In Sheikh Jarrah this Friday, January 15, Israeli and international solidarity activists attempted to converge and march on the street of Sheikh Jarrah where the Ghawi and Hanoun families have been living in tents since their eviction from their homes to allow right-wing settlers to move in, in August 2009. The Israeli police refused to give a permit for the march this week, citing the music concert by Palestinian hip-hop group DAM the night before as being “enough”. Participants still insisted on their weekly demonstration and gathered near the entrance to the street which had been closed off by large numbers of police officers. After approximately 20 minutes of holding signs and chanting, the police declared the … Continue reading

A short re-cap of this Friday’s demonstrations:

in Ni’lin this week, dozens of local residents were accompanied by solidarity activists in their regular demonstration against the Annexation Barrier cutting through their agricultural land. While the demonstration passed much as usual, with demonstrators confronted with tear gas shot by the Israeli military beyond the concrete barrier, one young man was lightly wounded when shot in the leg with what is reportedly a ruger rifle, shooting .22 caliber bullets with a suppressor, making the shots much quieter and slightly slower. It is because of this element that the Israeli Military has consistently argued that the use of the ruger as a “crowd dispersal” weapon is appropriate as it is “non-lethal”, though … Continue reading

Demonstrations across Occupied Palestine this Friday had remarkable energy, despite the winter weather. In Ni’lin, more than 100 Palestinians were joined by Israeli and international activists in their routine march towards the Annexation Barrier. They were met with a barrage of tear gas and the return of the use of .22 caliber Ruger rifles, which the Israeli military claims are “crowd dispersal” weapons and “non-lethal”. Several Palestinians have been killed by these bullets which are only .003 inches smaller than the regular live ammunition used by the Israeli army in M-16s (they claim the .22 ruger is non-lethal because of a suppressor used on the guns, the logic of which has been rejected by human rights organizations … Continue reading

This Friday, demonstrations against the Annexation Barrier continued with more vigor after the successful dismantling of sections of the Wall in Ni’lin and Qalandia last week. In Ni’lin, the Israeli military forces seemed at first to be content with allowing the local demonstrators, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, to approach the concrete barrier, responding with a relatively small amount of tear gas. As the demonstration wore on, however, the soldiers seemed to have been waiting for the protesters to grow more bold. Suddenly, the army began opening fire with live ammunition, coming through the barrier and backing the demonstration back into the village. No … Continue reading

On Friday, the residents of Ni’lin once again dismantled a section of the concrete wall constructed on their land by the Israeli military. Though Erroneously reported by some organizations as the first time this has happened, the residents of Ni’lin had also torn down the wall in September.
This week’s demonstration and dismantling held special importance for Palestinians, as it coincided with the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Annexation Wall in Palestine, which is approximately 70% complete and is being built mostly on privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land throughout the West Bank by the Israeli military … Continue reading

In Al-Ma’asara, Palestinians were joined by their regular Israeli and international solidarity activists in a march towards the lands belonging to the residents of Al-Ma’asara, Um Salamuna, and Wadi An-Nis. Though there hasn’t been any construction on the actual barrier in nearly a year, the scar of the patrol road that is part of the matrix of the barrier in rural areas can be seen from the edge of the village. As has become routine in Al-Ma’asara, the Israeli army blocked the procession from advancing beyond the edge of the village and onto the main road that runs past their agricultural land. Children from the village … Continue reading

The weekly protest against the wall in Ni’lin was the first one held during the olive harvest season. This is also the first harvest season since the completion of the wall on Ni’lin land, and the village is waiting to see whether the occupation forces will fulfill their stated commitment to allow the villagers access to their land across the Barrier.
Families who still have remaining olive trees that haven’t been confiscated through the construction of the Annexation Barrier have begun the work of picking the olives. Ni’lin families with olive trees beyond the wall haven’t been allowed to cross over to harvest them yet, as the army has requested a list of names from the municipality.

The protesters marched … Continue reading

for the original article on Maan click here

More than 100 of farmers, youth, international and Israeli peace activists marched against the Israeli separation wall Friday, and armed with car tires and home made ladder to climb the high wall they managed to burn one section and pull down three others.

According to participants one of the youth passed over the wall and set fire to car tires, damaging the fence and the sensors attached to it. A second group of youth burned a stack of 10 tires at one of the gates in the concrete wall, with black smoke billowing toward the nearby settlement.

“This is the first … Continue reading

Just over one week ago, the Israeli military began construction of a new concrete wall to ‘supplement’ the fence and patrol road that had already been completed on the agricultural land of Ni’lin as part of the Annexation Barrier. Apparently, the construction of the concrete wall, which is between 4 and 8 meters in height, is due to the success of the weekly demonstrations in Ni’lin this summer, when large sections of the fence, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice 5 years ago, were damaged by residents. Over 100 Palestinians, joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists, once again marched after midday prayer on Friday to the site of the wall. One young participant quickly … Continue reading

On Friday, July 10, more than 200 people from the village of Ni’lin and their Israeli and international supporters marched towards the Annexation Barrier, which cuts through the agricultural land of Ni’lin. This week, participants managed to reach the fence itself, and quickly began dismantling it, 5 years after the International Court of Justice declared it illegal under international law. Tear gas was fired at the group but the dismantling continued for some minutes.
Suddenly, from the group of youth throwing stones, 10 undercover Israeli military personnel, dressed as stone-throwers, began arresting people. Two residents … Continue reading