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 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 Thursday, April 17th, 2012, Emad Ahmed Abu Hashem (age 22) and Mohamad Za’aqiq (age 19) were arrested at the entrance of Beit Ommar. Around 9am soldiers tried to arrest Emad, but did not succeed, and at 11am special forces arrived and took both men to an unknown destination. Charges are still unknown. These arrests are the 67th so far in Beit Ommar this year, and 24 of these are of children under 18. Emad (pictured below with his daughter) is a married man with two infants at home, and is the only source of income for his family.

The … Continue reading

On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, on the second day of the Bil’in conference in Hebron, the international activists experienced first-hand the nature of the Israeli occupation.

After a nice and quiet lunch nearby the Mosque, two international volunteers from PSP were heading back, but three of the people from the popular committee in Bil’in, among them the the popular resistance coordinator, were held aside and told they were arrested.

The internationals gathered around demanding that the Palestinians be set free. The soldiers were too few to break through the crowd, so they called for backup.

When the border police came they violently broke through the crowd and arrested the … Continue reading

Over the course of the past month, the Israeli army has arrested seventeen 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. Of the seventeen arrested, ten are under the age of 18.

During a raid, Palestinians are frequently taken from their homes without any explanation given as to why they were being arrested. Most often they are taken in jeeps to the Gush Etzion settlement, which houses a jail and … Continue reading

On Saturday, March 31, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists held the weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar, by the fence separating the town from the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement. Karmei Tsur is built on stolen Palestinian land and makes it impossible for the farmers of Beit Ommar to access parts of their land. The settlement is highly secured by military forces and fences. Today’s demonstration was in honor of Land Day, which was yesterday, March 30, and in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes.

Israeli soldiers started throwing sound bombs at the demonstrators within the first five minutes of … Continue reading

On Thursday, March 8th, 2012, a Palestinian resident of the southern West Bank, Zakariah Jamal Mohammad Abu Aram, was killed by Israeli soldiers. At approximately 4:30pm, over 100 Israeli soldiers entered the town of Yatta in an attempt to re-arrest Khaled Shawamra, one of the Palestinians who were released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. People came out to block the street to prevent the soldiers from making the arrest, and the soldiers began shooting in the street and at the surrounding houses. Mohammad was shot and pronounced dead at the Abu al-Hasan al-Qasem Hospital. Many others were injured by rubber bullets and live ammunition, and at least one was taken into Israeli custody. Palestinian … Continue reading

On Wednesday March 7th, 2012, Israeli soldiers entered the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar and arrested six residents. The soldiers started searching houses and looking at different cars parked in the area. After a while they decided on the car they wanted, which belonged to a longtime unarmed resistance activist in the village. One soldier broke the window of the car with his gun, exploded a sound bomb inside the car, opened the trunk and another soldier searched the trunk of the car. They then attached the car to their jeep and moved it to the military watchtower which is located at the entrance of the village. Later, a tow-truck moved the car from the watch-tower to … Continue reading

Ten Israeli jeeps entered the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar at 2am in the early morning hours of February 29, 2012 and arrested five residents in the area. During the night raid, Israeli forces split up into groups in order to surround homes. At one of the residences, soldiers surrounded the home and ordered the family of Zain Khader al-Alami to go outside there home. The family was left outside in the cold while the soldiers proceeded to search the building.

Zain was then ordered to call his 38-year-old brother Naseem Khader al-Alami. When Naseem arrived, the soldiers stopped him in the middle of the street before beating and arresting him.and they arrested him and beat him. … Continue reading

JENIN (Ma’an) — A 29-year-old woman, who was re-arrested by Israeli forces four months after her release from jail in a prisoner swap deal, has been on hunger strike for eleven days, relatives told Ma’an on Saturday.

Hana Shalabi, from the northern West Bank village Burqin, is being held without charge since her detention on Feb. 16.

Her father Yahya Shalabi said she is refusing food to protest her administrative detention, following in the footsteps of Khader Adnan who secured a deal on Tuesday that his detention order would not be renewed after 66 days on hunger strike.

Shalabi, whose brother was killed by Israeli forces in 2005, … Continue reading