At about midnight on Thursday, June 19th, Israeli soldiers invaded a Red Crescent Society building in Beit Ommar. The building is used as a temporary clinic and ambulance dispatch center on the main road between Hebron and Betlehem. When community members and PSP volunteers arrived at the site the following afternoon, they found the building had been trashed.
The Soldiers had broken the front door handle and shot bullets through the front door window. The metal grate was torn off the back window, the windows were ripped from their frames, and the glass panes were shattered. Inside, shards of glass were strewn across the floor of the back room. … Continue reading

In the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, June 11, 2 young men, Omar Abu Maria, brother of PSP committee member Iman Abu Maria, and Kamal Mahmoud Alhamid Al Za-aaqiq, were taken from their homes in Beit Ommar by Israeli soldiers and are currently being held in an unknown location. In the first incident, at approximately 2:30 am, 5 soldiers entered the home of Omar, age 17, demanded to see his ID, and arrested him without explanation. Omar is in his final year of school and his family is worried that he will miss his end-of-year exams, held next week, which would mean his having to wait another year before moving on to university.

Later, at 3 am, 4 … Continue reading

At approximately 1am today, June 5, Israeli soldiers, with their faces painted in camouflage (to blend in with the gray concrete and tan stone walls of Palestinian homes?) invaded the home of Mohammed Fuwad Al-Qoom near the central mosque in Beit Ommar, Hebron District. The family was forced from the home and the soldiers remained all night. At approximately 8am, 7 hours after soldiers first entered the village, an Israeli soldier shot Tariq Abu Maria, 15, in the abdomen on his way to the school. He was taken to the hospital in Hebron, where he underwent surgery and is still in critical condition. By 9:30am 4 large Armored Personnel … Continue reading

The weekly Friday demonstration in South Betlehem included the theme “We Are All Mousa Abu Maria” in solidarity with Mousa, co-founder of PSP and now political prisoner being held in the Ketziot prison in Israel. Israeli and international activists joined Palestinians from al Ma’asara and Beit Ommar in wearing signs saying, “I am Mousa Abu Maria” in several different languages. Mousa has been a key organizer and supporter of demonstrations in the area and has been attending the demonstrations in the Um Salamuna/Al Ma’asara region since their inception in early 2007. Partcipants met at the entrance to Um Salamuna and Al-Ma’asara and marched down the road where they were soon … Continue reading

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Early in the morning of Friday April 11th IDF troops invaded the home of the AbuMaria family and arrested Mousa AbuMaria. Mousa is a well known nonviolent activist and a co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project. He has been a lead organizer in peaceful protest involving hundreds of Israelis and internationals and has been committed to popular, unarmed resistance for several years.

When Mousa was arrested his family was not told of the reason of his arrest or his whereabouts.
When his lawyer managed to locate him it turned out he was being held in military jail but still no reason for his arrest was given. Only days later was his lawyer finally told that he was suspected of membership … Continue reading

At approximately 2pm today, March 12, Israeli military forces entered Beit Ommar on the edge of town near the Israeli settlement Karmi Tsur. 3 boys, aged 12, 13, and 14 were shot in the legs, ostensibly because the Israeli forces believed they were throwing stones. The youth were taken to the hospital in Hebron, where they were treated. It appears as of now that none of them will lose their leg, an all too common result of such shootings. It is becoming regular practice for Israeli soldiers in Beit Ommar, as well as throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, to return to a policy of shooting children with live ammunition, … Continue reading

Friday, March 7th, the day before International Women’s Day, PSP committee member Iman along with leading members of the Women’s Association of Beit Ommar demanded the release of a 14 year old boy who was taken from his home by the Israeli Occupation Forces earlier that day. Early Friday one jeep of Israeli soldiers entered Beit Ommar and invaded one home. During the invasion, they abducted a teenage boy, no reason was given as to why this particular child was being taken. He was taken by jeep through the village and into the Karmi Tsur settlement, which has become a de facto military base for the IOF who seem intent … Continue reading

Today, Monday march 3, the females of Beit Ommar marched against the atrocities being committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. More than 200 women from the village and girls of all ages gathered on the main street and began marching towards the military watchtower. They carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against the Israeli Occupation and in support of national Palestinian unity. Israeli soldiers attacked the demonstration, as they did at similar student demonstrations throughout the West Bank today, firing tear gas, sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at the crowd, with some participants as young as 10 years old. The soldiers then began shooting tear gas into … Continue reading

In Ramallah, thousands participated in a demonstration called jointly by Fatah and Hamas. In Betlehem, Palestinians gathered near the Church of the Nativity, in Hebron, near a University. Schools were closed throughout the West Bank as thousands marched to apparatuses of the Israeli Occupation: checkpoints, watchtowers, the Annexation Barrier. People marched in Nablus, Qalqilya, Jenin, Betlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah and dozens of smaller towns, protesting the ongoing massacre in Gaza. And make no mistake, it is a massacre. Even Israeli news sources are reporting around 50% of the fatalities are civilians. In reality, no one but the Palestinians on the ground can be sure of who was a fighter and who a civilian; … Continue reading

Yesterday, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Palestinians risked a “shoah”, the Hebrew word used to describe the Holocaust. Today, over 60 people have been killed, bringing the 4-day death toll throughout the Gaza Strip to more than 80 with more than 200 wounded. Among those killed today were at least 29 civilians, and 19 children. 1 Israeli citizen was killed last week by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, and 2 Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting today near Jabaliya.

The human rights organization Al-Haq called on the international community to prosecute Israel for war crimes, saying in their report, “Many of the recent Israeli attacks … Continue reading