(Photography from Palestine Solidarity Project. Video of Nabi Saleh from Activestills Collective, Video of Sheikh Jarrah from Yisrael Putermam)

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. … Continue reading

In one of the most extreme shows of force used against a tree-planting action, today around 1pm, dozens of Israeli soldiers entered the neighborhood of Saffa, in Beit Ommar. They began to attack farmers from the ‘Adi and Soleiby families, who had been planting trees they obtained with Israeli and international support as part of a larger tree-planting program of the Palestine Solidarity Project for several hours in the Wadi Arish area below the Bat ‘Ayn settlement. Soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at the farmers and amongst the … Continue reading

Three farmers from the Soleiby family, Jabber Soleiby, 42, his brother Hassan, 37, and cousin Fathi Soleiby, 42, were working their land in the Wadi Abu Rish area of Saffa, just under the Bat ‘Ain settlement early this morning when a crowd of approximately 40 settlers descended on them from the settlement, throwing stones, some with slingshots. The farmers fled the area, fearing they would be harmed. All three men, sons of Mohammed Soleiby and Abdullah Soleiby, know all too well how dangerous large crowds of settlers can be: Abdullah Soleiby, 82, had his skull fractured in April, 2009 by settlers who attacked him and his brother, holding Abdullah down as they bashed his head in with stones.

Israeli … Continue reading

From Maan News

Video from Yisrael Putermam

Friday, December 25–Members of the As-Sabbagh family were attacked in their home by four Israeli settlers who broke into the building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Saturday morning, witnesses said.

The settlers were attempting to take over the home and settle in it, onlookers alleged.

The act prompted clashes, injuring Tamer, Dalal, Um Mohammad, and Abed Al-Sabbagh and his pregnant wife before Israeli forces arrived and detained the settlers.

Residents of the neighborhood ran to help the family when they heard the noise of the initial break-in. Following the detention of the four settlers, several others came to the scene, … Continue reading

On December 20, 2009 at 9am four farmers from Beit Ommar, Mohammed Ikhlayl, ‘Ayed Ikhlayl, Kalil Ikhlayl, and ‘Ali Nayef, were plowing their agricultural land approximately 700 meters from the Bat ‘Ayn settlement, alone. Suddenly, they were shot at four times from inside the settlement. No one was hit but Israeli soldiers arrived shortly after, acknowledging that they knew settlers had shot at the farmers, and demanding that the Palestinians leave in order to “avoid problems”. The farmers refused, and remained on their land for another 2 hours before they were finally forced to leave by the Israeli soldiers. At no time did the Israeli soldiers, in theory in charge of security for the area but … Continue reading

Updated: Video

Today at approximately 12 noon, settlers from the Karmei Tsur settlement between the Palestinian villages of Beit Ommar and Halhul, blocked Route 60, the main highway between Jerusalem and Hebron, used by settlers as well as Palestinians. They began attacking Palestinian cars on the road, jumping in front of them and forcing them to stop before damaging the vehicles and in at least 5 cases, opening the car doors and beating the Palestinians inside. Shortly afterward, scores of Israeli military and civilian police … Continue reading

International volunteers from PSP joined hundreds of other solidarity activists in Sheikh Jarrah on Friday afternoon to march in support of the Al-Kurd family, who have been forced from their home by right-wing Israeli settlers. The demonstration began peacefully, with activists gathering in the yard of the Al-Kurd family. However, Israeli military and police soon began attempting to disperse the crowd, using tear gas and pepper spray. What began as a peaceful demonstration ended in the arrest of 23 people, including 3 international activists, one a volunteer with PSP. Another member of PSP was lightly injured when a police van ran over his foot. Members … Continue reading

December in southern Occupied Palestine is the ideal time to begin planting new trees to replace what was destroyed in the previous year. For more than 6 months, since the beginning of April, 2009, Palestine Solidarity Project has been accompanying the three brothers Abdullah, Mohammed, and Hamad Soleiby and their families to work on their land in Saffa near the Bat ‘Ayin settlement. They suffered enormous loss physically and financially at the hands of arguably the most extreme settlers in the West Bank. Both Abdullah and Hamad were seriously injured by settlers this year, and all three lost over 500 fruit trees, including old olive trees, to intentional destruction by Jewish Israeli settlers.

From our … Continue reading

On Thursday, December 10th activists from PSP took part in a solidarity march in the village of At-Tuwani. The children of the At-Tuwani school (along with other Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals) marched south from the village of At-Tuwani to the school in Al-Fakhit. Al-Fakhit school opened this school year to accommodate students living in Maghayir Al-Abeed, Markaz, Halawe, Fakhit, Majaaz, and Jinba. The teachers at Al-Fakhit school travel from Yatta each day and pick up schoolchildren along the route. The purpose of this 10 kilometre march was to draw attention to the ongoing obstacles children and teachers face when traveling to school. The … Continue reading

On Wednesday, December 9th volunteers from PSP joined other international and Palestinian solidarity activists and farmers in Um Salamuna to continue the planting of olive and almond trees. This planting project is an effort to reclaim the land around South Bethlehem in an attempt to prevent the surrounding settlements from expanding into and occupying it. This project began in early November and has been very successful, despite repeated harassment from local settlers and the Israeli military. However, on Thursday, December 3rd settlers uprooted and burned several dozen olive trees that had been recently planted. When the landowner complained to the Israeli Police, he was told that it … Continue reading