Activists around the world responded to a call to action initiated by the Palestine Solidarity Project to organize actions in their community to mark the one year anniversary of the murder of Yousef Ikhlayl at the hands of Israeli settlers. Activists in Mexico City, London, New Mexico, Chicago, Beloit, and France put up posters of Yousef in public areas and organized vigils or demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies. In Chicago, activists posted six hundred posters remembering Yousef and decrying the occupation on light posts, bus stops, and newspaper stands and also leafleted outside the Israeli consulate. In France, Yousef’s picture was held up in front of the Israeli Embassy during a vigil to mourn his murder. … Continue reading

On Tuesday, January 31st, 2012, Beit Ommar villagers demonstrated near Route 60 at the entrance of the village to commemorate the one year anniversary of the murder of Yousef Ikhlayl, a 17-year-old Beit Ommar youth who was murdered by Israeli settlers on January 28th, 2011. The demonstration was organized by the Popular Committee in Beit Ommar and was supported by the Palestine Solidarity Project, the Popular Committee in Yatta, and several other Palestinian organizations.

As the demonstrators approached Route 60 at the entrance of the village, dozens of Israeli soldiers blocked their path and attacked the gathering with tear gas, sound bombs, and … Continue reading

By Bekah Wolf
Published on Electronic Intifada (http://electronicintifada.net/content/demanding-justice-yousef-quiet-boy-killed-israeli-settlers/10865)

On 28 January 2011 at 6:30am, Yousef Ikhlayl, 17, went with his father Fakhri to their farmland on the outskirts of the West Bank village Beit Ommar, where they prepared the land around their grapevines. At approximately 7am, two groups of Israelis from the illegal settlements Bat Ayn and Kiryat Arba were taking a “hike” in the privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land belonging to the residents of Beit Ommar (“Palestinian killed in clashes with settlers near Hebron,” The Jerusalem Post, 29 January 2011).

There was no indication that the settlers were planning on shooting. Yousef’s father reported that the first shot … Continue reading

The Center for Freedom and Justice, an organization in Beit Ommar committed to combining activism against the occupation with social service and popular education, will be hosting the second annual Womens’ Organizing Conference to strengthen female participation and leadership in nonviolent resistance initiatives. The conference will take place in Beit Ommar village in the Hebron District of the southern West Bank on March 10th 2012.

Last year, over 300 Palestinian, international, and Israeli women attended the first conference in Beit Ommar. Please consider donating towards the cost of this conference and supporting women organizing against the occupation. Links to the Center’s Paypal account can be found below:
http://www.center4freedom.org/support/

… Continue reading

From The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (a long-time partner of PSP).
Israeli authorities demolished Beit Arabiya (“Arabiya’s House”) Monday, January 23rd for the fifth time, along with structures in the East Anata Bedouin compound. Beit Arabiya, Located in the West Bank town of Anata (Area C) just to the northeast of Jerusalem, is a living symbol of resistance to Occupation and the desire for justice and peace.

As its name suggests, Beit Arabiya is a home belonging to Arabiya Shawamreh, her husband Salim and their seven children, a Palestinian family whose home has been demolished four times by the Israeli authorities and rebuilt each time by ICAHD’s Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, before being demolished again last … Continue reading

On Saturday January 21, 2012, the Popular Committee in Beit Ommar organized its weekly protest in coordination and cooperation with the Popular Committee of Yatta, the Palestine Women’s Struggle Committee, and supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists. The demonstration was held for the first time in from of the Tunnel checkpoint, along the road connecting the city of Hebron with Jerusalem. Tunnel and connecting road is prohibited for use by Palestinians, and is part of Israel’s wider apartheid infrastructure in the West Bank. About 90 people, a large number of them Palestinian women, arrived at the entrance to the tunnel and began playing football.

Additionally, demonstrators chanted against the occupation and waved flags. Among the demands issued … Continue reading

On Monday, January 9th, 2011, a joint action organized by several Palestinian popular committees saw about 60 demonstrators trying to drive from Jericho to Ramallah on an Israeli-only road. The road was built to facilitate Israeli settler movement to and from settlements in the West Bank and Israeli cities despite the fact that these settlements have continued to be upheld as illegal under international law by the United Nations. The activists were protesting Israeli policies which restrict Palestinian movement in the West Bank, and prohibits them from driving on dozens of Israeli-only roads and highways that are built on lands that were stolen from them in the first place.

… Continue reading

Over the course of the past week, the Israeli army has arrested eight Palestinians from their homes in Beit Ommar, a village in the southern West Bank. Israeli Forces raid the village almost every night, often making arrests and ransacking homes. The raids have often targeted Palestinian minors, and activists and organizers involved in popular resistance initiatives against the Israeli occupation. The arrested from this week include two children under the age of 18.

During one of the raids this past week, the soldiers broke into several residences at 3am. The Palestinians were taken from their homes without any explanation given as to why they were being arrested. They were taken away in … Continue reading

When: January 28, 2012

What: International day of solidarity with Yousef Ikhlayl

Background:

On January 28, 2011, Yousef Ikhlayl was murdered by an Israeli settler from Bat Ayn settlement while working in his family’s fields in the Saffa valley. Yousef was a regular participant in Beit Ommar’s non-violent demonstrations against the settlements, as well as Palestine Solidarity Project’s community programs.

One year later, THERE HAVE BEEN NO ARRESTS IN YOUSEF’S CASE. For months, the Israeli Attorney General hasn’t even assigned the case to a lawyer, preventing any further action on the case.

As Palestinian negotiators sit with Israeli war criminals to discuss re-opening peace negotiations–negotiations that will leave Bat Ayn in place (according to … Continue reading

Activists in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank and the city of Chicago in the United States commemorated the third anniversary of the three week Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

On Friday, December 30th, 2011, several dozen Palestinians in Nabli Saleh, supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists, demonstrated during the villages’ weekly protest. This week the activists released hundreds of black balloons with the names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. Several Palestinian and international activists were arrested by Israeli Forces, and soldiers shot tear gas into the crowd … Continue reading