20 juillet 2010
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| Six years to The Hague rulling against The Wall 13/07/2010 Some fifty demonstrators gathered in Ma'asara this week to commemorate the sixth anniversary to the Hague High Court, which branded Israel's West Bank Apartheid Fence illegal according to international law. Demonstrators built a mock-wall, and marched it through the village streets towards the stolen lands. Out of the village and upon arrival at the main regional road, which serves both Palestinians and settlers, demonstrators blocked one lane with their wall, diverting all traffic to the second remaining lane. Speeches were carried and songs sang, until several army jeeps showed up. Soldiers threatened demonstrators that they will use force and declared a closed military zone, but eventually did nothing. After fifteen minutes, the village youth decided it was about time to bring down the wall, and broke it to pieces. This had a curious effect on the soldiers, who stormed in, grabbed what was left of the wall and carried it to the side of the road. They then started shoving the demonstrators, who were already on their way back to the village anyhow. However, no one was hurt or arrested, and everybody returned home peacefully.  Ma'asara demonstration 21 Israelis and well over 50 internationals joined the Bil'in locals for the weekly demonstration against Israeli violations of international law and the other evils of occupation. The demonstrators received caps commemorating 6 years to the Hague International Court verdict against the wall, and wore them enthusiastically as they marched behind a huge "scales of injustice" installation tilted for Israel and against the rest of the world. The army, apparently worried about the large number of international solidarity activists, hardly waited before bombarding the demonstrators with gas and invading the village. The local youth, as usual, did a good job stalling the soldiers' advance with stones and the army's own gas canisters to allow demonstrators a safe retreat, but a couple of Israelis who did not run fast enough through the clouds of gas got arrested. Then the youngsters went on using their means for dispersing soldiers for an admirably long time given the amount of gas, bush fires, and unreasonable heat. On our way back we got a good view of the recently set concrete slabs of the new route of the wall, which may obey the ruling of the Israeli High Court of (in)Justice, but not the verdict of the International Court in the Hague. The weekly protest in Ni'lin was characterized by a larger than usual number of international activists who joined the Palestinian and Israeli regulars. The demonstration made its way to the wall gate, which was sealed shut. Protesters chanted anti occupation slogans, and a few threw stones at the metal gate, and at the soldiers standing guard over the wall. Soldiers fired tear gas canisters. Around two hours into the demonstration, soldiers crossed the wall and started after the protesters, who made their swift getaway, so as not to risk a pointless, possibly violent arrest. No injuries were recorded. In the hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh around 70 Palestinian men, women and children, 10 Israeli activists and 15 internationals gathered in the main square and marched down the hill, blowing paper trumpets and waving flags, towards the Israeli soldiers who were waiting at the crossroads, where the main protest usually occurs. Following last weekend, when soldiers entered the village dressed as civilians and arrested one of the young men, many of the local youth were lying low and did not join in the demonstration. When the group was about 10 metres away, the soldiers started throwing sound bombs, and tear gas canisters were fired directly at the group at head height. Although this is against their rules of deployment, tear gas canisters are regularly used as missiles as well as for crowd dispersal. Two internationals narrowly missed being hit, and a member of the popular committee was arrested, and his wife and four-year-old child briefly detained. Some of the demonstrators made it to the crossroads and the group (mainly women and children) stood chanting at the soldiers. Two Israeli activists were grabbed from the crowd and wrestled into jeeps, amid scuffles with female activists who were roughly pushed away by soldiers. The demonstration continued around the village for a few hours, as soldiers and border police in five jeeps pursued the young men around the area in an attempt to arrest those they had pictures of. Their presence in the village lasted for just two hours, as the usual spirit of the children and women had been dampened by the violent repressive tactics of the Israeli army, and the young men had fled over the hills towards a neighboring village. The three men who had been arrested were released after three hours. Protests against the theft and annexation of Palestinian land to the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish (Neve Zuf) have taken place in the village every Friday since January 2010. Although Israel’s courts ruling that An Nabi Saleh residents owned the valuable agricultural land, nearly half of it has been seized by settlers who also uprooted hundreds of olive trees in January 2010. During the confrontations with the state forces two Israeli activists were detained - charged with ridiculous concocted "crimes"... even the police officers at the Yad Biniamin station dismissed, and the comrades were released with no charge. In southern West Bank village of Wadi Rahal the protest ended peaceful after soldiers did not allow people to reach the construction site of the wall  Sheikh Jarrah In the same week that a number of prominent lawyers, including one former legal advisor to the government, released a letter stating that police actions in Sheikh Jarrah are discriminatory and illegal – four hundred demonstrators showed up at the weekly protest to prove the letter right. The demonstrators demanded to be let in the neighborhood, something that has been denied them for months now, while right-wing settlers are allowed to have protests in the same place. Demonstrators marched in perfect order, avoiding the road and sticking to the pavements, and asked police officers to remove roadblocks and let them in. When met with brut force and pushed back, demonstrators raised their hands in the air as a sign of non-violence. After about half an hour, some eighty demonstrators were able to make their way around the blockade, and started a demonstration opposite the Palestinian houses taken over by settlers with High Court backing. The police, which now had to handle a demonstration on several fronts, increased the violence, arrested ten demonstrators, and hit many more. After about an hour of intense efforts and much violence, met with passive resistance, all demonstrators were pushed back to the garden opposite the neighborhood – the only place the police allows demonstrations to take place, in spite of several court rulings. Eventually, after more than two hours of energy packed demonstration, activists decided to leave, and marched to the Jerusalem detention centre, to cheer up those arrested earlier. About 100 Palestinians and their international and Israeli supporters gathered next to the closed gates of the Israeli army blockade on Shuhada street in the July 10th Saturday demonstration of the “Open Shuhada Street” campaign in Hebron. After some chanting and speeches, 6 activists performed a dance to a Lady Gaga song, in response to an army soldiers' much publicized clip in the segregated Shuhada street, featuring Kesha's Tik Tok hit. In the activists' version, it was a dance that ended in Palestinians getting arrested as they turned their backs to their “Israeli” counterparts. After the dance the protesters started marching through one of the old city allies, next to settlers' homes. They were blocked by Israeli soldiers, which pushed the non-violent protesters and tried to pursue and arrest one activist unsuccessfully. Due to the army's violence, protesters set on the ground in front of the soldiers for a while and then went through another way, where the soldiers failed to stop the march. At a certain point, settlers threw water at the march and the market street. The demonstration ended peacefully shortly afterwards. | SearchDonate Coming EventsComing Events Weekly Friday demonstrations The weekly demonstrations against the wall in Bil'in, Al-Ma'asara, Nilin & Nabi-Saleh. For more details on transportation call Against Wall 052-6306787 (No SMS). Statistics Legal Statistics Indictments so far: 129Convictions: 15 Acquittals: 10 Plea Bargains: 29 Cases Withdrawn: 9 Ongoing Cases: 66 ... and counting Electronic Intifada Updates
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