On Monday August 17th, Governor Mike Huckabee attended a dinner with right-wing Israeli officials at the Shepherds Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. The Shepherd’s Hotel was an Arab-run hotel that was bought over by Jewish-American millionaire Irving Moskowitz in 1985. Since then, plans to build another Jewish settlement on the site of the hotel in the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have been underway. Mike Huckabee was here supporting the settler movement, claiming that Israel had the right to build wherever they wanted in their own country, even when East Jerusalem is acknowledged internationally as the occupied capital of a future Palestinian state.

Peace Now, an Israeli organization fighting against settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, … Continue reading

Today, at 8 am, international activists with the Palestine Solidarity Project and International Solidarity Movement, along with Palestinian members of PSP, accompanied the family of Abu Jabber Soleiby to plow their land in Saffa, near the illegal Israeli settlement Bat ’Ayin. The family has been confronted with ongoing harrasment by the Israeli Military and violent attacks by settlers from Bat ’Ayin. Today, the group of over 20 people was stopped by dozens of Israeli soldiers and Border Police near the edge of the Saffa built-up area. Initially, the military insisted that the farmers needed permits, and then IDs, to enter their privately-owned … Continue reading

At 7:00 am on 12th August 2009 three PSP activists accompanied Abu Jabbar and his family to their field in the Saffa Valley. Abu Jabber and his family which included his wife, son and daughter picked grapes for approximately 30 minutes in their field till the group was alerted by shouts coming from the direction of the Bat ’Ayin Settlement which overlooks the Saffa valley. The group spotted a few settlers talking to Israeli soldiers in a military jeep and then a few minutes later, there was another military jeep approaching the group from the Bat ’Ayin settlement. At that moment Abu Jabbar suggested to the PSP activists that they should leave from the field before the soldiers … Continue reading

On Tuesday, August 4th at 8am, eight international activists and members of the Palestine Solidarity Project committee accompanied Abu Jabber Soleiby and his family to his land in Saffa near the Bat Ayin settlement. While the farmers had enough time to harvest a small amount of the year’s first grapes. the international activists were forced to make a detour around a small group of Israeli soldiers at the edge of the built-up area in Saffa before they joined the Palestinians in the valley. After the farmers had been in the valley for more than an hour, one Israeli military jeep arrived between the settlement and the Palestinian agricultural land. The farmers, satisfied with their small collection of … Continue reading

From Haaretz.com

The evacuation of two Palestinian families from the homes in the disputed East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday drew a slew of condemnations.

The neighborhood was at the center of escalating tensions between Israel and the U.S. last month, when Israel’s plan to build some 20 new apartments there was revealed. The U.S. has demanded that the project be halted, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said two weeks ago that “Israel will not agree to edicts of this kind in East Jerusalem.”

The evacuation comes after a decision by the High Court of Justice last week, which ruled that the homes belong to Jewish families.

Robert Serry, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East, criticized the evacuation of … Continue reading

At approximately 5:30 am this morning, Sunday, August 2, a truckload of heavily armored police raided the homes of the Hanoun and Al- Ghawe families in Sheikh Jarrah, evicting the families and international and Israeli solidarity activists staying there. After months of legal haggling and eviction order after eviction order, the final eviction was carried out very quickly. Israeli police blasted open the gate to the two homes, blew open the doors and broke holes in the windows. Within minutes, large forces entered the house, ordering the family members and international and Israeli activists out at gunpoint. Those that refused the orders were dragged out by force. Reportedly 7 international activists and 1 Israeli activist … Continue reading

Settler violence continued in Sheik Jarrah this week when a settler
attacked Samar Al Sabach, a Palestinian woman who was staying in the Sheik Jarrah tent just below the Sfaradim settlement. The settler first came to the Hanoun house, which is currently under threat of eviction and has been a leader in the campaign against evictions in Sheik Jarrah. After being scared off by a large crew of family members, neighbors and solidarity activists, the settler retreated to the Sheik Jarrah tent, a community center just below the Sfaradim settlement, former home of the Al Kurd family. The settler found Samar alone in the tent and attacked her, beating her over the head with a rock. Samar has been hospitalized, and … Continue reading

On Tuesday July 28th, PSP international and Palestinian activists documented the bulldozing of a new road by the Israeli military between the original Karmei Tsur settlement fence and the newly-constructed “security” fence. When this newer fence was constructed in 2006, residents of Beit Ommar, while attempting to prevent the construction at all, were at least able to guarantee with a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court that the agricultural land that would be trapped between the new “security” fence and the old boundary of Karmei Tsur, which was proven to be private Palestinian land, whould remain the property of the residents of Beit Ommar. … Continue reading