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 Saturday, December 17, 2011, several dozen Palestinian women and their children from several villages and towns in the West Bank were supported by a group of Israeli women as they visited Jerusalem, defying the arbitrary Israeli laws that make Jerusalem and the rest of Israel forbidden zones for most Palestinians living in the West Bank. Occupied East Jerusalem is held out by many Palestinians as the future capitol of their state, and it is a city of great religious, cultural, and historical significance to Palestinians. This past Saturday was a continuation of Israeli-Palestinian women actions which challenge the apartheid policies of Israeli Authorities, that have been occurring for the past year and a half.

Young Israeli … Continue reading

BETHLEHEM -Israeli forces notified villagers near Bethlehem that their land will soon be confiscated, local residents said Wednesday.
Land owned by 40 families in Battir village – 148 dunums of vegetable, fruit and olive groves – is earmarked for confiscation, villagers said.

According to the notices received by villagers, the area is close to the train line to Jerusalem and next to the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo, in which Israeli authorities approved the building of 1,100 new homes on Tuesday, sparking international condemnation.

The notification of the Israeli Ministry of Finance’s intention to purchase the lands said the acquisition was for military and security purposes.

Battir resident Nidal al-Zaghir said: the land confiscation “will be a great loss for the … Continue reading

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1) WHY ARE YOU INSISTING ON GOING TO THE UN IN SEPTEMBER?
Palestinians want to go to the UN in order to get international recognition for their future – a Palestinian State – and to legitimize Palestinian claims for freedom, independence and statehood.

2) WILL THE UN HELP IN MATERIALIZING THOSE GOALS?
The majority of countries in the world support Palestinian statehood. The goal is to abolish the four and half decades of Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. Gaining staehood would open open up several new avenues for Palestine to pursue and end to the occupation and denial of human rights, such as the ICJ.

3) CAN YOU IDENTIFY THOSE … Continue reading

by Joseph Dana

“At 3:30 or 4am I heard some noise outside of my window,” Silwan resident Abdallah Rajmi told me as we stood on a narrow street in the middle of a battle between young Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli occupation forces from the Border Police. “I thought it was a simple drunken fight but then I heard a lot of noise coming from the people involved and my neighbors began waking up.”

Silwan is a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, near the walled Old City, and is the target of an ongoing Israeli government plan to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes and replace them with Israeli settlements and … Continue reading

14 Israelis were arrested in the weekly demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah Friday as they attempted to march to the neighborhood and were prevented by police who used extreme force, leading to the hospitalization of 3 demonstrators just 2 days after hundreds of right-wing settlers were allowed to march through the neighborhood with a police escort. A number of the arrestees were held overnight in jail awaiting court hearings.

In An Nabi Saleh 50 Palestinian, international and Israeli demonstrators attempted to march to the land taken over by settlers from the nearby Halamish settlement. They were met with large amounts of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and attack dogs. After being chased back into the village, 2 Israeli activists … Continue reading

In Al-Walaja Thursday, May 6, a small group of Palestinians, internationals and Israelis surprised the bulldozer operators destroying agricultural land for construction of the Annexation Barrier and managed to avoid Israeli forces and block the bulldozer’s progression for nearly half an hour before being violently pulled out of the way. 3 Palestinians were seriously injured, with 2 reported broken limbs.

In Ni’lin on Friday, May 7, residents, also joined by Israeli and international activists, marched towards the now-completed barrier that cuts through their agricultural land. The copious amount of tear gas shot as usual was less effective, mostly blowing harmlessly out of the area. The demonstration lasted … Continue reading

At 13:25 Friday afternoon 8 Military jeeps and personnel carriers invaded Beit Ommar in force firing dozens of rounds of rubber coated steel bullets, stun grenades and at least 40 tear gas grenades. The town youth forced the army and Border Police to retreat to the outskirts of the town with a constant barrage of stones.

In a co-ordinated series of non-violent protests across the West Bank today thousands of Palestinians protested peacefully against the Israeli restrictions imposed on access to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, part of a week-long clampdown on Palestinians in Jerusalem which began when the Israeli government announced the construction of 1500 new housing units in East Jerusalem.

… Continue reading

During this week, Friday demonstrations were held in Nabi Saleh and Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem against settlement expansion, and Bil’in, Ni’lin, Al-Ma’asara, and Budrus against the Annexation Barrier and in commemoration of the 7 year anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie.
In Nabi Saleh, an international from the International Solidarity Movement was shot from close range in the arm with a rubber-coated steel bullet, breaking her wrist and causing her to be hospitalized. Additionally, three Palestinians, one holding Israeli and American citizenship (ISM co-founder Huwaida Arraf) along with 2 male residents of Nabi Saleh were arrested while trying to prevent the Israeli military from firing on people helping to evacuation of the injured international.
Arraf was released the next … Continue reading