March 14, 2010 at 10:18 am (Activism, Ethnic Cleansing, Extremism, Illegal Evictions, Illegal Settlements, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine, Police Brutality, zionist harassment)
Zero Hour in Sheikh Jarrah
Israeli military fail to crush the spirit of An Nabi Saleh
Source
Aside from the general reasons for the weekly Friday demos in Sheikh Jarrah, there is another reason that we’re there every Friday, even last week when we held the big rally
The reason is this: every Sabbath evening a group of extreme right-wing ultra-orthodox Jews (henceforth: the hooligans) congregate in front of one of the stolen houses in order to “pray”. So we come every Friday afternoon so as to maintain a presence.
Yesterday (March 12) was no different. First a group of about 100 activists took part in the standard march from downtown West Jerusalem to Sheik Jarrah. This went by without any incidents, as the police kept right-wing extremists away from us. (One American “Jewish Patriot” holding an Israeli flag yelled at us in English: “ Rachel Corrie got what she deserved and it’s too bad there’s no bulldozer for you guys.”)
the demo
So far so good, right? Well as “zero hour” (which it to say the start of Sabbath) got closer, things got tenser. When the march arrived in Sheikh Jarrah our numbers swelled to 250. With the approach of the Sabbath, and the hooligans the police changed their strategy: the police declared with a megaphone that the demo is illegal, one of our activists answered with a megaphone (they were standing about a meter apart) that the courts has declared that the demos are legal. Didn’t change the police plans, five minutes later the police brutally attacked and pushed the demo further away from the residents’ compound. Oh, and they arrested 10 activists!
an activist gets carried away
some activists arrested
A few other activists entered the residents’ compound to make sure that there were no attacks on them. Shortly after that the hooligans arrived to “pray”. The tension between the hooligans could be cut with a knife. Activists called the police, who took arrived ten minutes later to buffer between the residents and the hooligans. Net damage: a broken window to one of the resident’s car.
The police then “escorted” the hooligans out of the compound, thinking their job was finished. We activists informed them that they were likely to take out their aggressions on other Palestinians in the neighbourhood. We ran after them, and sure enough they started vandalizing cars, attacking Palestinians and throwing huge rocks. By the time we got the police to come several Palestinians had been lightly injured, some cars had been damaged and rocks littered the main road that separates East and West Jerusalem. All this, of course, took palace on the hooligans’ holy Sabbath day.
Have I mentoned that we won’t be intimidated by either police or by settlers’ violence?The struggle for justice in Sheikh Jarrah will go on. We’ll be there – hope you’ll join us too.
media links:
Ynet
Jerusalem Post
Sourcegot what she deserved and it’s too bad there’s no bulldozer for you guys.”)
As the zero hour approached, most of the demonstrators dispersed. Some of the activists went to the Russian Compound police station where the detained activists were being held. The activists were subsequently released, with one woman given a summons to an interrogation on Sunday for “organizing an illegal demonstration.”
The reason is this: every Sabbath evening a group of extreme right-wing ultra-orthodox Jews (henceforth: the hooligans) congregate in front of one of the stolen houses in order to “pray”. So we come every Friday afternoon so as to maintain a presence.
Yesterday (March 12) was no different. First a group of about 100 activists took part in the standard march from downtown West Jerusalem to Sheik Jarrah. This went by without any incidents, as the police kept right-wing extremists away from us. (One American “Jewish Patriot” holding an Israeli flag yelled at us in English: “ Rachel Corrie got what she deserved and it’s too bad there’s no bulldozer for you guys.”)
the demoSo far so good, right? Well as “zero hour” (which it to say the start of Sabbath) got closer, things got tenser. When the march arrived in Sheikh Jarrah our numbers swelled to 250. With the approach of the Sabbath, and the hooligans the police changed their strategy: the police declared with a megaphone that the demo is illegal, one of our activists answered with a megaphone (they were standing about a meter apart) that the courts has declared that the demos are legal. Didn’t change the police plans, five minutes later the police brutally attacked and pushed the demo further away from the residents’ compound. Oh, and they arrested 10 activists!
some activists arrested
A few other activists entered the residents’ compound to make sure that there were no attacks on them. Shortly after that the hooligans arrived to “pray”. The tension between the hooligans could be cut with a knife. Activists called the police, who took arrived ten minutes later to buffer between the residents and the hooligans. Net damage: a broken window to one of the resident’s car.
The police then “escorted” the hooligans out of the compound, thinking their job was finished. We activists informed them that they were likely to take out their aggressions on other Palestinians in the neighbourhood. We ran after them, and sure enough they started vandalizing cars, attacking Palestinians and throwing huge rocks. By the time we got the police to come several Palestinians had been lightly injured, some cars had been damaged and rocks littered the main road that separates East and West Jerusalem. All this, of course, took palace on the hooligans’ holy Sabbath day.
Have I mentoned that we won’t be intimidated by either police or by settlers’ violence?The struggle for justice in Sheikh Jarrah will go on. We’ll be there – hope you’ll join us too.
media links:
Ynet
Jerusalem Post
Sourcegot what she deserved and it’s too bad there’s no bulldozer for you guys.”)
As the zero hour approached, most of the demonstrators dispersed. Some of the activists went to the Russian Compound police station where the detained activists were being held. The activists were subsequently released, with one woman given a summons to an interrogation on Sunday for “organizing an illegal demonstration.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Israeli military fail to crush the spirit of An Nabi Saleh
The Israeli military today continued their attempts to repress the weekly demonstration in An Nabi Saleh. Following on from their near fatal shooting of a 14 year old boy a week ago, soldiers invaded the village within minutes of the demonstration starting, driving jeeps to within approximately 50 metres of the demonstrators and firing upon them with tear gas, percussion grenades, rubber bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets.
Despite the military resorting so rapidly to violence, the villagers, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, determinedly continued their attempts to reach the nearby springs that have been usurped by settlers from the illegal settlement of Hallamish. A number of demonstrators were able to get close to one of the springs before soldiers again fired upon them to force them to retreat. Demonstrators who remained within the village were fired upon from above by soldiers who had occupied the same house from which they shot the boy the previous week.
At least 12 Palestinians sustained injuries from Israeli weaponry, three of which are reported to be serious, including two head wounds.
The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstrations protest the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the uprooting in January 2010 of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located opposite An Nabi Saleh. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settlers’ attempt to re-annex An Nabi Saleh land despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Saleh residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Saleh is located on the Hallamish side of Highway 465 and is just one of many expansions of the illegal settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.
At least 12 Palestinians sustained injuries from Israeli weaponry, three of which are reported to be serious, including two head wounds.
The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstrations protest the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the uprooting in January 2010 of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located opposite An Nabi Saleh. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settlers’ attempt to re-annex An Nabi Saleh land despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Saleh residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Saleh is located on the Hallamish side of Highway 465 and is just one of many expansions of the illegal settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.
Source
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Friday Demonstrations Gather Steam Under Increased Pressure to Shut Down
This week, while the festive march of hundreds gathered at the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah, where they were met by dozens of police and military border police, a smaller group of the Palestinian home owners and a group of international solidarity activists protested outside the homes, within the area blocked off to the main demonstration by the police.
Throughout the demonstration, settlers were free to cross the line of police, while Jewish demonstrators were arrested for stepping off the sidewalk.In front of the evicted houses, just over a dozen settlers attempted a counter-demonstration, leading to heated confrontations that the police refused to separate, but were quickly out-numbered and out-shouted by the evicted families and their supporters, and dispersed on their own. Afterward, 5 Palestine solidarity activists were arrested.
In Nabi Saleh, the demonstration against the attempted expansion of the Halamish settlement was attended by over 100 men, women and children, as well as international and Israeli activists. A week after Ehab Barghouthi, 14, was put into a coma after he was shot in the forehead from close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet, the demonstration was as determined as ever to reach the land, which contains a spring essential to the agricultural livelihood of the village. They were again met with a barrage of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and the “skunk”, a chemical spray with an overwhelming nasty smell.
In Ni’lin, Al-Ma’asara and Bil’in, the demonstrations against the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their agricultural land continued, with large contingents of Israeli and international solidarity activists. In Ni’lin, over 100 demonstrators marched towards the Barrier, which is a combination of fence and concrete wall unique to Ni’lin of all rural areas, where they were met by Israeli forces who used tear gas, and a horrible-smelling spray called “the skunk” to disperse the group.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thousands Attend Sheikh Jarrah Demonstration, Internationals Attacked by Riot Police
Thousands attended last Saturday’s demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah, demanding an end to the home evictions which have displaced hundreds of Palestinian residents. Gathering peacefully for speeches and live music in the park opposite the neighborhood, demonstrators chanted and sang before marching in the streets and attempting to pass the police barricades which obstructed demonstrators from reaching the neighborhood itself. Settlers held a small counter-demonstration in a nearby street.
Following the demonstration, Palestinian and settler residents returned to the neighborhood. As the street filled with people, a group of several dozen riot police ran down the street towards the gathering crowd. After clearing the crowds to the sidewalk, police began grabbing the International activists who were standing peacefully on the sidewalk. In the minutes that followed, the activists were pushed to the ground, pulled by the hair and repeatedly wrestled out of the arms of those trying to free them from the chaos. Two Internationals were violently kicked in the head while on the ground, later suffering headaches, dizziness and disorientation. No provocation for this violent attack can be discerned.
Source
Following the demonstration, Palestinian and settler residents returned to the neighborhood. As the street filled with people, a group of several dozen riot police ran down the street towards the gathering crowd. After clearing the crowds to the sidewalk, police began grabbing the International activists who were standing peacefully on the sidewalk. In the minutes that followed, the activists were pushed to the ground, pulled by the hair and repeatedly wrestled out of the arms of those trying to free them from the chaos. Two Internationals were violently kicked in the head while on the ground, later suffering headaches, dizziness and disorientation. No provocation for this violent attack can be discerned.
Source
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
good read, post more!
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