In spite of the heat and Ramadan fatigue, protesters gathered today in Beit Ommar to protest the theft of the village’s land by the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement. A group of about 15 protesters marched through the fields of the the Abu Hashem family toward the fence that separates the settlement from the village, but were stopped before they could reach it by a line of Israeli soldiers outnumbering the protesters nearly 2 to 1. The soldiers drew a line in the dirt and informed the crowed that anyone who crossed it would be arrested. After about 15 minutes they push the crowd back about 30 feet and made the same announcement. Despite being outnumbered the demonstrators stood their ground … Continue reading

On Tuesday, protesters gathered deep within the Israeli established ‘buffer zone’ near the village of Beit Hanoun, on the north east edge of the Gaza Strip. Many residents of Beit Hanoun have lost land to the buffer zone, a 300 meter no-go zone which constitutes 20% of the most arable land in Gaza. Demonstrators began cutting the razor wire which stretches through middle of the buffer zone, successfully removing 10 meters of wire before soldiers began firing rounds of live ammunition over the crowd. No casualties were reported as a result of the shooting, but several injuries were sustained during the removal of the fence.

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Ibrahim Muhammad Biss’s curiosity was slightly piqued when a car driving slowly along Route 60 came to a halt in front of him and his group of friends at the entrance to the Aroub refugee camp just north of Beit Ommar on a Thursday in early June. 16-year- old Ibrahim, who lives in the camp, was waiting for traffic to pass so he could cross the street to enter the Aroub Agricultural College. Assuming the driver was stopping to ask the boys for directions, Ibrahim watched as the middle-aged man lowered the window.

Instead of an inquiring foreigner, Ibrahim found himself facing an Israeli settler pointing a handgun at … Continue reading

On a particularly hot Saturday, August 7, Approximately 50 Palestinian, International and Israeli activists marched once again towards the Karmei Tsur settlement. This week’s demonstration was to protest in particular a new order from the District Commander of the Israeli Army that a further 10 dunums of Palestinian agricultural land (2.5 acres) is off-limits to its owners, presumably to be annexed to the settlement. The demonstrators therefore made their way through that land towards the settlement but were met with a large force of Israeli soldiers in the fields well before they reached the perimeter fence. The group, which included women and children, attempted to make their way … Continue reading

Last week, July 17, an Associated Press photographer was seriously injured in Beit Ommar during the weekly demonstration against the settlement when a sound grenade exploded near his head, blowing out his eardrum. A strong statement by the Foreign Press Association was made and Israeli and international media reported on the incident. Yet all of this attention to the misuse of these dangerous weapons did not deter the large group of soldiers present at this week’s demonstration from again launching sound grenades, as well as tear gas, directly at demonstrators, particularly aiming at their heads.
As the group of approximately 50 demonstrators, including several women … Continue reading

Updated: Video Added

In their weekly demonstration against the expropriation of their land for the expansion of the Karmei Tsur settlement, Palestinians, joined by Israeli and international activists, gathered next to the fence surrounding the settlement on Saturday, July 17th. Established in 1984, the settlement was constructed on Beit Ommar land, destroying the life-supporting agricultural land of the Palestinian residents. Even recently, in 2006, 600 more dunums of land were confiscated as part of the settlement, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to make a living.

Within minutes of gathering at the fence, Israeli soldiers quickly … Continue reading

On Saturday, July 10, approximately 50 Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched towards the fence of the Karmei Tsur settlement for their weekly demonstration against the illegal settlements and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land through settlement expansion and the Annexation Barrier. This week, the participants planned to hold their own session of the International Court of Justice, in honor of the 6 year anniversary of the ICJ court decision that declared the Annexation Wall illegal. The group approached the settlement and began reading statements as witnesses and the prosecution, condemning the confiscation of land, demanding reparations for land and lives lost, as well as … Continue reading

Since the middle of June, over a dozen youth from Beit Ommar under the age of 18 have been arrested, most of whom live near the illegal Israeli settlement, Karmei Tsur. In one instance, a 7 year old boy was also given a summons to present himself to Israeli security in the Etzion settlement, an incident the Israeli military reportedly now says was a “mistake” and that the summons was meant for another, older boy of the same age. This week a 12 year old boy will also be attending a military court hearing after being arrested last month.

As a campaign of harassment and intimidation, all of these arrests occur in the middle of the night, when often-masked … Continue reading

On the morning of June 23rd, 2010 Jewish settlers rioted and attacked Palestinian property in the neighbourhood of Saffa, Beit Ommar. On the most recent example of the so-called ‘price tag’ policy, dozens of residents of the illegal settlement of Bat Ayn attempted to set fire to private Palestinian land before throwing stones and bottles at nearby houses.

Israeli soldiers began firing tear-gas canisters and stun grenades after awoken Saffa residents had gathered around dawn, lightly injuring a number of Palestinians. Members of the Beit Ommar National Committee and Palestine Solidarity Project arrived in Saffa shortly after and recorded the incident.

The more radical of Israel’s 500,000 settlers in the … Continue reading

This Saturday a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists were met in the vineyards of Beit Ommar by several Israeli soldiers as they attempted to make their way to the fence surrounding the illegal Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur, built on Beit Ommar land. The soldiers insisted on preventing the group from even approaching the outer fence, declaring the entire area a closed military zone and arresting two Israeli activists. Unlike the international and Palestinian activists who have been arrested in the same area in recent weeks (the Palestinian arrested last week is still in jail; the internationals were banned from the entire West Bank for the remainder of their visas, pending appeal), the Israeli activists were released … Continue reading