Demonstrations across Occupied Palestine this Friday had remarkable energy, despite the winter weather. In Ni’lin, more than 100 Palestinians were joined by Israeli and international activists in their routine march towards the Annexation Barrier. They were met with a barrage of tear gas and the return of the use of .22 caliber Ruger rifles, which the Israeli military claims are “crowd dispersal” weapons and “non-lethal”. Several Palestinians have been killed by these bullets which are only .003 inches smaller than the regular live ammunition used by the Israeli army in M-16s (they claim the .22 ruger is non-lethal because of a suppressor used on the guns, the logic of which has been rejected by human rights organizations … Continue reading

From Al Jazeera English

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Note from PSP

We bring this story to our website not to condone or condemn the actions of the Palestinian who lightly wounded 2 Israeli settlers, or what he “deserved” but to point out the total lack of control or will to control the settler population by the Israeli military. The Palestinian population of the West Bank has no other recourse but the Israeli military involving incidents with Israeli settlers, though time and again the Israeli military has demonstrated and stated explicitely their inability to control the Israeli population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While the Israeli soldiers not only … Continue reading

This Friday, November 27, Palestinians and Jews gathered in the center of Jerusalem to demonstrate against the continued violence and illegal expansion of right-wing settlers in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarra in East Jerusalem. In the early hours of Thursday, November 26, settlers who had already taken over the home of Ghawi family invaded the home next door, attacking residents of the Al-Kurd family before the police were called and the settlers were forced to leave. Though the entire incident, which occured at around 1am, happened inside the Al-Kurd family’s home, one settler accused the Palestinians of attacking him, filing a complaint with the Israeli police. The Palestinian residents were turned away when they attempted to … Continue reading

This week international and Israeli solidarity activists along with members of PSP, joined farmers near the Susiya settlement to harvest their remaining olives after several of their trees were cut down by settlers. The farmers arrived to their land one week ago to find trees across several dunums of land had been cut down and left to die on the arid ground. A few days later, the owners of the land returned to clear the area and harvest what they could from the felled trees and remaining groves. The settlers of the South Hebron Hills, where Susiya is located, are some of the most … Continue reading

On Tuesday, October 20, a small group of Israeli and international activists from Anarchists Against the Wall, Rabbis for Human Rights, and PSP, joined Abu Jabber Soleiby and his family to again harvest his few olive trees. The Abu Jabber and Hamad Soleiby families have not been allowed to work freely on their land without either Israeli settler attacks and/or Israeli military intervention, since March of this year. PSP, along with Israeli activists, have had an on-going campaign that has lasted over 5 months, accompanying the farmers to their land which lies in a valley in the Saffa area of Beit Ommar, just below the … Continue reading

This Sunday, 5 Israeli activists and 3 international activists with PSP, along with other Palestinian volunteers, joined the family of Abu Jabber Soleiby to pick olives on their land in the valley just below the Bat ‘Ayn settlement. After the deployment of a large number of soldiers last week that prevented anyone from entering the area, this week the Israeli military was caught unawares and the farmers, along with the solidarity activists, were able to work in the privately-owned Palestinian fields for nearly 2 hours, picking olives from the trees remaining after several acts of vandalism by Israeli Jewish settlers that destroyed much of the agricultural land in … Continue reading

In Al-Ma’asara, Palestinians were joined by their regular Israeli and international solidarity activists in a march towards the lands belonging to the residents of Al-Ma’asara, Um Salamuna, and Wadi An-Nis. Though there hasn’t been any construction on the actual barrier in nearly a year, the scar of the patrol road that is part of the matrix of the barrier in rural areas can be seen from the edge of the village. As has become routine in Al-Ma’asara, the Israeli army blocked the procession from advancing beyond the edge of the village and onto the main road that runs past their agricultural land. Children from the village … Continue reading

This Saturday, October 3, international and Israeli activists, along with PSP committee members, attempted to accompany Abu Jabber Soleiby and his family to his land in the Wad Arish valley, in the Saffa district of Beit Ommar. Since the completion of Ramadan and the Muslim holidays, the farmers wished to again tend to their land, in preparation for some repair work that they intend to begin, with the support of PSP and Israeli solidarity activists, this month. Instead, the Israeli military, with an unusual show of force even for the often-brutalized Beit Ommar, prevented farmers and activists alike from accessing the valley. The soldiers, who were even more … Continue reading

From Anarchists Against the Wall

Some 100 Israeli activists left Tel Aviv and Jerusalem today to bring water to several isolated villages in the South Hebron Mount. These villages suffer more than anywhere else from Israel’s racist water policy, as they lack connection to water pipes, and suffer from army attacks on what few water wells and deposits they have. Busses where harassed several times on the way, and stopped completely near the Carmel illegal settlement, where soldiers claimed the area was a closed military zone, though no warrant was shown. Activists got off the busses and started marching, passing the bewildered soldiers and policemen and moving on towards their destination. Attempts to stop the spontaneous march failed, and the … Continue reading

From Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove

At a time when the international community is calling for a freeze on new building in settlements and the disbanding of settlement outposts, the settler community of the South Hebron Hills is continuing its expansion unabated.

Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement on Ma’on, in the South Hebron Hills area, are constructing at least five new caravans on the south-west side of the settlement. Internationals based in the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani first observed building preparatory work in Ma’on a few days ago. Today, as the new caravans were being built, settlers began preparatory work on a nearby hilltop for further settlement … Continue reading