from the Palestine Monitor
By Dylan Collins

In a hazy room, clouded with cigarette smoke and steam from hot syrup-sweat tea, residents of Kafr ad-Dik and its neighboring villages, along with Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists, excitedly gathered together waiting for the midday prayer to finish. The twenty-seventh of January marked the fourth Friday during which the village of Kafr ad-Dik has staged a nonviolent protest against the annexation of its agricultural land by the Israeli Occupation Authority (IOA).

The village of Kafr ad-Dik, and the greater Salfit District, is located on top of the largest water table in the West Bank, thus providing it with some of the most fertile land in the region. Home to generations upon generations of farmers, Kafr … Continue reading

On December 23rd, 2011, residents of the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar, accompanied by Israeli and international solidarity activists. held a peaceful demonstration against the illegal settlement of Karmei Tsur, and the stealing of privately owned agricultural land.

Demonstrators approached the settlement fence and were able to remove a post and some barbed wire before many police arrived and forced them back. The demonstrators remained peaceful, even when the police shoved some of them roughly to the ground. After several speeches were given explaining the illegality of the settlement and the grievances of the Palestinians, the demonstrators ended the protest peacefully. There were no arrests.

The … Continue reading

Palestine Solidarity Project has now started to give tours.

The Solidarity tour programme offers an introduction to the different geographical and cultural regions of the West Bank. The tour is providing its participants with in-depth social, political and historical insights on Palestinian life. Read the full program here. (the program is also available in French, Italian, Spanish and Norwegian).

Watch a short introduction from the Beit Ommar area:

Justice?
Human rights?
Freedom?

Come and see for yourself.

Use the important and unique possibilty:
Visit Palestine!

For further questions or information. Do not hesitate to contact us.
center4freedom@gmail.com

Take a look … Continue reading

Do you know where the food you buy come from? Do you know what to answer when people ask you why you boycott Israeli goods?

Watch PSP`s new short documentray about Israeli Occupation, lack of water and a new apartheid road.

Watch and read more about the new bypass road here.

… Continue reading

New Bypass Road planned on Beit Ommar and Schoukh Land. Yesterday PSP visited the location for the new road. Watch the documentation here:

More than 800 dumums of Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land will be taken by the Israelies for a 8km bypass road, starting from Gush Etzion. The settlers have already built a watch tower on a hill top in the area – the first step to establish a new settlement. The road to the planned settlement on Halhoul land will go through Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land and join in on the route 60 by Halhoul.

… Continue reading

September 30 th. 2011: PSP joined residents of Yatta on a land demonstration against the Israeli occupation, continuos expropriation of Palestinian land, and house demolitions.

Yatta with surrounding areas have a population of approximately 120 000 inhabitants. Many of the inhabitants live in small villages in remote areas.

The demonstrators walked towards the place where a couple of settler families have established themselves with miliary guard of no less than thirty soldiers.

The procession passed onto the shut down road, and walked up the hill to the place where five houses repeatedly … Continue reading

Friday September 30. : Residents of Beit Ommar demonstrated against recent received land confiscation orders. 800 dumums of Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land will be taken by the Israelies for a 8km bypass road, starting from Gush Etzion. The settlers have already built a watch tower on a hill top in the area – the first step to establish a new settlement. The road to the planned settlement on Halhoul land will go through Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land and join in on the route 60 by Halhoul.

The demonstrators in Beit Ommar marched from … Continue reading

This week PSP began its annual farmer accompaniment program. Around dawn, international activists joined Beit Ommar farmers in harvesting grapes on land close to the illegal settlement of Kfar Etzion. In a busy but sucessful morning, volunteers assisted the famrers in picking and packing over fifty crates of grapes, which will be sold through the local farmers’ market.

Such accompaniments are neccessary as Beit Ommar farmers face the constant threat of harassment and violence from setllers and the Israeli military. Settlers regularly attack famrers trying to work in fields close to the five … Continue reading

This morning at around 7.30 am, Beit Ommar farmers Ali Thalji, aged 70, and his son Ahmed, 40, were harassed by a group of Israeli soldiers as they tended to their sheep on fields in Safa, Beit Ommar.

The group of soldiers approached from the direction of the illegal settlement of Bat Ayn, telling Ali and Ahmed that the land they were on – their own fields – had been appropriated by the Israeli State, and repeatedly told them to leave the area.

After approximately half an hour, the soldiers left without any major incidents, but it is a development of great … Continue reading

This morning, Beit Ommar farmers arrived at their lands to discover that large areas of grape vines had been attacked by settlers from the illegal settlement of Karmei Tsur. The farmers immediately notified Mahmoud Ahmad Coql, who owns the destroyed fields.

In total, the settlers severed two dunums (two thousand square meters) of Mahmoud’s grape vines in fields near the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement.

Israeli authorities and the Israeli civilian police – upon seeing a number of Palestinians, press, and international activists – soon arrived on the scene accompanied by roughly twenty-five soldiers.

The shock of seeing so much of his work and livelihood destroyed overwhelmed Mahmoud, and … Continue reading