Palestine Solidarity Project » Palestine Solidarity Project

Israeli Forces Continue Assaults with Sound Grenades in Beit Ommar

PSP — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:33:21 +0000

Last week, July 17, an Associated Press photographer was seriously injured in Beit Ommar during the weekly demonstration against the settlement when a sound grenade exploded near his head, blowing out his eardrum. A strong statement by the Foreign Press Association was made and Israeli and international media reported on the incident. Yet all of this attention to the misuse of these dangerous weapons did not deter the large group of soldiers present at this week’s demonstration from again launching sound grenades, as well as tear gas, directly at demonstrators, particularly aiming at their heads.
As the group of approximately 50 demonstrators, including several women from the village for the third week in a row, were met by the Israeli soldiers who demanded they leave the privately-owned Palestinian land or risk arrest, the soldiers again injured a journalist, this time from Reuters, who was knocked unconscious after having two sound grenades explode on his head and back while the soldiers were attempting to push the group out of the area. The journalist was assisted at the scene and no arrests were made.

1 Injured in Ma’asara’s Anti-Wall Demonstration

PSP — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:12:04 +0000

More than 100 mostly international solidarity activists convened in the streets of Al Ma’asara on Friday, July 23rd, to march against the construction of the Annexation Barrier in neighboring Um Salamuna. The group, made alive by drummers and a chorus of anti-occupation chants, made its way onto the main road toward the now inaccessible Palestinian land. Military jeeps immediately sped down to block the alternate route. Soldiers jumped out, detained a journalist and photographer, and forcefully pushed the nonviolent demonstrators off of the road. As the crowd stood on the side of the road, soldiers attempted to arrest an international and began throwing sound bombs and tear gas directly into the crowd. As the gas cleared and the demonstrators regrouped, the soldiers were seen leaving the area – a bizarre act after such excessive use of “crowd dispersal methods.” A French international was injured in the side of the head by shrapnel and sent to the hospital to have her wound stitched and checked for hearing loss.

Two Journalists Injured, One Arrested At Demonstration in Beit Ommar

PSP — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:16:17 +0000

Updated: Video Added

In their weekly demonstration against the expropriation of their land for the expansion of the Karmei Tsur settlement, Palestinians, joined by Israeli and international activists, gathered next to the fence surrounding the settlement on Saturday, July 17th. Established in 1984, the settlement was constructed on Beit Ommar land, destroying the life-supporting agricultural land of the Palestinian residents. Even recently, in 2006, 600 more dunums of land were confiscated as part of the settlement, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to make a living.

Within minutes of gathering at the fence, Israeli soldiers quickly arrived to force the group to leave the area. After ripping off the Palestinian flags that had been placed on the razor wire fence, the soldiers began forcefully pushing the Palestinian organizers off of their own land. The five clearly disorganized soldiers yelled and pushed erratically at the crowd and attempted to arrest an international activist multiple times before giving up when she resisted. Obviously frustrated by their own ineffectiveness and lack of cohesion, the soldiers threw sound bombs and tear gas, injuring 2 journalists. One of the journalists, working for the UK based Reuters news service, sustained serious injury to his eardrum when a sound grenade exploded next to his head. Another, working for DFA, was examined for possible facial fractures after being hit in the face with a club. A third journalist, working for the American news agency Associated Press was arrested during the demonstration.

The Foreign Press Association issued a statement condemning the attacks on the journalists, saying,

“Over the past months journalists covering these events have been harassed, arrested and attacked by the various on site forces before these forces turn their attention to the activists or demonstrators,” the statement read.

“We would appreciate it were the authorities to remind the various forces involved, that open, unhindered coverage of news events is a widely acknowledged part of the essence of democracy.”

“Generally speaking this would not include smashing the face of a clearly marked photographer working for a known and accredited news organization with a stick, or for that matter aiming a stun grenade at the head of a clearly marked news photographer or summarily arresting cameramen, photographers and/or journalists.”

1 Arrested, 3 Injured in Beit Ommar International Court of Justice Demonstration

PSP — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:42:57 +0000

On Saturday, July 10, approximately 50 Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched towards the fence of the Karmei Tsur settlement for their weekly demonstration against the illegal settlements and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land through settlement expansion and the Annexation Barrier. This week, the participants planned to hold their own session of the International Court of Justice, in honor of the 6 year anniversary of the ICJ court decision that declared the Annexation Wall illegal. The group approached the settlement and began reading statements as witnesses and the prosecution, condemning the confiscation of land, demanding reparations for land and lives lost, as well as injuries to internationals during peaceful protest, and an end to the construction of illegal structures of the Occupation. Almost immediately, however, the Israeli soldiers present, who were waiting for the group outside the fence, announced that the area was a closed military zone and the demonstration had two minutes to disperse. Local residents insisted on their right to remain on their privately-owned land undisturbed. When one Israeli activist attempted to argue with the soldiers, he was arrested. He was then blindfolded and held in a jeep on location before being taken to Kiryat Arba settlement and police station; he was released later in the day.
The military then violently attacked the crowd, pushing them back towards the Palestinian homes of Beit Ommar and throwing sound grenades and tear gas canisters. Sound grenades were thrown deliberately so that they would explode very close to participants, resulting in the head injuries of a twelve year-old boy and a journalist as well as another teenage boy. An ambulance and medic team treated all three on the spot.

Beit Ommar Demonstration Makes Noise at Settlement

PSP — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:41:21 +0000

In an action organised by the National committee of Beit Ommar and the Palestine Solidarity Project a group of Palestinians joined by Israeli and International activists marched to the gate of Karmei Tsur Settlement and protested the expropriation of local farmers’ land Saturday, July 3. Making noise with world-cup inspired vuvuzelas, the demonstrators were confronted at the gate by Israeli soldiers and private security of the illegal settlement.

Israeli forces broke their way through the gate and pushed the protesters, including children. The settler security spat several times in the direction of the Palestinian demonstrators. After the area was declared a closed military area the demonstrators slowly dispersed, with Israeli forces shooting tear gas in their direction.

Karmei Tsur is one of a number of illegal settlements surrounding Beit Ommar. It was established in 1984 and has resulted in the continual theft of private Palestinian farmland.

Disturbing New Legal Precedent Set as Another International PSP Activist Arrested in Beit Ommar

PSP — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:19:15 +0000

On Saturday, June 12, a group of farmers, Palestine Solidarity Project activists, and members of the Beit Ommar National Committee held a protest at the fence around the Karmei Tsur settlement, built on Beit Ommar agricultural land. They carried Palestinian flags and chanted against the settlements and the theft of their land. There were Israeli soldiers already waiting on the other side of the fence. The demonstrators stood on their side of the fence, planted their flags in some of their own land and continued chanting. The soldiers watched for a few minutes until they came across the fence, down a hill to the ground that the demonstrators were standing on. One soldier, carrying an M16 and a tear-gas gun walked up a little hill that some children were standing on and grabbed a Palestinian flag from one of them. A man in the crowd, who could speak Hebrew, pleaded with the soldier to return the flag to the child. A few moments later one soldier tried to grab onto the child who had come down to get his flag. He held onto the child for a while as if he was going to arrest him so PSP international activist and dual American-Chilean citizen Yoel B. pulled the boy away and stood in front of the soldiers so they could not arrest the child. All of the soldiers on scene came down the hill at this point and surrounded the international as well as Fathi Sa’id, a local resident who is physically and mentally disabled. When soldiers act aggressively towards Sa’id, Yoel B. again attempted to intervene. Both were arrested. The soldiers then began to shoot cans of tear gas at the crowd of people until they were forced to disperse, with soldiers continuing to fire tear gas as they left.
In court, the Israeli prosecution compared Yoel to the activists on the Mavi Marmara (the Turkish aid ship attacked by the Israeli military who killed 9 activists on board), implying that he was not “really” a peace activist. The judge, conceding that he would like to see Yoel deported but that he could not order it, instead banned the American Jew from entering the West Bank for a period of 60 days, nearly the entirety of the remainder of his visa. This comes one week after another PSP activist, also arrested in Beit Ommar at a demonstration in support of the Gaza aid flotilla, was banned from the West Bank for 6 months, or until his visa expired.

This is setting a new precedent, banning international activists for extremely long periods of time from the entire West Bank, and seems to be in retaliation for the backlash Israel has experienced for its debacle at sea in which they killed unarmed civilian international activists in the Gaza Flotilla. Both cases are being appealed.

International Activist Arrested at Beit Ommar Solidarity Demo with Flotilla

PSP — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:05:46 +0000

Jamie, a British national, was arrested today during a demonstration in Beit Ommar. While the main group of Palestinians were prevented from participating, a small group including PSP activists and Beit Ommar National Committee members, walked through the fence that was cut open in a previous demonstration and marched along Route 60 (not stopping traffic), carrying Turkish and Palestinian flags. They were soon corralled into an area in front of a shop where they stopped and made speeches of solidarity with the people on the Freedom Flotilla, the recently stopped Rachel Corrie boat, as well as the 3 people injured and 2 killed by settlers in the last week in the Hebron area. Participants wore black bands around their arms and mouths, representing the mourning for the people killed on the Turkish aid ship the Mavi Marmara as well as the attempt of the Israeli military to silence the voices of the activists who participated. As they made their way back into the village, the large military presence following them, they stopped to hold their flags in front of the Israeli military tower at the entrance to Beit Ommar. One international, supported by Palestinian participants, climbed the wall and stuck a Palestinian flag on the structure surrounding the tower. After marching a few more feet, he was pulled out of the crowd and arrested.

He is being accused of assaulting a soldier, though there is videotape showing him standing holding a poster seconds before he is grabbed and thrown to the ground by three soldiers. He is expected to appear in Israeli court Sunday morning.

100+ March in Wad Rahhal

PSP — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:44:17 +0000

On June 4, well over 100 people participated in the third Friday demonstration against the wall in Wad Rahhal. They walked past the settlement of Efrat, along the planned Wall route until met by two Israeli military jeeps. (Later a third jeep pulled up.)

Boys stood in front of the march, facing the Israeli military, one with a sign in Hebrew reading No Wall. Many carried flags, including the Turkish flag, and spoke words of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and with the passengers of the humanitarian aid flotilla.

The marchers were nonviolent. A handful of settlers, including two children wearing bicycle helmets, stood on a hill above the road and watched the peaceful demonstration. No tear gas was used by the military. It likely would have affected the settler observers as well as the Palestinian, Israeli, and international demonstrators.

Also on Friday, a demonstration in Bil’in commemorating the loss of the solidarity activists aboard the Free Gaza flotilla was met with tear gas and arrests, including the arrest of Free Gaza organizer Huwaida Arraf, who had just been released after being siezed off the Freedom Flotilla day before. 2 others were arrested.

Settler Shoots 2 Students Outside Arroub Refugee Camp

PSP — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:24:20 +0000

This morning at 10am a settler driving north on route 60 stopped his car outside the Agricultural School and University of Arroub and in front of the Arroub Refugee camp, just north of Beit Ommar. He stopped, got out of his car, and fired several live bullets into the air, prompting students on one side of the street to begin shouting at him and others across the street to throw stones at the car. He then turned and shot two students standing in front of the entrance to the school. Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Bis, 19, was shot in the stomach and back, Mu’atez Mousa Benat, 17, was shot in the thigh.

There are two permanent Israeli military posts in the immediate area, one tower next to the entrance of the refugee camp and one tower just less than 25 yards from where the shooting took place. Still, the settler fled the scene and the two teens were transported by private car to a hospital in Hebron where at least one is reportedly in critical condition.

International solidarity activists and the media coordinator of the Palestine Solidarity Project arrived to take testimonies from witnesses. When they were photographing the car that had transported the two injured, Israeli soldiers who had gathered near the entrance to the refugee camp began insisting that they leave, first by pushing them to cross the highway towards the entrance of the university. Rather than attempting to apprehend the gun-wielding settler, the civilian police then grabbed one of the international activists, handcuffed him, and put him in a police van. The police asked him what he was doing here, to which he replied that he would not give any information until he knew why he was arrested.

He was then released and the remaining activists were allowed to continue gathering information, though there was no sign that the soldiers or civilian police had any interest in investigating the brutal assault on unarmed civilians.

These assaults come in the midst of rising tension around Israel and right-wing demonstrations, including settlers in the Arroub Refugee Camp area, supporting the Israeli forces in their assault on the Gaza aid flotilla. Two days ago settlers from Gush Etzion held a small demonstration, accompanied by a large police and military presence, just north of Arroub on Route 60 holding flags representing the Israeli military and harassing passing Palestinian vehicles. It is clear that if Israel will not be held accountable for the deaths of at least 9 international activists, the likelihood that an Israeli citizen who has maimed 2 Palestinian youth would be held to account is nil.

Work Day in Wadi Rahhal

PSP — Sun, 30 May 2010 09:00:30 +0000

On May 26, Palestine Solidarity Project volunteers joined local organizers in Wadi Rahhal to help a farmer do major trimming of some of his olive and fig trees. Ahmed Abdullah’s house was demolished a year ago . Fifteen of his twenty dunums of land have been confiscated for a settler road and for the expanding settlement of Efrat, well within the Palestinian side of the Green Line. The Apartheid Wall is going to make access to these trees as well as the graves of five family members. Groundwork for this portion of the Wall has already begun.

When asked how he supports himself now that he has lost so much land, Ahmed said he lived a simple life before. Now he lives even more simply.

An Israeli military jeep pulled up when we first arrived but immediately turned around and did not return.