On Sunday, May 20th, 2012, around fifty thousand Jews marched to the Old City in Jerusalem to celebrate ‘Jerusalem Day’. The march celebrated the 45th anniversary of the ‘recapturing’ of East Jerusalem in 1967 (a culmination of the ‘Six Day’ War).

Sections of highway 60 around Beit Ommar were closed so that around five hundred settlers could cycle to Jerusalem for the march. Highway 60 connects Beit Ommar with the rest of the West Bank. Amidst an extremely heavy presence of soldiers and police the main entrance to Beit Ommar was also temporarily closed, almost completely halting Palestinian life as a result.

Many of the settlers shouted ostentatiously … Continue reading

Today, May 15, 2012, Palestinians are remembering the 64th anniversary of the Nakba. In Arabic, “nakba” means “catastrophe,” and it refers to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, which was accompanied by the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. Many Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes, while others fled when they heard the news of massacres in nearby villages, such as Deir Yassin and Tantura. More than 450 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated by Zionist forces, and most of them were razed to the ground to prevent the return of the Palestinian refugees. Many refugee families still carry the keys to the homes that … Continue reading

Today, May 12, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists joined together for the weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar. Today’s demonstration was in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Nakba. Khader Adnan, who was released from administrative detention on April 17th, 2012 and was on hunger strike for 66 days, also took part in the demonstration.

The demonstration began with a march from the center of Beit Ommar to Karmei Tsur settlement, which was built on stolen Palestinian land. As soon as the demonstrators arrived near the settlement, about 30 heavily armed Israeli soldiers came to meet them. … Continue reading

On May 8th, 2012, multiple demonstrations were held in Hebron, Beit Ommar and surrounding villages in solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike.

In Hebron, students from the Hebron district came together and marched in the center of town. Close to one thousand people were present with posters and flags, and youth from all the surrounding areas were present in the march.

In Beit Ommar, Israeli soldiers entered the town in the afternoon and occupied several people’s homes, firing teargas and rubber-coated bullets at the children in the street. In the evening, villagers marched in the town supporting Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla. … Continue reading

Today, May 5th, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists joined together for the weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar. The demonstration took place by the fence separating Beit Ommar from the illegal settlement Karmei Tsur. The settlement is illegal under international law according to the 4th Geneva Convention, and is built on stolen Palestinian land. The fence prevents farmers from entering and working on their land.

This week, men, women and children protested in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, particularly with those on hunger strike. Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh are on the 68th day of their hunger strike, and are in grave condition. They are both held under administrative detention, and demand … Continue reading

Originally found at NYTimes.com

By Jody Rudoren

KHARAS, West Bank — The newest heroes of the Palestinian cause are not burly young men hurling stones or wielding automatic weapons. They are gaunt adults, wrists in chains, starving themselves inside Israeli prisons.

Each day since April 17, scores of Palestinian prisoners have joined a hunger strike that officials say now counts more than 1,500 participants. And on Thursday, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of detainees said that if Israel did not yield to their demands for improved prison conditions, the remaining 3,200 would soon join in.

The two longest-striking prisoners, who have gone without food for 66 days, appeared in wheelchairs before Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday morning, pleading for their release from what is … Continue reading

On Monday, April 30th and Tuesday, May 1st, 2012, around 200 people held a demonstration in support of the Palestinian hunger strikers.

The demonstrators gathered in and around a tent in central Hebron. Many mothers and fathers brought pictures of their sons, and signs on the walls read “stop the war crimes, free the prisoners” and “hunger strikers are heroes”.

Speeches were made in support of the prisoners and their heroic actions, calling for their release, and for Israel to abolish the inhumane practice of administrative detention.

Since the 17th of April, around 2000 prisoners have joined the Karamah hunger strikes, in protest at their inhumane and illegal detention … Continue reading

On Saturday, April 28, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists joined together for the weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar. The demonstration took place by the fence separating Beit Ommar from the illegal settlement Karmei Tsur. The settlement is illegal under international law according to the 4th Geneva Convention, and is built on stolen Palestinian land. The fence prevents farmers from entering and working on their land. The demonstration was in protest against the settlement, the Israeli occupation and imprisonment of Palestinians, and was also in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

In total around 50 soldiers appeared during the … Continue reading

On April 23, 2012, at about 3:00 am, Israeli soldiers broke into the house of Ahmad Abu Hashem, a member of the Popular Committee of Beit Ommar, for the second time in a week. This time they arrested his 15-year-old son Mohamad Ahmad Khalil Abu Hashem. In total, four people were arrested during the raid last night. Three of them are under the age of 18. Those arrested were:

Mohamad Ahmad Khalil Abu Hashem, 15 years old.
Tareq Jamal Khalil Abu Maria, 17 years old.
Badran Jalal Badran Abu Ayash, 15 years old.
Wahed Hamdi Abu Maria, 44 years old.

The soldiers broke into their houses at night and harassed the families and fired … Continue reading

Basel Abu Maria was arrested on March 6, 2012, when a total of sixty soldiers in ten military jeeps raided houses in Beit Ommar at 2 a.m. He was taken by the soldiers without getting time to put on more clothes in the cold night.

This was of course a frightening event for the whole family. Basel’s little sister was especially upset by the event, and is now scared at night, refusing to go to the toilet alone.

She and her other siblings talk about their big brother every day.

That same night, two other boys were arrested, with another three arrests taking place the following night. None of these boys … Continue reading