Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle is one of the remaining glimpses of hope in the region

The refusal of the sky to shed rain on the coursed land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea is in accord with the sums of the reasons to be optimist. The joint struggle of the anarchists against the wall and the other Israeli radicals with the Palestinian grass root activists is one of the remaining glimpses of hope.

Arakiv

The ongoing joint struggle with the Israeli Bedouins against the robbery of their lands focus on this village. Last week the village was destroyed the seventh time.

Beit ommar

Video of previous Saturday demo 20/11 http://www.youtube.com watch?v=3HnI36hMuAg


Bil'in

Military Incursions during the nights continue in the Occupied village of Bil'in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuROwpAYZPU AAtW tried to have members present every night to deter the Israeli state forces from harshest activities.

The 300th or so Friday demonstration was without surprises. About 25 activists of the AAtW initiative joined with international supported the Friday demonstration. The march from the center of village expressed the the solidarity with Adeeb Abu Rahmah and Abdallah Abu Rahmah still in jail in spite of the fact they have already served their time. It was another expression of the Tsumud (persistence) in the face of nearly every night army invasion and new arrestees. As usual lately, when the first demonstrators entered the route of the separation fence through the gate (the army did not even bothered to shat) the commander gave the first warning. When the main body of the demonstration arrived, the shower of tear gas grenade was following.

As the wind was a bit on our side it took the state forces lot of shooting and even personal approach to drive all the demonstrators back to the village.

After about 45 minutes tens of soldiers were entering the gate and moving towards the village – forcing the last persisting protesters back. The demonstration lasted for about one hour.

Most of the AAtW activists returned to Israel while others continued to the Sheikh Jarakh Friday afternoon demonstration.

David Reeb Friday 26.11.2019 Bil'in video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0R4xXDqjBQ


Al Maasarah


Ni'lin

Ni'lin weekly demonstration 26.11.2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHs8ILaS_D4
Today our demonstration was in solidarity with our popular committee leaders,the peaceful activists, my father Ibrahim Amireh and Mr. Hassan Mousa and Zaydoon Srour.it was a message to the Israeli occupation forces ,that we didn't forget all our prisoners and the arrest of the peaceful activists Ibrahim amireh and zaydoon srour and hassan mousa will not Frustrate us But Increases our determination to continue the struggle until the attainment of freedom and all our rights.
For More Information about us please visit: http://supportibrahim.com/


Nabi Saleh

MEDIA Palestinian News Network accompany the AAtW to Nabi Saleh

Crossing the Line: Inside the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall

Not ironically, the biggest problem for the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall is organizing. With no functional leadership and no place to meet, they come together in Tel Aviv at vaguely agreed-upon times for bouts of organic, decentralized discourse and then disperse in borrowed cars and bicycles. The only reliable place to find the Anarchists together, it seems, is under a cloud of tear gas during one of the weekly anti-wall protests in the West Bank.

Though the Anarchists, formed in 2003, disdain position titles and spokespersons, it is seven-year veteran Dr. Kobi Snitz, 39, who functions as the group’s historian and figurehead. Imprisoned more times than he cares to count and hit in the head by at least one tear-gas canister, Snitz has credentials with the Anarchists that belie his academic background as a postdoctoral mathematics researcher. But no amount of experience can stop a flat tire.

“This is a metaphor for the popular struggle,” says Snitz, getting out of his battered Subaru to inflate the tire at a Tel Aviv gas station, on the way to a protest in the central West Bank village of al-Nabi Saleh. “Once you get to the demonstration, most of the work is already done.”

The work can be automotive, logistical, legal, or technological, but it usually boils down to the financial. “Everything is bad about money” for Snitz and the Anarchists between legal bills for arrested activists, much higher legal bills for Palestinians, the occasional gas mask, and replacement glass for the car windows that Israeli soldiers shoot out whenever they find a car used by the Anarchists, who they consider traitors. But high costs are just part of the job—to say nothing of injuries and arrests.

“It’s work and it’s very tiring,” says Snitz. “But in a way it’s liberating to have some kind of outlet for the frustration of being Israeli. Being arrested is a relief. It frees you from a certain kind of burden.”

Snitz, who is considered to be the first Israeli to be arrested and convicted in the occupied territories, says he admires the Palestinians who endure arrest, imprisonment and often torture without the privilege of judicial restraint exercised for Israelis like him. But beyond being an act of solidarity and redemption, arrest is part of Snitz’s reason for staying in Israel.

“The strongest reason for being here is the struggle,” he explains. “I could live comfortably somewhere else. The state is mostly an enemy, though I don’t want to say the same about Israeli society.”

The Anarchists are far from ideological lockstep about anything, much less about leaving the country whose government policies they protest so vigorously. Some, like 34-year-old software developer Ayala Shani, echo Snitz in saying that the resistance is the only reason to stay.

“I don’t define myself as a Jew, and I don’t like to see myself as part of a nation,” explains Shani, a practicing Anarchist of two and half years. “If I wasn’t actively resisting, I would leave. “


Israeli Anarchist Ayala Shani says she resisted identification with Zionism from an early age.

Others, like 27-year-old Tali Shapiro, rule out the option offhand.

“No, I won’t leave. I was born here,” says Shapiro, who has associated with the Anarchists for two years. “I found a community of people who are important to me. I’ve found my place.”

Nevertheless Shapiro admits that her place is among the like-minded in Israeli society, meaning that she goes out of her way to orient her actions within the state toward reform. She doesn’t vote but tries to “sway elections” toward socialism, shops and eats with a discriminating eye toward settlement products, and attends weekly protests against the wall. She says her latent resistance took on new urgency when she realized her job “typing up army gibberish” as army secretary implicated her in violence in the 2004 Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

“I happen to know for sure that something I typed ended in the blinding of a 12-year-old girl named Huda Darwish,” recounts Shapiro. “I saw it on BBC and connected the dots. I knew I was there.”


Tali Shapiro says she balances her activism and nationality by "making choices all the time."

Shapiro took up with the Anarchists a few years afterwards and began making weekly trips to the West Bank to protest. Though at first she was “scared shitless,” she quickly came to find solace in purpose.

“There’s no place I’d rather be on a Friday,” she says, though she admits it isn’t easy. “When I get home, I’m exhausted. I lie down on the floor, maybe take a bath.”

The fatigue factor depends largely on the protest in question: marches in Bil’in or Ni’lin typically last one or two hours, while a demonstration in al-Nabi Saleh, to which PNN accompanied the Anarchists, goes from around noon until sundown. Al-Nabi Saleh has been a flash-point for activists since Israelis from the neighboring settlement of Halamish started drawing water from—and denying Palestinians access to—a natural spring near the village in 2009.

On the Friday drive to al-Nabi Saleh, Snitz points to the red-roofed and isolated Israeli communities.

“I think of how beautiful it would be without the settlements,” he says. “It would be like Crete. Sometimes it seems like [the settlements] go out of their way to seem foreign, with the red roofs meant to have snow slide off them. What snow? It’s like they’re saying, ‘We’re European.’”

Suddenly the Subaru wheezes to a stop on a steep hill on the way to al-Nabi Saleh, and Snitz pokes around under the hood. A flock of sheep moseys through the scene. Then the Anarchists are back on the road, only to be forced to park near the home of a Palestinian farmer, a rousing half-hour hike from their destination: the Israeli military has designated al-Nabi Saleh a “closed military zone” as it does every Friday, blocking off all road access to the village.

The Anarchists dash across a patrolled road and pause in the shade of olive trees, waiting for Snitz’s all-clear. When the join their companions in al-Nabi Saleh, they become just seven Israelis in a crowd of roughly 80 other protestors, marching the length of the village to encounter heavily armed Israeli Border Police at either end.

Snitz is surprised at the relative calm. “Usually they’d have gassed us by now,” he remarks.


A Palestinian boy throws a stone at Israeli Border Police during the Friday protest.

Then it begins, but the first shot and the first stone are so close to each other as to rule out the question of how started. Israeli troops fire rubber bullets and lob tear gas grenades into the village, once into a house itself, and protestors sling rocks back. The home raids begin about two hours into the protest, resulting in at least two arrests. Other protestors escape to resume another violent round of hide-and-seek, with the Border Police attempting pincer movements to isolate them near a soccer field.

It doesn’t work. As tear gas clouds bloom in the olive groves and the air fills with cries in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, the protestors start to flee every which way. It would be, in a word, anarchy, but Snitz is on hand for a clarification of terms and deems it “chaos” instead. Everyone ends up in al-Nabi Saleh by sunset to watch the Israeli jeeps leave.

A Palestinian protester runs through a cloud of tear gas in al-Nabi Saleh.

The protest was, by al-Nabi Saleh standards, a light one. After a meal graciously provided by a Palestinian family, Snitz, Shani, and the other Anarchists head back to Tel Aviv—their Israeli passports will get them only curious looks at the checkpoint, through which most Palestinians cannot pass.

Snitz is happy about the result and appears to take the brutality in stride. He is only noticeably disappointed in the performance of his beat-up Subaru, which he says he may have to trade in before next week. But the Anarchists go with what works. Finances, modes of transport, even membership numbers may waver—for as long as the occupation exists, however, they will resist it.

Israel Puterman video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CetVBmg9CA


Sheikh Jarrah

Demonstration & Hip Hop - WeFromHere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G75Zvu287ig

Local Palestinian Hip Hop duo WeFromHere performed in the weekly Sheikh Jarrah demonstration attended by hundreds of Israeli, Palestinian and international activists against evictions of Palestinian residents from their houses in their neighborhood by settlers, backed by Israeli courts.

More info: http://www.en.justjlm.org/ http://www.justjlm.org/


Silwan

On Saturday, a contingent of activists of the AAtW "toured" the Silwan occupied neighborhood of east Jerusalem hot spots of conflicts with settler colonialists. We met few of of our Jerusalem comrades and local neighborhood activists from whom we got advices about future joint struggles.

The Southern Hebron Hills

"This Saturday, November 27th, we will go again to The Southern Hebron Hills and help to ensure our Palestinian comrades are able to access their lands.

In the Southern Hebron Hills a policy aimed at separating the Palestinians from their agricultural lands is still in force. Farmers going to their fields are exposed to violence from the settlers. The military does nothing to prevent this, and at times actively prevents the Palestinians from reaching their lands. In addition to the immediate harm to the Palestinians' livelihood, this also creates the danger of the lands being appropriated due to prolonged disuse."


Tel Aviv

Boycott activists returned to the Cape Town Opera performing in Tel Aviv
This time, they did a flash-mob action in-front of the cast.
Watch and circulate! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDeNLAXKKxk
It was the second appearance of the counter apartheid Tel Aviv "Opartheid" troupe for the members of Sothern-African opera troupe: "Cape Town Opera Say NO, again!"
----------------------------
See Previous reports at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com

Monday, November 22, 2010

Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle focused on Bil'in, Beit Umar, and Nabi Saleh

This week, the media reports on the joint struggle of Palestinians, Internationals, and Israelis focused on Nabi Saleh and Beit Umar where the on going struggle is in confrontation with colonialist settlers who gradually expand the robbery of land and resources of neighboring Palestinian villages with protection of Israeli state forces. It seems that the struggle against the separation fence and the struggle against its use for robbery of Palestinian lands expanded to the other fronts of struggle against the 1967 occupation and the efforts to grab Palestinian lands and transfer out Palestinians. The direct actions and persistent confrontation with the Israeli forces mode - promoted by the anarchists against the wall initiative, succeeded to recruit wider circles of Israeli radicals and grass root Palestinian activists.

Al-Arakiv

The struggle against transfer of the Bedouins of the south focused lately in Arakiv continue even when not in the head-lines

Beit Umar & Saffa

"Hi all, The Beit Umar committee has asked for our help escorting Saffa farmers to their lands on Thursday morning. They have been having a hard time getting to work lately and could use some help. if you can come please let me know."

Comrades did come and during the action the burning of the wild grass and planting olive trees was accused as arson... comrades were arrested and Israeli media reported a twisted description of the facts.

Thursday report:

"13 Israeli, international and Palestinian activists were arrested at 10 am this morning while accompanying farmers to their land in the Saffa region of Beit Ommar. A group of nearly 30 activists accompanied Sheik Mohammad Aady to his land near the Bat Ayn settlement, which is marked for annexation by the Israeli military. After working on the land for half an hour, soldiers emerged from the Bat Ayn settlement and surrounding hills and detained the group.

A number of sound bombs were shot at those working on the land before the arrests. Amongst those arrested was Biet Ommar National Committee member and cameraman Mohammed Ayyad. As of 1 pm the group is still being detained in the police station in the Gush Ezion settlement.

Upon leaving the nearby village of Beit Ommar, soldiers fired from their military vehicles around 25 canisters of tear gas at a group of children who were throwing rocks. The tear gas spread throughout the residential area.

In the past two weeks there have been 33 detentions of farmers and activists in Saffa. The military claims that the land is “state land,” indicating their unequivocal intention to annex it to the Bat Ayn settlement.

Settlers frequently attack the farmers and land in Saffa. Two nights ago settlers set fire to 70 olive trees on the hillside near Bat Ayn, and three Palestinians were arrested as they tried to extinguish the fire. Three more Palestinian activists who went to take pictures the next day were also detained."

Media reported the settler claim that the action involved burning of settlers are but the video show it was clearing wild weeds in preparation of planting of olive trees...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc-mM2_7uAo

Israel Puterman Beit Omar-saffa 18th action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR77-dhtV_c

Saturday
"There will be a demonstration tomorrow [Saturday] at beit Omar and more people are needed".

"hi all,

6 were arrested at the weekly demo in beit Omar today. one 14 year old Palestinian 3 Israelis and 2 internationals. they are currently being interrogated in kiryat Arab. more details later."
An 14 year-old Palestinian, two internationals and three Israeli activists were arrested by soldiers during a peaceful demonstration against the illegal Israeli settlement of Karmei Tsur, which is built on Beit Ummar’s land.



14 year-old Mohammed Awad arrested by an Israeli soldier. Picture credit: Anne Paq/ActiveStills
http://josephdana.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/beit-ummar-boy-20.11.2010.preview.jpg

The weekly demonstration started at 1:00 pm, when some 30 Palestinians, along with many International and Israeli supporters, marched toward the fence surrounding the settlement.

Around two dozen Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers blocked the march from advancing into villager’s lands isolated inside the settlement, without any access to farmers. The demonstrators then sat on the ground, chanted slogans and made speeches on the injustice of denying Palestinians access to their own land.

Protesters marching towards villagers' lands isolated inside the Karmei Tzur settlement. Picture credit: Anne Paq/ActiveStills.org http://josephdana.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/beit-ummar-march.20.11.2010.preview.jpg

After half an hour of peaceful demonstrating, a small group of youth moved closer to the soldiers, who responded by firing sound bombs and attempting to arrest a member of the Beit Ummar National Committee. As he evaded arrest, a boy of 14 and five other activists were taken in his place.


An Israeli activist arrested by soldiers. Picture credit: Ann Paq/ActiveStills

Activists returned to face the soldiers and stand in solidarity with those arrested. They were then repeatedly attacked by volleys of tear gas and chased up the road to the village.

Bil'in

After a frequent night invasions of the village the previous week, we were invited to renew the presence at nights of activists of the AAtW.
" Hey all, Tonight we'll also join our friends in Bil'in Contact me to sign up"

Friday

Some 10 internationals and 25 Israelis joined the Palestinian demonstration in Bil'in against the wall, land grab and the Israeli "justice" system that keeps popular resistance leader Abdullah Abu Rahme in prison even after having completed serving his sentence. Demonstrators marched to the wall, opened the gate, and were immediately bombarded with gas. A strong wind from the south enabled demonstrators to maintain their stance despite the repeated assaults, and one Israeli demonstrator took advantage of the friendly wind to give a long speech in Hebrew to the soldiers, urging them to stop repressing the peaceful protest and protecting land thieves. Along the northern stretch of the fence, where a few cunning kids threw stones at the soldiers, provoking them to shoot gas that the wind blew back in their faces, rubber bullets were shot that wounded one youth. After about an hour most demonstrators were half way into the village, but the soldiers apparently hadn't had enough, so they kept gassing the retreating demonstrators and eventually invaded the village. Their provocation didn't get much attention, so after a few more rounds of gas, the soldiers retreated.

In the last couple of weeks some of the longer range gas canisters didn't make the typical hissing noise that warns against their approach. If you're around please make sure to watch out and look up, so that a silent canister won't surprise you and crack your head open.

Israel Puterman video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bj7kJCm9_M

Gal Lugasy tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r41CvMzWKHQ&feature=player_embedded#at=41
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r41CvMzWKHQ
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEOQ50jHPjM
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQ9lgo4JJQ
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbn4aGbNB_Q
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upuBIm4pQBk

Jerusalem

The Sheikh Jarakh coalition continue fighting starting the second year. The Friday demo is still the main focus.

Al-Ma'sara

After Friday prayers, dozens of Palestinian and international activists marched on the streets of Al-Ma’sara carrying Palestinian flags. The Occupation Army blocked the road and prevented them from reaching their confiscated lands. As soon as the non-violent demonstration reached the entrance of the village, the Israeli soldiers throw sound bombs.The peace activists were not intimidated and didn’t leave their ground continuing demanding their right to access their lands. After a while, the soldiers dispersed the crowd using tear gas. No one was arrested or injured but many suffered from inhaling tear gas.The solders continue inside the village following the protesters deeply in the village This demonstration come in the 22n anniversary of the announcement of the Palestinian state


Ni'ilin

Media, "Dozens join protests at Nil'in, Bil'in By JPOST.COM STAFF 11/19/2010 14:13

Police and IDF forces dispersed dozens of Israeli and international left-wing as well as Palestinian protesters on Friday at demonstrations held in at the West Bank villages of Nil'in and Bil'in near the West Bank security barrier.

The West Bank protests were dispersed with tear gas after the protesters began to throw stones at IDF forces."

Nabi Salih

This Friday in Nabi Saleh the Israeli border police used its stink water tank in the center of the village, as a clear and gross collective punishment measure against the entire village for Friday demonstrations.

The stink water is a foul-smelling liquid that makes it unbearable to live in the place where it is squirted on for at least one week. It is not officially intended for use inside a populated area, but that has been its use against Nabi Saleh residents and demonstration in the past, and this gross attack is now being retained.

The demonstration in Nabi Saleh against the creeping annexation of land by the Halamish settlement started with an immediate unprovoked attack by Israeli border police on a peaceful and non-violent march. Following this attack, clashes erupted, with some stone-throwers attempting to ward off the army incursion. Nevertheless the army manage to position itself just outside the village's built area and shot its tear gas canisters towards the village, repressing also non-protesting civilians.

Throughout the demonstration the Israeli army has shot tear gas canisters directly at the protesters, a dangerous conduct which violates even the army's own regulations. Rubber-coated still bullets were also widely used by the army. As a result at least 10 protesters suffered from non-serious injuries.

David Ribbvideo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol6KlUPr1M0


Tel Aviv

A "Flash Mob" of the AAtW in front of the opera house in the evening when the South African troupe presented Forgy and Bes.

A modified version of it was presented by the activists: Debut/Primary of Forgy and Bess by the Opartheid troupe and a flier denouncing Israeli apartheid was distributed to the opera goers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk

Haaretz
http://www.mouse.co.il/CM.articles_item,410,209,56844,.aspx

Haokets
http://www.haokets.org/2010/11/15/%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A9/

ynet
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3985088,00.html

activestills photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/

South of Hebron mountains

Colonial settlers attack on Palestinian villagers and activists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk8gG0IUs5Q

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Palestine-Israel, So many locations of joint struggle frequently bring about an anniversary - this week one year for the Sheikh Jarrah struggle

Beit Ommar & Saffa

The demonstration in Beit Ommar will be at 9 AM this week in Saffa (not near Karmei Tsur) (Saffa Accompaniment is Canceled this Thursday)
The change in plans comes on the heals of increased military repression as soldiers refuse farmers access to their land and arrest international accompaniers.
Farmers in the Saffa valley were prevented by the Israeli military from working on their land Tuesday morning. Ali Ahmed Thalj Aady and Hani Nimr Aady went out with their families to work on their land at 8 am, when they were stopped by a group of Israeli soldiers. The soldiers prevented them from working on the land, and detained them in the sun without water for 5 hours. The farmers were told that the land is “unregistered,” and that if they return they will be arrested.
The incident came on the heels of the arrest of 6 international activists this past Sunday as they accompanied farmers to their land in Saffa. The internationals were also told that they were on unregistered land, and were threatened with arrest if they returned.
We are calling all international and Israeli supporters to join the people of Saffa as they refuse annexation and demand access to their land!
To learn more about Saffa go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n27ZXkRfHNU.

MEDIA
5 left wing anarchists, including one Israeli, were arrested over suspicions that they set fire to fields owned by members of the Bat Ayin settlement in Gush Etzion. The suspects were arrested by IDF forces and were handed over to the police for processing.

Bil'in

As it was Arafat day, Palestinians out of the village joined the dozen Israelis, about 3 dozen internationals and the people of the village for the Friday noon demo. At the head of the march was a car with sound system to enhance the chants. Marchers carried placards, pictures and balloons with the Palestinian colors. Half the way to the old separation fence to be soon replaced by the new one - as ordered long long ago by the Israeli supreme court of "justice", we converged at the side of the road to hear a speech by a dignitary guest.

When it ended we resume marching but not for long. The state forces started to shoot on us a shower of tear gas hundreds of meters from the fence - may be they were angered by colored balloons flying a banner high above them.

As there was no friendly wind, the clouds of tear gas had driven most of us back to the village. However, the shabbab continued their usual confrontation... but the soldiers changed their usual tactics and chased the shabbab into the village.

Some confrontations but mostly the tear gas grenades they threw stinged them and they left hastily.

As usual, most of the Israelis continued to the Sheikh Jarah Friday afternoon demonstration.

Haithm Katib video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSYp-4KNc4c
Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=239700&id=686182483

As the efforts of the Israeli state to put end to the struggle of Bil'in people against the separation fence escalate again, their main tactic this time is the frequent invasion of the village. They found it more political harmful to harass the international visitors. They found that the harassing and efforts to block the Israelis of the anarchists against the wall from joining the Bil'iners just contribute to expand our joint struggle to additional villages.

So, the new strategy is to escalate the pressure on the activists of Bil'in itself:
"Israeli occupation forces raid the village of Bil'in for the second time during the ten hours at seven thirty in the evening. [The first invasion was at the last stage of this Friday noon demonstration.] The Israeli army forces raided the village of Bil'in with five jeeps at seven and a half pm of Friday 11/12/2010 with firing tear gas, sound bombs and rubber bullets, inside housing, towards people, then they attacked a coffee shop in the village owned by Tarek Mohamed Tawfiq, where they detained more than twenty young
man. For a while, they have interrogated people and asked about Ashraf al-Khatib. Then the people of the village came to the area and forced them to leave the coffee shop. From there they moved on and attacked the house of Haitham al-Khatib who is a cameraman for Betselem. They assaulted him and his wife. they invasion and clashes continued for an hour till they left the village.
Note:- that this raids is the seventh in four days"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_53-MWldU


Ma'asara 12.11
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97742&id=1563442697


Nabi Saleh

Nabi Saleh demonstration against the creeping annexation of its lands by the Halamish settlement was held this Friday in commemoration of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Many West Bank Palestinians attempted to attend the demonstration but were attacked and blocked by the Israeli army, which surrounded and closed all entrances to the village from 6AM till the afternoon, after the demonstration has started. Due to the immediate attack by the army, the demonstrators had to resort to sporadic attempts to ward off or stand against the army incursion. The army used the high-velocity increased-range tear gas canisters that are harder to trace and have been proved lethal and too dangerous. Shooting of the regular canisters directly at protesters - which is also dangerous and goes against the army own regulations - was very common. The army often did not allow protesters to leave the village's populated area, thereby collectively punishing the entire village's population, using sound bombs, rubber-coated bullets, and a tear gas canisters cannon, called by the village residents "the 64", for its launching of many canisters at the same time.

Friday 12.11.2010 video of protests at An Nabi Salih and Ni'ilin at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALmBARPfwPE


Ni'lin

A larger than usual group of demonstrators, including a group of five women from Jenin, gathered for Ni'lin's weekly protest in the village's olive groves, marking the sixth anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat. the protesters marched down to the wall, where the crowd chanted slogans and hung a banner on the wall. youths from the village and elsewhere threw stones over the wall and soldiers responded with tear gas grenades. Later on, a couple of demonstrators managed to cut a section of the fence, including the electronic wiring and cables, right under the noses of the soldiers guarding it. All protesters then dispersed, no injuries were recorded.

Pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16882&id=100001627657640&fbid=116990621698526


Sheikh Jarrah

On November 12, approximately 400 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists marked one year of Friday afternoon protests in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Demonstrators were met by Israeli soldiers and police, but a group of few dozens succeeded to enter the street of the original invaders the police make extra efforts each Friday to prevent us from entering.

Taybe

A tour and a joint demonstration by the Solidarity Sheikh Jarrah (the AAtW are part of) on Saturday the 13th, within the 1948 border and discrimination, against strangulation of the hoses building options.

Hundreds of Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity activists came to the Arab-Israeli city of Taybeh for a solidarity tour and demonstration. The residents of Taybeh suffer greatly from house demolitions and land confiscations as a result of Israeli discriminatory policies. The activists along with Taybeh residents proceeded to hold a demonstration on the main road near the city.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Palestine-Israel, In defiance of the settler colonialists escalation the joint struggle expand.

In defiance of the expanding and intensifying international pressure, and what seems to be a desperate efforts the settler colonialists steps are mounting. The joint struggle to which the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity coalition "Just Jerusalem" solidify and expand to more and more location of struggle within 1948 Israeli borders. The more radicals who join the direct actions, including with those the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative lead Israelis to seems to increase too: Bil'in, Beit Jalla, Beit Ummar, Al Khalil - Hebron, Ma'asara, Nabi Saleh, Ni'lin, south of Hebron mountains, Wad Rahhal, Walaje

Bil'in

About 30 Israelis and 15 internationals joined the Palestinian demonstration in Bil'in against the fence and occupation that steals the locals' lands and liberty. The demonstrators marched to the gate, opened it, engaged in a brief verbal exchange with the soldiers, were confronted with an arbitrary and unauthorized closed military zone declaration, and gassed away - all in a space of just a couple of minutes. Most demonstrators backed away, but the shabab came forward retaliated with stones. The clashes went on for a while, but when the shabab were about to call it a day, the soldiers decided they want more, so they crossed the fence and initiated another round of gas-oppression and stone-resistance.

David Reeb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCPTfaBdBO4
Haitham Katib: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4sAtlCU0kE&feature=share
Meshed25: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUUFWYlpQ0g

Justice-Jerusalem http://www.en.justjlm.org/

The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity coalition (Just(ice) Jerusalem - The AAtW are part of) expand the scope...

Solidarity with Taibeh by just Jerusalem

On Friday, 29 October, a delegation of representatives from the Taibeh Popular Committee joined us for the Sheikh Jarrah weekly demonstration. The delegation’s visit was another step towards building Jewish-Arab solidarity in Taibeh.

During the demonstration, Dr Zoheir Tibi said:

Taibeh is with you in your struggle for justice against dispossession, the demolition of homes, land expropriation! We are with you here to express solidarity. We are with you here also to say thank you for the Solidarity Delegation’s visit to Taibeh. It was an important visit for us. It was an encouraging boost for continuing our struggle against all the injustices perpetrated against us.

Clip from the demonstration:

Taibeh is the third largest Arab town in Israel, with more than 35,000 residents. It has 6,709 housing units, comprises 18,554 dunams, of which a built up area of 4,735 dunams. 98% of land under the town’s jurisdiction was, until recently, in private hands. Over the past few years more and more of this land has been expropriated for “National Projects” such as the construction of Highway 6, a gas pipeline, a quarry, all of which encroach upon and compress the space available to the town’s Arab citizens.

The laws of separation and racism now being advanced in the Knesset by Netanyahu and Barak, Lieberman and Yishai, along with the discrimination and a sense of being under threat that is already felt among a million of this country’s population, combine to cast doubt on their very citizenship.

Faced with this reality we will work, Jews and Arabs together, to show that the real project is building partnership.

On Saturday 13 November 2010 we will go to Taibeh on a solidarity tour and form a joint protest chain with the town’s residents.

Just as in Sheikh Jarrah, our politics are formed on the street, where the injustice occurs, a place where we can learn, expose and correct the reality that discriminates between us. Together, we declare: where there is racism there is no loyalty. And we are not loyal to Lieberman.

Join us before more homes are demolished, before more racist laws are passed, and before the drizzle becomes a flood.

Projected timetable:

Arrival and tour 14:00-16:00

Protest 16:00-17:30

Buses will leave from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Sharon area.


Silwan

Still the struggle continue and Monday demo at noon a vigil in front of the municipality building


Sheikh Jarrah

Wednesday, regular weekly meeting of Solidarity Sheikh Jarrah activists.

Friday
The demonstration was the last of a year of Friday afternoon persistent struggle. Like many of the demos of last months it started with a march from the ancient city to the center of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. There people from Tel Aviv and noon demos in villages against the separation fence were already converging.

After a while, the few hundreds demonstrators marched through the new Um Haroun neighborhood to be evicted soon, to the main street that pass between the occupied east Jerusalem to the part of the city within the 1948 borders.

Few police officers warned us that the march is an illegal demonstration... but no one paid attention to them and they did nothing to enforce that claim.

demo videos:
Guybo111: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0P6PkZIMM
Meshed25: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMGcq8HCrMU

Beit Omar

Beit Jalla

Al Ma'sara

Nabi Saleh

Al Khalil Hebron


Ni'lin

Three Israelis joined the ranks of the residents of Ni'lin and a number of Norwegian visitors in Ni'lin's weekly protest. the march that set off from the village's olive groves led to the route of the wall, where some of the village youth threw stones over the wall, and others chanted and wrote graffiti on the concrete. the soldiers fired tear gas, and tried to cross the barrier and chase the protesters, but the combined forces of several of the shabbab impeded their progress. the protesters thus managed to return to

the route of the barrier, and disbanded on their own accord. No injuries were recorded.

Nilinvillage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWlX7IJZ4I

Wad Rahhal

Another joint olive picking in the village grooves located in area infested by colonialist settlers.

Al-Walaja

A critical peace march in Al-Walaja Noon Friday, 5 November 2010. The local committee invites all activists to this critical event coming only 3 days before a key Israeli supreme court session that will rule about the wall that is being built to strangulate the village. Attending the march on Friday will help in drawing media attention to the now critical situation in this village. The local committee also asks people to attend the court on Monday starting at 9 AM. This is a critical period and the local committee calls on making this peaceful march the largest ever to send a message: no to ethnic cleansing, no to separating villagers from their land. For more information call A. or S.

Justicewheels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFn5FsR7j1c


MEDIA

Israeli who disrupted PM's speech: We were raised on human rights
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3981697,00.html

Youngster who heckled Netanyahu during GA address in New Orleans says US Jews distancing themselves from community due to 'expectation of blind loyalty to Israel'

"When I got up to disrupt the prime minister's speech, he was speaking of the de-legitimization of Israel, and I yelled out that I am an Israeli and that it is the occupation, the Gaza blockade and the loyalty oath which delegitimize Israel," said Matan Cohen, one of five protestors who heckled Benjamin Netanyahu during his keynote address to the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in New Orleans on Monday.
"We (protestors) decided every five-six minutes one of us would get up and yell. We were detained and later transferred to the custody of the Secret Service," he told Ynet.
Cohen is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that works to achieve a "lasting peace that recognizes the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination."
Cohen, 21, was one of the founders of Anarchists Against the Wall, an Israeli group supporting the Palestinian campaign against the construction of the West Bank security barrier. Four years ago, he was injured from a rubber bullet fired by security forces during an anti-fence rally in the West Bank.
He is currently enrolled at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, which became the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies due to their involvement in the "Israeli occupation of Palestine."
"Israel's actions are the cause of its deteriorating status in the international community," Cohen said. "Many young Jewish Americans are distancing themselves from the community, which expects their blind loyalty to Israel.
"Netanyahu was expecting a supportive audience, but as Jews and Israelis we will not remain silent. An entire community that was raised on human rights will not turn a blind eye."
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See Previous reports at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Palestine-Israel, Just another week of joint struggles of the AAtW and the wider Israeli radicals circle with Palestinian activists.

Jerusalem is still in the focus of struggle because the transfer efforts there are increasing lately. The joint struggle in the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah occupied neighborhoods contributed to the building of a wider circle of activists - including liberal and left Zionists who regard the new wave of transfer efforts as both despised and endangering the previous gains of Zionist settler colonialist project. The joining of grass root Palestinian activists plus direct action and mild confronting of state forces - the mode developed by the AAtW is adopted by the new initiative. It is self labeled "The Sheikh Jarrah initiative" but it is involved in more and more struggles - both in Jerusalem and within the 1948 borders of Israel. Beit Ula is another village just joined lately to the string of Beit Ummar, Beit Jallah, Bil'in, Ma'asara, Nabi Saleh, Ni'ilin, Wad Rahal, and Wallaje.
Beit Ommar

"I want to add that its extremely pivotal right now for more people to come to the weekly protest in Bait Ommar."

Demo of 23/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKH-T9D5pFs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA7WkcwFUjk

Join the people of Beit Ommar in their weekly protest against the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement. This week the residents of Beit Ommar celebrated the release from Israeli prison of two village youth, Yousef Abu Hashem and ‘Amer Abu Maria, both of whom were held for over 4 months by Israeli military court. An additional 13 people, aged 15-28, have been arrested in the last month, all relating to the demonstrations being held weekly in Beit Ommar against settlement expansion. They include Popular Committee member Eyad ‘Alami, who was placed in administrative detention, 5 youth arrested during the demonstrations by undercover soldiers on October 9 and October 23, and a series of youth arrested from their homes in the middle of the night. We are calling on Israeli and international activists to join the people of Beit Ommar in their weekly demonstration in order to deter further arrests and military violence.

Bil'in

This Friday about 25 internationals and 15 Israelis joined the Palestinian demonstration in Bil'in against the occupation, land grab and the oppression of popular resistance. The demonstrators marched to the gate while some shabab expressed their dismay at the soldiers along the northern stretch of the fence. Even while the procession was still on its way, the soldiers started bombarding the shabab with gas.

As the group moved peaceful towards the site of the wall, they chanted to free Palestinian political prisoners. Demonstrators carrying the Palestinian flag crossed through the opened gate to the route of the fence to confront the awaiting soldiers with the simple question, "What are you doing here?"

When the soldiers tired of the presence of people demanding access to the agricultural lands belonging to Bil'in farmers, they began firing tear gas. The hot gas canister ignited fires in the dry olive orchards, which residents hurried to extinguish to protect the trees from damage.
Since the wind blew in the demonstrators' face, it was very difficult to stay together.

For a while it was possible for the exceptionally handful of sturdy and gas-tolerant women and men to avoid the gas, while most demonstrators had to retreat, watching from behind the shabab who tried to stone the gas away.
Eventually it became too much, and the rest of demonstrators too had to retreat to the village.

Bil'in video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifGt7ndHGyM&feature=share

Beit Ula

"there will be another demonstration in beit Ula tomorrow. please call
me if you can come."
k.

It seems Beit Ula is another village that will join the on going nonviolent joint struggle of Palestinian villages - grass root communities.


South Hebron Mountain

Arresting activists during action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk8gG0IUs5Q

Jerusalem - Al Kuds

Jerusalem Mayor Disrupted & Protest over Silwan.

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat was scheduled to give a speech on Tuesday October 26th at the opening of an art gallery in the city. Israeli activists from the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement were on-hand to protest Barkat's policies towards Palestinians living in Jerusalem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4phW5j83YE

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3975487,00.html

OECD tourism conference in Jerusalem

"There are a number of activities gating Organized Against the OECD conference that begins this week. More activists are needed. Please contact if you Want to participate N."

Banner drop against OECD tourism conference on the monumental Strings Bridge on the entrance to Jerusalem - videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/stellanagm?feature=mhum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fAFHsUks8c

Sheikh Jarrah: following the courts' ruling to evict Oum Haroun

A guided tour in the site that's in threat of eviction according to court's ruling. Crowd chanting, accompanied by the drummer-activist group.

Evictions in Um Harun neighborhood

"We need your help to stop the evictions of Um Harun. Please Sign up to receive direct action calls.

The residents of the Um Harun neighborhood, located in Sheikh Jarrah, are under threat of expulsion from their homes. In the last several years a group of settlers have been making efforts to evict the Palestinian residents of the area and take over their houses. The settlers claim ownership to the land based on documents from the Otmanian period, and as of late the court has acknowledged this claim. On the other hand, the court does not acknowledge the Palestinian residents' ownership of the land from which they were expelled in the 48' war.

Apart from the legal discrimination and the deep human injustice which will be caused, the settlement of East Jerusalem jeopardizes any possibility of a future agreement with the Palestinians. Moreover, the entrance of the settlers into these neighborhoods has a devastating effect on the lives of the Palestinians residents.

We are determined to stand together with the residents of Um Harun at this difficult time and will attempt to stop the eviction. This requires as many activists as possible who will arrive at the neighborhood in case of an attempted eviction.

To get a real-time notice of the attempted eviction please send an email
include your name and (cellular) number.

Friday demonstration included mass tour of the hundreds of participants into the Um Harun neighborhood bordering on the location of the usual demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u3NCXrBA7k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4M2leFXyI

Al Ma'asara

Israeli Army Arrests Nonviolent Demonstrator in Al-Ma'asara
In a peaceful demonstration attended by Palestinians, Israelis and international activists in the Palestinian village of Al-Ma'asara in the West Bank, the Israeli army advanced on the demonstrators without being provoked, arrested one protester and then proceeded to throw grenades and tear gas at the demonstrators

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUL9Kr6aOf0

About 15 Israelis and 10 internationals joined 30 Palestinians for the weekly demonstration against the separation fence, the robbery of lands, and the suppression of Ma'asara. The demonstrators demanded the state forces to refrain from blocking their way to their land in that day of celebration... but were denied. The soldiers replied with sound and gas grenades - pushing the people back for a while. The demonstrators regrouped and advanced again, protesting the assault on a peaceful demonstration. The demonstrators' singing and speeches was carried for a while till the state forces attacked again throwing grenades on the retreating demonstrators. One Israeli of the AAtW was snatched and released only hours later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgHOXOcdiOo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUL9Kr6aOf0


Nabi Saleh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYsnxijs_zE&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igRyNcQJVO0


Ni'ilin


Olive Picking

This week too, Anarchists Against The Wall (AAtW) activists joined with other Israelis the Palestinian villages who are hard to get to olive grooves near colonialist settlement for olive picking work.


Umm Al-Fahem

A Palestinian town within 1948 Israeli border:

"The extreme naZionist Baruch Marzel and his thugs will be demonstrating
this Wednesday, 27.10.10 in Um Elfahm!!"

AAtW activists joined other out of Umm Al-Fahem town to confront them and the state forces who accompanied them for "protection".
Violent clashes have broken out between Palestinian-Israelis and Israeli police in response to a demonstration by members of a right-wing Jewish group in the town of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel. Israeli police fired tear gas...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJGRGBDjAzM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzBbgKal8Ek

Anarchists Against The Wall (AAtW) have joined Palestinian villagers in a joint popular struggle which has been a potent tool in the hands of Palestinians and a focus of much of the solidarity movement. This struggle has remained steadfast for over 7 years and continues to be one of the most effective ways to resist Israel's construction of the wall and settlements.

AAtW are in the midst of a fund raising tour in North America. There efforts are invested in education, propaganda and raising funds. Our main expenses are the payment for legal defense for hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli activists who are arrested and put on trial for their part in the resistance in our joint direct actions and because of them.

For details about tour locations and dates please see http://tour.resist-il.org/confirmed
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See Previous reports at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com