This Friday another village added a demonstration to the regular mix across the West Bank: Nabi Saleh in the Ramallah district had a demonstration of over 300 people who managed to block the road near the Halamish settlement, which has stolen land from the village and continues to encroach on village agricultural land. More than 20 people were reportedly injured by rubber-coated steel bullets, including veteran popular resistance leader Ayed “Abu Ahmed” Morrar, from Budrus. The group was also assaulted by settlers from Halamish, who threw stones and fired live ammunition in the direction of the demonstrators, who despite the violence of the settlers and soldiers, managed to block the road for more than 2 hours.

In Al-Ma’asara a … 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

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

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

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

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

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 Sunday at 12:30pm, three internationals, one Israeli and two Palestinians, including the former Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, were arrested in an attempt to block settlers from entering a Palestinian home of the Hijazi family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. As they were arrested settlers entered the home and began to destroy the house from the inside. At 3:30pm three internationals tried to enter the Palestinian home to stop the destruction and were also put under arrest. A protest in solidarity with the arrestees and against the actions of the settlers was called for at 4pm on Monday…. Continue reading