Palestine-Israel: The joint struggle continues with the usual repression and resistance

mashriq / arabia / iraq | community struggles | news report Tuesday January 10, 2012 17:36 by Ilan S. - AAtW, ainfos, Matzpen ilan at shalif dot com Tel Aviv

Though the winter here is very mild, with most days sunny and not so cold, the political weather is stormy. The colonial settler attacks on Palestinian villagers as punishment for the restriction of settlers by the Israeli authorities are interwoven with the joint struggles, mainly in the villages' persistent "Tsumud" resistance against creeping encroachment onto their lands and the transfer. In addition to the hot struggle in Nabi Salih and the intermittent one in Walaja, there are the Kafr Qaddum and Kafr Ad-Dik which joined lately, and the long-term ones of Beit Ummar, Bil'in, al-Ma'sara, Ni'lin, Sheikh Jarrah (Jerusalem/al-Quds), and the South Hebron Hills. And of course, though in a toned-down measure, the social justice "Occupy Rothschild" struggle continues, focusing on the resistance against destruction of the few remaining tent camps.

Bil'in

A few hundred marched in Friday's 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 the IDF. Among the marchers were about three dozen Israelis with the Anarchists Against the Wall initiative, as well as a lot of political activists from Ramallah and international activists. The wind was changing direction so the Israeli State forces failed in their efforts to disperse us. After a long while, a convoy of armed cars and soldiers crossed the wall and tried to intimidate us... but were driven away by the shabab, though not before injuring 4 of us with metal bullets wrapped in rubber and suffocating many of us for a while on 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.34304643570566...80298
Richard http://on.fb.me/wpv9Ci

Al-Ma'sara

Also on Friday, al-Ma'sara activists demonstrated against the renewal of construction work on the Apartheid Wall near the village. Demonstrations in Ma'sara 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.

Kafr ad-Dik

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

Nabi Salih

Weekly demonstration, Jan. 6, 2012 against the occupation and settlements
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.34303376570693...80298
Haim Schwarczenberg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3058387137979....14101
David Reeb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkGD4etz9VM
hassan daboos http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.27330301272616...77390
Richard http://on.fb.me/zAaC2d

Ni'lin

Chen Misgav photos of Ni'lin & Nabi Salih http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150572687091...01802
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.34306422570388...80298
Richard http://on.fb.me/yxR17i
http://www.nilin-village.org

Kafr Qaddum

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

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

Kafr Qaddum marches forward despite threats of violence

At noon on the 6th of January, 2012, a demonstration was held in the village Kafr Qaddum, 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.34305366237161...80298
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.30079556995676...07133

Sheikh Jarrah

Richard http://on.fb.me/zHllja
Guy Butavia http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150518631402...92137

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.10150522766062...92137
Guy Butavia http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150525731862...92137

Al-Walaje

Direct action against the building of the Wall, Al-Walaje, Sunday 08.01.2012 From Anne Paq Today there was a direct action organized in Al-Walaje 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-Walaje 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....25778
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.34423732891991...80298

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.