Sunday, 20 May 2012

hunger strike ends


On the evening of 14 May, Palestinian prisoners' ended their hunger strike. The prisoners' committee representing the hunger strikers announced the agreement that they had won: an end to the use of long-term isolation of prisoners for "security" reasons - with Israel currently keeping Palestinians in isolation for up to 10 years; for an end to the denial of family visits; and that no new administrative detention orders or renewals of administrative detention orders will be issued for the 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, unless the secret files, upon which administrative detention is based, contain "very serious" information.
Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh spent an incredible 77 days on hunger strike, and over 2000 spent almost a full month without food. The steadfastness of those hunger strikers was inspirational - and your support was critical. As with any non-violent direct action, international support and solidarity was essential in raising the issue on a global stage, and increasing pressure on the Israeli government to abide by human rights law. Despite the mainstream news media's silence, the creative use of social media including twitter, with #75DaysVSApartheid trending internationally, successfully broke the silence, and spread the word about the protests inside Palestine, and internationally.
As Richard Falk points out: ‘the animating hunger of these Palestinians is for peace and justice, for love and dignity, and that their heroic strikes would have impossible without cherishing life and future freedom for the people of Palestine'.

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

More land-grabbing - Olive trees in jeopardy



Ousra loses more land to the ever-expanding colonies
Sunday, April 29, a group of settlers bulldozed agricultural lands belonging to the village of Qusra, in Nablus district. In the morning hours, the settlers went to the piece of land, which is even located far from the settlements surrounding the village but had been targeted before by the settlers. Many times, the area was a location of clashes between the people from Qusra that were out there to protect their lands against the settlers’ usurpation.
link to www.stopthewall.org

IOA plans to uproot 1,000 olive trees
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has informed Palestinian farmers in Wadi Qana in Deir Estiya village, west of Salfit, that one thousand of their olive trees would be chopped off.
May Day illustration by Majed Badra
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

news in april

48 hours before 8am 16 April 2012 [Main source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group (PMG) - Thanks too, to Laura Stuart
Dawn: Israeli air strike hits Gaza City
Israeli Army tanks shell Northern Gaza
Israeli Army missiles hit Gaza farms
Israeli Navy opens fire on Palestinian fishing boats
Settler militants stone international cyclists
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in 20 towns and villages
1 air strike – 5 attacks – 47 raids including home invasions – 5 beaten – 6 injured – 2 acts of agricultural/economic sabotage – 11 taken prisoner – 22 detained – 107 restrictions of movement
Home invasions & occupations:11:00, Jayus - 01:30, Jayus town - 03:45, Al-Ubeidiya. 10:50, Seida - 02:50, Bethlehem - 23:15, Hebron.
Peace disruption raids:01:05, Deir Sudan - 02:25, Burhan - 14:30, Al-Araf - 22:15, Zabuba - 00:15, Al-Yamun - 00:45, Beit Qad - 14:40, Beit Lid - 16:50, Izbat Shofat - evening, Anabta - 20:50, Izbat Al-Tabib - 23:00, Nabi Elias - 06:25, Beit Ibba - 07:00, Jericho - 19:00, Bethlehem - 19:20, Al-Thahiriyye - 00:40, Hebron. dawn, Gaza. 15:25, Abu Dis - 21:30, Al-Ram - 14:10, Ramallah - 14:10, Al-Bireh - 16:00, Jalbun - 17:00, Zubaba - 22:50, Arraba - 09:45, Allar - 22:50, Zeita - 00:15, Anabta - 00:25, Tulkarem - 15:00, Hablat - 15:00, Ras-Terih - 01:15, Qalqilya - 21:40, Beita - 14:35, Al-Khadr - 22:10, Al-Khadr - 09:25, Bani Na’im - 11:45, Qalqis, - 12:00, Deir Samit - 13:00, Dura - 14:10, Al-Thahiria - 16:00, Yatta - 16:00, Beit Ammra - 22:00, Al-Sima.
illustration: Majed Badra

Monday, 9 April 2012

Easter Monday - Gaza this week

Life continues as 'normal' in the Strip.In the past week, Two people were injured in Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Israeli tanks fired on, and invaded Gaza farmland, ruining crops. Gaza farms were under Israeli fire from the Green Line.

(Collated by Laura Stuart)

Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Short-lived cease-fire in Gaza

The citizens of Gaza continue to suffer attacks by the Israeli military, power cuts and various deprivations of life's necessities. A cease-fire brokered today lasted a few hours  until an Israeli attack on a funeral. More details here

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Fun with mom and pop - making holes

Laura Stuart, eagle-eyed and vigilant observer, has just posted this interesting piece about alternative holidays. If you grew up with hollywood westerns and any kind of gun culture it might look like the most natural and wholesome "fun" thing to do together as family. If this is your idea of fun, a firm called Caliber 3 will provide top Israeli anti-fright experts to show you how to pull that trigger:

Latest "Family Holiday"
Take the family to Israel and learn how to shoot guns
http://caliber3.webads.co.il/

picture: "Settlers" carry on the Hollywood tradition

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Zionist invasions, attacks and other crimes in occupied Palestine


Israeli attack: Jerusalem – 14:20, the Israeli Army fired tear gas and stun grenades at residents in Silwan.
Israeli attack – homes under Israeli fire: Tubas – Israeli troops opened fire on homes near Al Farisiya village.
Israeli attack: Salfit – 19:45-22:40, the Israeli Army, firing stun grenades, raided Deir Istiya for almost three hours.
Home invasions – assaults – injuries – hospitalisations: Jerusalem – evening, Israeli troops raided Al Issawiya village and stormed into several homes, assaulting and injuring four people, Rami Obied, Lailay Al Esawi, Sahdi Al esawi and Shireen Al Esawi, who were later admitted to hospital.
Home invasions – ten-hour ordeal: Ramallah – 17:20-03:20, the Israeli Army raided Al Mughir village for ten hours, invaded several homes and took five prisoners.
Home invasions and vandalism: Hebron – 11:20, the Israeli Army raided the Al Munthar area in Yatta, invaded a home, vandalised the contents and took one prisoner.
Raid: Ramallah – 15:15, the Israeli Army raided El Bireh city and invaded a shop.
Raid: Tulkarem – 14:15, the Israeli Army raided the city and interrogated several residents.
Raid: Qalqilya – 14:55, the Israeli Army raided Izbat Al Tabib village, stormed a woodwork shop and interrogated several workers.
Raid – terror: Nablus – 05:05, Israeli soldiers raided the Askar refugee camp and threatened to shoot several security officers.
Raid – injury: Hebron – 11:30, Israeli forces raided Al Tabaqa village, injuring a villager, Mahmoud Matar, and taking prisoner three people.
Raid – abductions: Hebron – 16:35, Occupation forces raided the Al Fawwar refugee camp and abducted two youngsters: Mahmoud Al Teti (15) and Mohammad Al Aza (16).
Prisoners taken – economic sabotage: Northern Gaza – 07:10, the Israeli Navy seized a fishing boat off Beit Lahiya and took prisoner the two-man crew, Jamal Sultan and Fadil Sultan.
Prisoners taken – economic sabotage: Northern Gaza – 17:40, the Israeli Navy detained two young fishermen off Beit Lahiya, Mahmoud Abu Rayala (14) and Adham Abu Rayala, and held them for almost eight hours.
Home invasions – theft and damage: Qalqilya – 05:45, February 12, additional to an earlier report, Israeli soldiers raided Jayus, invaded homes and stole a computer, the property of local resident, Omar Mahmoud Also stolen were a cellular telephone belonging to another villager, Nader Khriesha, and three cellular phones from the home of Mohammad Jabers, after breaking down the door and forcing an entry.
Occupation settler violence: Nablus – 17:45, a gang of Israeli militants raided an area near the home of a Palestinian family.
Occupation settler violence and abuse: Nablus – 21:15, Zionist fanatics raided the area near the Huwara checkpoint, taunting and insulting local residents.
Occupation settler land theft: Hebron – 12:25, 'settler' militants raided the area between Hebron and Bani Na’im, seized Palestinian-owned land and planted trees on it.
Occupation settler vandalism: Hebron – evening, a vehicle suffered damage by a gang of stone-throwing Israeli settlers in the Old City.
Recent news updates:
Israeli demolition displaces 120 Hebron villagers. 20 Israeli military vehicles accompanied bulldozers to raze 16 tent dwellings, six animal shelters and a well (the village's only water source) in Khirbet al-Rahwad. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=460129
88 Palestinian houses to be demolished to make way for Israeli park. The city municipality, whose unilaterally drawn borders were established by Israel in 1967 when East Jerusalem was illegally annexed, plans to demolish 88 Palestinian homes in the al-Bustan area in the centre of Silwan to make way for the development of a so-called archaeological park, known as King David’s Garden. More than 1500 Palestinians will be made homeless and forcibly transferred. http://palsolidarity.org/2012/02/88-palestinian-houses-to-be-demolished-for-israeli-park/
Israel to fence off main road to Hebron. Ahmad Abu Hashem, secretary of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar says the Israeli military had recently completed building a new Jewish-only segregated road on Palestinian-owned land in Beit Ummar and Halhul. http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18976
Israeli court forbids Nablus mosque from using loudspeakers. The Israeli Supreme Court issued a preliminary ruling, forbidding Burin village mosque from using loudspeakers, and even from using lights on the mosque’s minaret. http://www.imemc.org/article/62991
Boy injured as soldiers raid Hebron village. A boy was injured by Israeli forces in Hebron on Sunday when Israeli forces raided several homes in the village of al-Tabaqa, south-west Hebron. Muhammad Mahmoud Imtayer, 16, sustained head injuries and was admitted to Hebron Hospital. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=459858
Israeli Occupation troops raid village, abduct two children. Heavily armed Israeli Occupation forces stormed a number of houses in the village of Housan, to the west of Bethlehem, at dawn on Sunday, deliberately humiliating inhabitants and searching their homes. Two 16-year-old boys were abducted and taken to the Ofer prison near Ramallah.
Women visitors to prison demand end to strip-searching. A demonstration was held on Sunday, February 12, at the Meitar checkpoint north of Beer Sheba, in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in the Naqab (Negev) region as well as their family members who must pass through this checkpoint to visit them. The demonstration was organised by the Al-Khalil (Hebron) chapter of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society and was attended by affected families, along with Palestinian and international supporters. A young Palestinian woman named Fadwa told ISM that to visit her brother Jihad, who has been held prisoner for a decade, she must make a 12-hour journey involving strip-searches and extensive interrogation at Meitar, only to have the process repeated at the prison. She recalls that several times she has been forced to leave her shoes and jacket in the interrogation room and pass through the checkpoint barefoot, even in cold weather.

Main source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group (PMG) http://www.nad-plo.org/dailyreports.php