Khalil Abu Hashem(14). The video shows the violent nature of the Israeli night raids and child arrests.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAZ3VXV3OmA

In the last nine days two sons of Ahmed Abu Hashem, a Popular Committee member in Beit Ommar, have been arrested by Israeli occupation forces. Both arrests happened during night raids.

Mohammed Abu Hashem (16) was arrested last week and he is still awaiting his court meeting in Ofer prison outside Ramallah, which has already been postponed two times. Last night Mohammed’s younger brother, Hamza Ahmed Khalil Abu Hashem (14), was arrested by the occupation forces.

On Wednesday 3th of October at 02.30 a.m. a big number of occupation soldiers approached the house of Ahmed Abu Hashem. The soldiers surrounded the family home by dividing into three groups. They had brought a hammer, so … Continue reading

A group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered to demonstrate peacefully in front of the colony Karmei Tsur Saturday, September 29. When they entered the fields in front of the settlement a large group of soldiers from the Israeli occupation forces were blocking the roads and the agricultural fields, claiming that it was a closed military zone. Even though they were more than a hundred meters from the fence and barb wire separating the protesters from the private Palestinian land stolen and annexed by Israel.

On the other side of the fence Israeli colonists gathered to witness the demonstration, further demonstrating to the Palestinians how the occupation treats Palestinians as second class citizens. Obstructed as they are from entering their … Continue reading