Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle continue with the usual repression and resistance

Though the winter here is very mild with most days sunny and not so cold, the political whether is stormy. The colonial settlers attacks on the Palestinian villagers as a punishment for restriction of settlers by Israeli authorities are interwoven with the joint struggles, mainly in the villages persistence "Tsumud" resisting the crawling encroachment of their lands and transfer. In addition to the hot struggle in Nabi Saleh and the intermittent one in Wallage, there are the Kufr Qaddoum and Kfar A-Dic who joined lately, and the long term ones of Beit Ummar, Bil'in, Al-Ma'asara, Ni'ilin, Sheikh Jarrah (Jerusalem-AlKuds), South Hebron Hills. And of course, though in a toned down measure the social justice "Occupy Rothschild" struggle continue focused on the resisting the destructions of the few remaining tent camps.


Bil'in

Few hundreds marched in Friday demo in Bil'in commemorating the murder of Jawahar Abu Rhama a year ago as a result of the huge amounts of teargas fired by IOF. Among the marchers were about three dozen Israelis with the anarchists against the wall initiative, as well as lot of political activists from Ramallah and international activists. The wind was changing direction so the Israeli state forces failed in the efforts to disperse us.
After a long while a convoy of armed cars and soldiers crossed the wall and try to intimidate us... but were driven away by the shabab not before injuring 4 of us with metal bullets wrapped by rubber and many who suffocated for a while by tear gas. At the end we returned to the village weary but satisfied.

Another take:
Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Bil'in, 06.01.2012.
Anne Paq: "The weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil'in was dedicated to Jawaher Abu Rahmah, a Palestinian resident from Bil'in, who died last year following massive tear gas inhalation during the demonstration.
The large group of protesters walked towards the Separation Wall which is built on the lands of Bil'in to protect the nearby settlement of Mod'ilin Illit, also built on the village's land.
The visual effect was greatly enhanced by a lots of Palestinian youth wearing masks made of hats with the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The Israeli soldiers started to throw tear gas on protesters. One Israeli soldier also shot live ammunition towards a Palestinian protester who managed to pass the barbed wire line in front of the Wall. As the protesters were actually walking back, Israeli jeeps crossed the Wall to chase demonstrators, attacking them with tear gas and bullets. Palestinian youth started to throw stones at the jeeps, the Israeli soldiers continued shooting. Some brave Palestinian demonstrators came closer to prevent the soldiers from shooting. At one stage, a protester even jumped on one Israeli soldier to stop him shooting, another one also managed to throw a tear gas canister inside a jeep. Amazing footage can be seen in Haitham Katib's video below. The Israeli soldiers finally withdrew, leaving four protesters injured. It is quite again a miracle that today no one was killed or seriously injured. Jawaher did not have that chance; she was killed by the tear gas, which has become a lethal weapon in the Middle East.
"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkiaME0q18E
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.343046435705667.91483.136633479680298
Richard http://on.fb.me/wpv9Ci


Al-Ma'asara

Also on Friday, Al-Ma'asara activists demonstrated against the renewal of construction work on the Apartheid Wall near the village. Demonstrations in Ma'asara have been taking place on a weekly basis for more than five years now, and after a long pause – construction work in the area was restarted this week.

Kfar a-Dik

There will be a demo in Kfar a-Dik tomorrow. If you can make it please let me know


Nabi Saleh

weekly demonstration, Jan. 6, 2012 against the occupation and settlements
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.343033765706934.91481.136633479680298
Haim Schwarczenberg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3058387137979.2157258.1212414101
David Reeb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkGD4etz9VM
hassan daboos http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.273303012726162.66260.228124070577390
Richard http://on.fb.me/zAaC2d


Ni'ilin

Chen Misgav photos of Ni'ilin & Nabi Saleh http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150572687091803.432950.770301802
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.343064225703888.91485.136633479680298
Richard http://on.fb.me/yxR17i
http://www.nilin-village.org


Qadum

They also have weekly demos in Qadum and we have been invited. If you can make it please let me know.

Kufr Qaddum weekly demonstration Jan. 6, 2012
A protest against the Jewish settlement of Qadomem, near the West Bank City of Nablus on January 6, 2011.

Kufr Qaddoum marches forward despite threats of violence

At noon on the 6th of January, 2012, a demonstration was held in the village Kufr Qaddoum, located just outside Nablus. The people gathered after the Friday-prayer and started marching along the main road that runs through the village. This road was, until the year of 2003, also the main road to Nablus, which by then only was a 10 minute drive away. This came to a short end during the second Intifada when the Israeli army decided to close the road as they considered it a safety risk to the nearby illegal settlements. The Israeli government has, since the end of the Intifada, agreed that the road is not a “safety risk” anymore and therefore gave the green-light to reopen it. The army however has so far disobeyed this decision and refuses to open the road which means that the villagers still have to take a detour of about 30 minutes, making the drive to Nablus three times longer and more expensive than before.
This denial by the army is the reason why today 150 – 200 Palestinians, accompanied by internationals, marched in a peaceful demonstration towards the roadblock to show their dissatisfaction with the Israeli army and to reclaim their right to their road. When the demonstrators approached the road-block they were met by about 15 armed soldiers standing on the road and approximately 5 more soldiers stationed on the hills next to the road. About 50 meters in front of the soldiers on the road they had placed barbed-wire. The soldiers spoke through a megaphone declaring that if anyone crossed the barbed-wire the demonstrators would be met by violence. Not one of the protesters crossed the line nor used any violence but simply tried to remove the barbed-wire when the soldiers began to fire teargas-canisters, forcing the protesters to run back towards the village. The protesters were then followed by a truck spraying them with “skunk-water” from a water canon as well as by soldiers attacking them with teargas and stun-grenades from the hillsides, as well as from the streets, and continued following the protesters deeper into the village. This violence continued throughout the demonstration, which lasted for about two hours. In the end the soldiers withdrew, and the Palestinians reached the road-block where they sang and cheered before they went back to the village, all the time watched by soldiers ready to take action from a hill closer to the nearby settlements.
Photos http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.343053662371611.91484.136633479680298
Israel Puterman video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgArIIgBSYU
Richard http://on.fb.me/zB493c
QNN http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.300795569956762.76179.207291869307133


Sheikh Jarrah

Richard http://on.fb.me/zHllja
Guy Butavia http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150518631402138.396514.779192137

South of Hebron Hills

Saturday 9.1.2012
Activists escorting plowing and sowing, eight new demolition orders in Umm al-heir, 5 demolition orders for cistern in hlat' a - Foron, and a new transport aircraft been build
Saturday, Butavia http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150522766062138.397177.779192137
Guy Butavia http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150525731862138.397735.779192137

Al-Walajeh

Direct action against the building of the Wall, Al-Walajeh, Sunday 08.01.2012 From Anne Paq Today there was a direct action organized in Al-Walajeh village close to Bethlehem. A group of Israel activists sit in front of a caterpillar bulldozer which was working on building the route of the Wall and managed to stop it for about one hour. 9 Israeli activists were forcibly dragged by Israeli soldiers and arrested. They are now in Atarot police station. The action highlights the critical situation of Al-Walajeh village. Once completed the village will be totally surrounded by the Wall, isolating it from both Jerusalem and the West Bank. Hundreds of trees had been uprooted and the villagers will lose access to their lands. More action will take place. Bulldozers building the Wall should not be stopped for one hour, they should be stopped forever!
"9 people were arrested today while blocking a bulldozer working on the route of the Wall in the village Al-Walajeh . They are now interrogated in Atarot in suspicion of violating a legal order and obstructing an officer." All 9 were released late evening with usual restrictions.
See ActiveStills photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2627389998831.2118247.1077725778
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.344237328919911.91699.136633479680298

Tel Aviv

Social Justice struggle
42 activists were detained during a few hundreds demo at Saturday evening in south Tel Aviv (Atikva) against the eviction of homeless families in one of the last occupation camps of the summer social struggle. Among the arrested two of the founders of the J14 uprising. The last ones were released Sunday Morning.

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