In Ni’lin this week, over 100 people joined the weekly demonstration. The village’s main entrance was closed by the Israeli military so most media did not get in, while international and Israeli activists arrived through the fields. As the Israeli forces chased the demonstration back into the village, one man from Yabroud village, was detained. No other arrests or injuries were reported.

In Al-Ma’asara, Bethelem District, over 50 residents, joined by Israeli and international activists, marched from the center of the village. One military jeep was parked further into the village, nut the demonstrators just marched around, chanting on their way to the main road and the Annexation Barrier, which is to be routed between Palestinian villages and the Gush Etzion settlement of Efrat.
The demonstration was halted at the entrance to the village, as usual, by a line of razorwire and Israeli military where speeches were then made in several languages before the demonstration peacefully returned to the village.

In Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, after a series of weeks with multiple arrests of mostly Israeli citizens, most of which were released by the courts who admonished the Israeli police for disrupting the peaceful demonstrations, there were no arrests. Demonstrators were “allowed” to gather near the entrance to the neighborhood, while residents of Sheikh Jarrah joined them and gathered on the other side of the police barricade, which was set up to prevent supporters of the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah from entering, while at the same time allowed “visiting” extremist right-wing settlers to enter freely.

This Friday, January 22, demonstrations were again held against land confiscation, the Annexation Barrier, and the expulsion of Palestinians from East Jerusalem for the settlement of right-wing Jewish settlers.

In Al-Ma’asara, Bethlehem District, approximately 70 Palestinians, Internationals and Israelis marched from the center of town towards the barrier set up by the Israeli military. Tensions were high as a larger-than-usual presence of Israeli soldiers and border police lined the route of the march on the roofs of buildings. The demonstration included the imposed Palestinian government’s minister of agriculture who participated in a symbolic tree-planting near the entrance of the village. Speeches were made in Arabic and Hebrew and the demonstration left peacefully. Not satisfied with the lack of confrontation, the Israeli soldiers followed demonstrators into the village. One man was followed into a shop where he was arrested by the soldiers as he bought chicken. He was released later in the evening.

In Nabi Saleh, Ramallah District, Israeli soldiers invaded the village before the demonstration officially began, arresting 6 Palestinian residents, 3 men and 3 women. The demonstration was held as planned, protesting the recent attempted confiscation of agricultural land by the nearby Halamish settlement.

In Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, a group of 350 Israelis and Palestinians gathered in a park near the street where several houses have been taken over by a right-wing Jewish settler organization beginning last summer. For the past several weeks, dozens of Jewish Israeli activists have been arrested during the demonstrations, which were beginning with a permitted march from the center of West Jerusalem to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. This week, the Israeli police refused to issue a permit for the march so organizers decided to begin closer to the occupied street, which, as usual, was cut off by Israeli police. During the demonstration, as participants marched towards the occupied street, Israeli police began arresting participants. 22 people were arrested in all. During the protest, the Israeli police were allowing settlers to gather inside their barricades on the occupied street, where they began attacking Palestinian residents. 2 Palestinians were reportedly hospitalized after assaults by Jewish Israeli settlers. Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah who participated in the demonstration were also arrested after they arrived at their homes. Recent updates from Israeli organizers suggest that at least some of the 22 demonstrators are being charged, and that the Israeli prosecution has requested that 6 be held for the duration of the legal proceedings, a process that is often used against Palestinians during legal procedures but is exceedingly rare against Jewish Israelis.

‘Tomorrow I will start a 20 day prison term. It is a result of an attempt to prevent a house demolition in kharbatha. As you probably know 20 days is nothing compared to the time many Palestinian teenagers have to do. Unlike them, I did not have to do this. I refused to pay a fine and was therefore sent to jail.

throughout the long trial I had other opportunities to avoid prison but could not bring myself to admit guilt in any way or accept the sentence given me. I and the others who were arrested with me are guilty of nothing except not doing more to oppose the truly criminal policies of the state. To be forced to say otherwise is as demeaning as it is untrue. Compared to it 20 days in jail are a small price to pay.

The legal team headed by Gaby [Lasky] has been excellent as always and thanks also to Nir and Alon from Bimkom who supplied information about planning policies and regulations.’

no pasaran!

According to investigations conduced by PCHR, at approximately 21:30 on Monday, 31 August 2009, IOF troops stationed at a military observation tower inside “Beit Eil” settlement, north of Ramallah, opened fire at five Palestinian children who were near al-Jalazon UNRWA School, located near the southeastern entrance of al-Jalazoun refugee camp. One of the children, 15-year-old Mohammed Riad Nayef ‘Elayan, was wounded by three bullets to the chest. An ambulance from Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah attempted to reach the area. However, the ambulance was stopped by at least 30 soldiers who prevented the medical crew from attending to the wounded child. Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian civilians gathered on the spot and attempted to help the wounded child, but Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters at the crowd. The ambulance driver, Usama Hassan Ibrahim al-Najjar, 37, was hit by a tear gas canister to the left leg. ‘Ali Ahmed Mohammed Nakhla, 29, also sustained similar injuries.

Mohammed was left bleeding for approximately an hour. At approximately 22:30, IOF transferred the child to Beit El settlement where he was evacuated by a helicopter to Hadasa ‘Ein Karem Hospital in West Jerusalem. In the early morning, Israeli sources declared that the child had succumbed to his wounds. IOF have continued to hold the child’s body. IOF arrested the four children who were with ‘Elayan and kept them detained in Beit El settlement untill 03:00 on Tuesday, 1 September 2009. One of the released children informed PCHR that the children were walking normally in the street where the attack took place and that they suddenly found themselves under Israeli gunfire. The boy said that when Israeli soldiers saw the wounded child falling onto the ground, they rushed to the scene and arrested his companions. The soldiers left the boy bleeding without offering him any medical aid.

PCHR strongly condemns the murder of a child by IOF, and:

1. Reiterates condemnation of this latest crime, which is part of a series of crimes committed by IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

2. Calls upon the international community to promptly and urgently take action in order to stop such crimes, and renews its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations and provide protection to Palestinian civilians in the OPT.

Three convoys left from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah, each group consisting of 50 to 80 people. Stopping the Ramallah convoy on their way to the village, the IDF set up a temporary checkpoint, which the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv convoys had to negotiate when they arrived. The groups convened in the village square where they were greeted by the residents of the village as well as representatives of the local government. Locals immediately rushed to the water tanks and queued up in front of them, various containers in hand, eager to get them filled with water. Excited children laughed and danced in the water spurting from the trucks, while their elders scolded them, trying to use the water as efficiently as possible. Later on, officials from the community spoke on the need for greater attention paid to the question of water disparity in Palestine. They stressed their longing for peace, and the impossibility for that peace without immediate access to water. Hopefully this water convoy was the beginning of many future actions on the issue.