The road to Apartheid: Palestinian nonviolent protestors block Road 443. ACRI en demande la réouverture au trafic palestinien

Apartheid Masked as Peace, 24.10.07. An anti-apartheid protest today blocked busy Highway 443, one of many highways that run on occupied Palestinian land but are reserved for Israelis only. Israeli Security forces used force to move the demonstrators. Two of the protesters, one Israeli and one American, were arrested and are being held in an Israeli police post. The protesters blocked the highway for over fifteen minutes by organising a mass sit down in the road backed by six protestors chained into a four metre pipe. Rush hour traffic was backed up for miles before the protestors were removed by force. They distributing a message to the drivers on the highway: “We know what it feels like to be blocked. We experience it daily.”

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24.10.07, L’ACRI, l’Association pour les Droits Civiques en Israël a présenté une requête devant la Haute Cour de Justice pour demander à l’Etat de rouvrir la route 443 à la circulation des piétons et des véhicules palestiniens. L’accès à la route, qui traverse la Cisjordanie, est actuellement limité seulement aux Israéliens.

ACRI a présenté ce matin une plainte à la Haute Cour de Justice contre le Ministre de la Défense, le commandant des FDI pour la Judée et la Samarie, et le commandant de la Brigade Binyamin, qui demande un libre accès à la route 443 pour les habitants palestiniens. La pétition demande également à la Cour d’ordonner le retrait des obstacles physiques permanents qui ont été placés à la sortie des six villages qui sont situés à proximité de la route.

La pétition a été présentée par l’avocat de l’ACRI, Limor Yehuda, au nom des chefs de six villages et de 18 autres résidents de la région.

La route 443 est la seule grande route dans le sud du district de Ramallah, et la principale artère reliant les villages de la région à Ramallah. La route date du Mandat Britannique, et avant le début du Second Intifada, elle était la principale artère utilisée par les habitants locaux, y compris par les habitants des villages signataires de la pétition.

Partorire in strada nei Territori occupati

Don Nandino Capovilla, referente nazionale per Pax Christi della Campagna Ponti e non muri, Aboud 22.10.07. Padre Raed, parroco di Taybeh (vicino a Ramallah, 1300 abitanti), ci ha raccontato oggi del dramma che vivono soprattutto le donne palestinesi incinte che, arrivando in ambulanza o con mezzi propri, si trovano sistematicamente bloccate ai check point. In preda ai forti dolori della vicina nascita, si trovano costrette ad affrontare un`assurda burocrazia, che spesso nega loro il permesso di passare, e dunque di raggiungere l`ospedale. Per questa ragione non hanno alcuna alternativa se non quella di partorire sul posto, in strada, sotto gli occhi di tutti. Le conseguenze drammatiche sono sempre piu` frequenti: complicazioni del parto e talvolta la morte del bimbo. Padre Raed ci ha spiegato come solamente nei dintorni di Taybeh lo scorso anno ci siano stati 76 parti ai posti di blocco, 23 dei quali conclusisi tragicamente. Tutti questi fatti ci sono stati confermati da suor Donatella, che lavora al Caritas Baby Hospital di Betlemme, un ospedale pediatrico che si ritrova oggi soffocato dal muro dell`apartheid e nonostante incredibili difficolta` accoglie senza alcun tipo di discriminazione religiosa o etnica bambini affetti da patologie dell’apparato gastrointestinale e respiratorio.

A tale of two factions

Conal Urquhart in Gaza City traces the recent fortunes of Hamas and Fatah in Gaza. Guardian Unlimited. 24.10.07. From its establishment, in 1994, the Palestinian Authority was dominated by Fatah. Hamas refused to run in elections because it felt doing so would imply acceptance of Israel and the Oslo accords, both of which they rejected. But then, in 2005, it changed its mind.

January 2006: Hamas wins elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council
To its surprise, Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections, taking 76 seats out of a total of 132. Hamas has not planned for such a victory, hoping to a be a vociferous opposition party. Realising they are not ready for government, the party leaders hope a spell in opposition will allow them to maintain their ideological purity and prepare for government in the future.

March 2006: Hamas forms a government
Initially, Hamas hopes to form a unity government with Fatah, but some Fatah leaders believe the best way to get rid of Hamas quickly will be to force it to rule alone. Eventually, Hamas decides to form its own government, seeking out technocrats from its ranks around the world and summoning them to the West Bank and Gaza. However, the international community is loth to accept the democratic choice of the Palestinian people. It insists that Hamas renounce violence, acknowledge the existence of Israel and respect all agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. When Hamas declines, Israel stops all tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority; then the US and other western governments suspend aid. Hamas works to bypass the sanctions, sometimes resorting to smuggling cash in suitcases. But it cannot operate. In addition, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, controls the security forces. In the absence of a single source of power, Gaza descends into chaos.

June 2006: Hamas kills two Israeli soldiers and kidnaps a third
At some point in 2006, there is a split in the Hamas movement, and the military wing decides to launch an attack on Israel in an attempt to break the political logjam. On June 25, a group of militants infiltrates Israel via a tunnel and attacks an army post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third, Gilad Shalit, who remains in captivity in Gaza.

March 2007: A national unity government is formed
Israel's attacks on Gaza only increase, and eventually Hamas successfully renews its efforts to look for a national unity government. But the international community rejects the government, and tension between Fatah and Hamas increases.

With Fatah and Hamas fighters engaged in series of tit-for-tat murders, it appears that the US was planning to train Fatah and Palestinian Authority forces to retake Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard is strengthened and given new duties. The guard receives new uniforms and black American jeeps.

June 2007: Hamas attacks and defeats Fatah and Palestinian Authority forces in Gaza
In fact, the aid and training fail to materialise, but the media reports and rumours are strong enough to persuade Hamas's military leaders it must take action against the parts of the Palestinian Authority it felt were actively trying to destabilise it, in particular the so-called preventative security forces associated with Mohammed Dahlan. What starts as a series of clashes turns into a rout. Some Fatah members are brutally killed, and others flee. Hamas suddenly has complete control of Gaza.

The initial brutality and speed of the coup shocks Gaza: drivers begin to drive courteously, families settle longstanding feuds, and the kidnappers holding the BBC journalist Alan Johnston are told by Hamas to give him up immediately - which, eventually (on July 4), they do. Gazans and foreigners all speak of a sense of security, and Hamas officials boast about how quickly they have imposed security where Abbas failed.

June 2007-present:
But the honeymoon is short-lived: Hamas withdraws its police from the streets, and Gaza's roads return to their familiar chaos. Armed groups affiliated with Fatah and Islamic Jihad challenge the Hamas ban on guns, leading to gunfights. Criminal groups begin to gain confidence, and car thefts and kidnappings of Palestinians resume.

Hamas remains the dominant power in Gaza, but Mahmoud Abbas dissolves the government and appoints a new one, headed by Salam Fayad. The new government orders its employees, around 60,000 people, in Gaza not to turn up for work. As Hamas is no longer in government, international aid and tax transfers are resumed to the government in Ramallah, allowing it to pay its employees in the West Bank and Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel increases pressure on Gaza's civilian population by slowly reducing the amount of food it allows into the strip.

Since the coup, Fatah has organised a series of demonstrations against Hamas in Gaza, and health workers affiliated with Fatah have been on strike in protest at the appointment of Hamas members to senior hospital positions.

Despite the friction between the sides, however, Fatah and Hamas officials have expressed the hope that they will re-enter negotiations on unity government, although it is unclear how the international community and Israel will react to the presence of Hamas in government again.

Video
Inside Gaza: medical emergency

Related articles
24.10.2007: Patients caught up in middle of Fatah and Hamas tug of war
24.10.2007: Profiles: Three Gaza groups vying for power
24.10.2007: Background: A tale of two factions

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Palestinian Detainee Killed and over 250 Injured in Ketziot; Israel Cancels Lawyers and Family Visits to the Detention Centers

Israel has arrested about 650,000 Palestinians since 1967. Of those some 11,000 are still in 28 prisons and detention centers; the majority of which are inside Israel. Prisoners suffer from degrading treatment, lack proper health services and medicines, malnutrition and torture.
Al Mezan, 23.10.07. IOF attacked hundreds of protesting Palestinian prisoners in Ketziot Detention Center in the Negev desert, killing one detainee and injuring over 250 others on Monday 22 October 2007. About 2,300 Palestinians are detained in this detention Center. They were protesting against their detention under inhuman conditions.According to the initial information available to Al Mezan, at approximately 1am on 22 October 2007, the Ketziot security personnel attacked G1 and G2 sections in the detention center. They used tear gas and live bullets heavily. The attack resulted in killing Muhammed Al Ashqar and injuring over 250 others. It was also reported that soldiers torched tents where detainees are kept.
Al Askaqer died at Soroka Hospital in Bier Shiva at approximately 11pm from a live bullet to his head. He had been sentenced to two years in prison and was due to be released in 45 days. The victim is married and has a child.
Following the protest, the Israeli Prison Authority announced emergency in all the prisons and detention centers, imposed more restrictive measures on prisoners, and prohibited lawyers' meetings with prisoners. Today, 23 October 2007, Israel cancelled scheduled family visits.

In solidarity with the Kitziot detainees, Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons started a hunger strike. Prisoners' sources said the strike was also intended to protest suppression and frequent use of violence against them by prisons' administrations.

Israel has arrested about 650,000 Palestinians since 1967. Of those some 11,000 are still in 28 prisons and detention centers; the majority of which are inside Israel. Prisoners suffer from degrading treatment, lack proper health services and medicines, malnutrition and torture.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses solidarity with the Palestinian and Arab prisoners and detainees in Israel and condemns the IOF attacks against them. The employment of this scale of violence poses serious threat to their life and wellbeing. Al Mezan asserts that Israel, represented by the Israeli Prison Authority in this case, must be held accountable for the protection of the prisoners and detainees under its custody according to the rules of the international law.

Al Mezan calls the international community to intervene and exert pressure on Israel to provide protection for Palestinian prisoners and the guarantee that they are treated in accord with the minimum requirement of international humanitarian law and the human rights standards. Israel must stop the employing violent and humiliating measures against Palestinians prisoners.

Sharp rise in Israeli violence around the new settlement in Hebron

Soldiers and settlers
inside the new settlement's building

B'Tselem,19.10.07. On 19 March 2007, a new settlement was established, in the heart of the a-Ras Palestinian neighborhood. In the months that have passed since then, despite the decision of the Defense Minister at the time to evacuate the settlement, the settlement has grown. Recently, the settlement was connected to the electricity grid, and construction and renovation work is taking place at the site. Since the settlement has been established, the harm to the Palestinian residents has increased and they have suffered further infringement of their human rights. Palestinians suffer both from the settlers and from Israeli security forces who have been assigned protect the settlement.

Researchers from B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights found that establishment of the settlement and the failure to evacuate it, have led, for example, to the following:

• Extensive abuse and violence by settlers in the new settlement, carried out in front of the eyes of members of the security forces;
• Abuse and violence by security forces posted on or near the new settlement;
• Increased prohibitions on movement enforced by Israeli security forces.

Failure to enforce the law on violent settlers

During the course of the first six months of the new settlement, B'Tselem and ACRI documented scores of cases in which settlers attacked Palestinians in the area. The attacks include beatings, blocking of passage, destruction of property, throwing of stones and eggs, hurling of refuse, glass bottles, and bottles full of urine, urinating from the settlement structure onto the street, spitting, threats, and curses.

Settlers attack residents of the Palestinian neighborhood daily, in the light of day and in front of large numbers of soldiers and police who protect the settlement. The army set up a position on the roof of the settlement building and a checkpoint on the road nearby, so it is impossible for an attack to occur in this area that is not within the eyesight of security forces. But, as is the case in the neighborhoods in Hebron 's city center where Israeli settlements have been established, the soldiers and police who witness attacks fail to take sufficient action to stop the attacks and enforce the law. At times, they do nothing. In many instances, Palestinians who sought the aid of security forces standing at the site of the attack were told that their only duty was to protect the settlers.

Harm by Israeli security forces

Violence against Palestinians by soldiers and police is nothing unusual in the City Center . With the establishment of the new settlement, more security forces were assigned to the area, and with it came an increase in harassment, degrading treatment, and violence by security forces against Palestinians living in the a-Ras neighborhood. B'Tselem and ACRI documented many such incidents in the past six months. The violence has included beatings with rifles or hands, frightening Palestinians by firing blanks or by threatening live gunfire, destruction and theft of property, blocking of passage, and swearing and making racist comments.

One serious incident that was documented took place on 22 March 2007, only three days after the settlement was founded. Police severely beat S'adi J'abri, 18, a resident of Hebron , and then handed him over to soldiers who, along with a settler, continued to beat him. In his testimony to B'Tselem, J'abri related:

• I walked home with my friend… Border Policemen didn't let us cross by the house that the settlers took control of. I insisted that we pass. One of the policemen told me, “Come so I can let you pass.” He took me behind a Border Police jeep. There were three Border Police officers and two soldiers in the jeep… They put me against the back of the jeep and the three soldiers beat me. One of them hit me in the right hand with his rifle butt. Another one kicked me in the left leg. One of them grabbed my hand and slammed the jeep's door on it. Then a Border Police officer pushed me against the door, causing my head, in the area by my right ear, to hit it. One of the Border Police officers called to the two soldiers and told them, “Take him further away.” They took me closer to the house, about ten meters from the jeep, and gave me a few karate chops in the stomach and all over my body. While they did that, a settler came from al-J'abri's house and kicked me in the leg. The assault lasted about forty minutes. Then a solider ordered me to go back to where I came from, and did not let me cross. I got home at eight o'clock. The beating left me dizzy and exhausted.

Restrictions on movement

The army contends that following the establishment of the new settlement, the original prohibitions in the area remained intact, and that it did not impose additional restrictions on Palestinian movement. The reality is different: the army established a new checkpoint in the a-Ras neighborhood, near the new settlement. The checkpoint is staffed around the clock, and many of the Palestinians wanting to cross are checked. Some of them, primarily young men, are delayed time and again. Also, the army has prohibited Palestinians from passing along the road by the mosque near the new settlement. It has installed a permanent gate and an observation tower alongside the gate.

The new restrictions on Palestinians in a-Ras are in addition to the prohibition on Palestinian vehicles using the Qiryat Arba road, a north-south artery that passes through the neighborhood. This prohibition has been in place since the beginning of the second intifada, in September 2000.

Conclusion

The settlement that was recently established in the a-Ras neighborhood has made the lives of its Palestinian residents, who lived under harsh conditions previously, intolerable. In recent months, Palestinian living in houses near the new settlement have built wire fences and walls to prevent settlers from invading their homes and to protect their families from stone- and bottle-throwing. Also, many residents have stopped parking their cars near the settlement, fearing the cars will be damaged by settlers or security forces.

In other neighborhoods in the city center in which settlements have been built, the infringement on their human rights forced many Palestinian residents and merchants to move out of the area. There is concern that if the attacks and harm continues in the a-Ras neighborhood, residents will be left with no option but to abandon the neighborhood. As the restrictions on movement in the area increase, the greater the harm to the entire city, given that the new settlement in the a-Ras neighborhood completes territorial contiguity of settlement points from Qiryat Arba in the east to the Tel Rumeida settlement in the west.

Israel must immediately remove the settlers from the building, regardless of the issue of whether they purchased it or not .

Related links

Peace Now Report, Occupation of Palestinian property in Hebron by settlers – 9/8/07
The New Settlement – "The Disputed House" – The settlers occupied this house in March 2007, claiming to have purchased the property. The Police have already announced that the investigation revealed that some of the documents had been forged, the previous Minister of Defense announced that even if this were to be a valid purchase, he was not approving it – but the settlers continue to live in the house, renovating it and turning it into long-term permanent housing, and the Army continues to guard them at the new posts that were constructed for that purpose. Last week, a permanent security gate was installed in order to inspect Palestinians.

Amanda White, Hebron Settlers, Media Monitor Network
Jewish settlers in Hebron claim they have history on their side, smh.com
Ray HaCohen, Hebron City of Terror, antiwar.com
Ali Waked, Report: Rise in settlers' violence in Hebron, ynetnews
Hebron settlers to face eviction, BBC
Joshua Brilliant, UPI Correspondent, Hebron Settlers Spread Out

Separation Barrier cuts off children from Tel ‘Adasa, which is in East Jerusalem , and their school in Bir Nebala

Tel Adasah children break the Ramadan fast in Bir Nabala streets. Photo: Kareem Jubran, excert from B'Tselem Video.

B'Tselem, 22.10.07. Sixty-eight Palestinians, twenty-six children among them, live in the area called Tel ‘Adasa, in East Jerusalem, on land Israel annexed in 1967, near the ‘Atarot industrial area and Begin Road (Route 404). West of this road, on which Palestinians are forbidden to travel, Israel built a section of the Separation Barrier, which separates the residents of Tel ‘Adasa from the adjacent town, Bir Nebala, which lies outside Jerusalem 's municipal borders. Although all the residents of Tel ‘Adasa have dwelled permanently in their community for dozens of years, and many were even born there, Israel has never recognized them as residents of Jerusalem, and they have not been given Israeli identity cards. As a result, the Israeli authorities consider them to be staying illegally in East Jerusalem . They are technically forbidden to enter or stay in Jerusalem (even in their own homes) or receive any services provided by the state.
The refusal of Israel to recognize the residents of Tel ‘Adasa as residents of East Jerusalem, thereby turning them into persons staying illegally in Israel, gravely infringes their human rights, especially their right to freedom of movement, in flagrant breach of international law. The building of the Separation Barrier and the recent closing of the only opening in the barrier, which is their only way to get to and from the West Bank, prevents them from obtaining services outside Jerusalem . This situation has made their living conditions intolerable, and is liable to lead to the rapid removal of them from their homes. B'Tselem calls on the Israeli government to dismantle the Separation Barrier in this area and recognize the right of the residents of Tel ‘Adasa to stay in East Jerusalem and move about there freely. Until then, the authorities must reopen the passageway in the Separation Barrier and issue permanent permits to the residents so that they will be able to cross Qalandiya Checkpoint.

full text

Restriction on movement. Route 443 – West Bank road for Israelis only.

B'Tselem. Route 443, which links Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area, used to be a major Palestinian traffic artery in the southern Ramallah District and was the main thoroughfare between Ramallah and the Palestinian villages lying southwest of the city. Prior to the second intifada, which broke out in September 2000, Israel widened the road – requisitioning private Palestinian property in the process – into a four-lane highway. Israel contended that the land was taken to meet the needs of the local population and promised that the local villagers would be allowed to use it.

Despite the promise, in 2002, Israel prohibited Palestinians to travel by car or foot on the fourteen kilometers of the roadway that lie in the West Bank . The prohibition also applied in emergency medical cases and to the transport of goods for the surrounding Palestinian villages. Palestinians were left with a one-lane road connecting the villages to the road to Ramallah and for travel between the villages. This alternate road was worn and winding and passed through a tunnel under Route 443. It was much longer than the original road and served all the 35,000 residents of the villages lying on either side of the road.

The prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443 was never authorized by military order or by any other legal means. It was effectively implemented by physical obstructions – iron gates, concrete blocks, and/or checkpoints and later by army patrols, which stopped and punished Palestinians caught driving or walking along the road, to make it clear to Palestinians that they were not allowed to use the road. Subsequently, the Israel Police began to enforce the prohibition, and issued tickets, on one pretext or another, to Palestinians using the road. At both ends of the road, where it entered Israeli territory (Maccabim Checkpoint) or Jerusalem 's jurisdictional area (Atarot Checkpoint), Israel set up permanent checkpoints at which the vehicles crossing were checked. This situation continues today.

Map of road 443. Road connecting the villages were blocked by the army.
Full map

Movement along Route 443 is crucial to the villagers. For many of them, this is the main roadway taking them to their farmland and the primary access road to Ramallah. Ramallah is the commercial center on which the villagers rely for their livelihood, for emergency services, social services, hospitals, schools, as well as being the home of relatives and friends. As a result of the prohibition, more than one hundred small shops have closed along the route, among them floor-tile establishments, flower shops, furniture stores, and restaurants.

To “compensate” the villagers for the prohibition on using the road, Israel has built three roads, referred to by the authorities as “fabric of life” roads, to connect the villages with Ramallah. Construction of these roads entailed the taking of additional land from the villages and villagers located on and alongside these roads. The route of the roads is longer than Route 443 and passes through the local villages. In addition, the alternate roads are intended to perpetuate the existing situation, in which Palestinians are prohibited to use the main road, which, as stated, passes across their land, and despite Israel 's promise that these landowners would be allowed to use it.

The prohibition infringes the right of Palestinians to freedom of movement, and, as a result, their ability to exercise other rights, such as the rights to health, work, family and social life, and education. The “fabric of life” roads that Israel built also infringe the property rights of Palestinian villagers in the area.

Israel has the right and even the duty to protect the lives of every person on territory under its effective control, including territory it occupies. Israel also has the right to impose restrictions on movement of Palestinians, but only when needed for security reasons and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. The prohibition on Palestinian use of Route 443 appears to be based on extraneous reasons, the most important being Israel 's desire to annex, de facto, the area along which the road runs. The road is a main thoroughfare between two parts of Israel , Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area. If Israel were only interested in protecting the lives of Israelis using the road, without annexing the area, it could limit or even prohibit the travel of Israelis on the road, and build other roads and provide other means of transportation to connect Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The prohibition on travel also flagrantly breaches international law, which forbids collective punishment. According to Israel , the restrictions on movement are part of its ongoing struggle against security threats, and are intended for deterrence and not as punishment. However, the vast majority of the persons suffering from the prohibition are not personally suspected of posing any threat to Israeli security. The prohibition also constitutes discrimination based on the national origin of the person wanting to use the road. Such discrimination is forbidden under international law.

In July 2007, residents of six of the villages along the route, represented by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel , petitioned the High Court of Justice to remove the obstructions that deny them access to the road, and to open the road to Palestinian travel. In response, the army announced that it would allow eighty vehicles from the petitioners' villages to use the road. They would be allowed to use the road only during the day. Travel at night would be allowed for humanitarian needs, following coordination with the Civil Administration. Palestinian vehicles could enter the road via the checkpoint near Khirbata al-Misbah and continue to the village of al-Jib, where the vehicles would switch to the “fabric of life” roads that link the village with Ramallah. The new arrangement is supposed to begin this month (October) and continue until May 2008, when the army will reconsider its necessity.

This arrangement will provide for only partial movement of villagers living along Route 443 to and from Ramallah. Also, it does not solve the issue of principle, that of the army placing prohibitions and restrictions on Palestinians using the road. With a limited number of Palestinian vehicles allowed to use the road, and with the travel being limited to daylight hours, many Palestinians will continue to be restricted from exercising basic human rights, such as family visits and regular travel to their places of work.

Route 443 is one example of the travel-prohibition regime Israel imposes on Palestinian vehicles on various roads in the West Bank . B'Tselem calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately remove the prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443, and to allow residents of the nearby villages open use of the road, day and night. B'Tselem also urges the authorities to remove similar restrictions on other roads in the West Bank, among them Route 557, which runs from the Huwara checkpoint to the villages of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan, and to the Elon Moreh settlement, in Nablus District, and Route 90 (the Jordan Valley road), which is the main north-south artery in the Jordan Valley.

BITTER HARVEST: Settlers olive trees control

APN Middle East Report, 22.10.07. “The equation that has been created here in the hills of Samaria is clear,” observed Israel Television’s Mabat Correspondent Ohed Chemo in his broadcast on Wednesday. “He who controls the olive trees controls the territory. And what can be more explosive than a Palestinian olive harvest that takes place adjacent to the fences of the [unauthorized] settlement [outpost] of Havat Gilad. Yesterday, it ended with injured [Palestinians].” Chemo was referring to an incident where a Palestinian farmer, Abed Al-Fahah Al-Hidni, suffered a head injury after reportedly being attacked by six settlers. Rabbis for Human Rights filed an official complaint with Israeli police over the incident; police have initiated a search for the perpetrators. This was the second reported attack within a week on Palestinian farmers in that area. Zecharia Seada, an activist with Rabbis for Human Rights, pointed to an intimidation campaign, telling Mabat that it is evident “from the fields that are not worked well that they [the Palestinian farmers] are scared to come and get near them [the settlers]. I, as one of the residents of the area, I say to you, that I too am scared of them. You should know that.” Yedioth Ahronoth’s Yehuda Litani writes on Thursday that such attacks have become an annual phenomenon in which Palestinian farmers “accuse the settlers of attempting to steal their only ‘poor man’s possession’ – the olive and oil harvest that tens of thousands of families live on during the long winter months… The attacks on the harvesters, the damage to the olive orchards and the uprooting of trees are regarded by the Palestinian public as an attempt to uproot them from their land, especially since security officials display unfathomable helplessness with regard to protecting the Palestinian peasants and [to] deterring settler aggression.” In this context, Litani concludes that the stakes are higher than the fate of an olive harvest: “If the security officials do not display determination this year in their dealings with the clashes and a firm hand against the phenomenon, representatives of the government will find it hard to persuade the Palestinians that their intentions are indeed serious also in fateful matters such as the establishment of a Palestinian state, the transfer of territories and reaching an agreement about Jerusalem. Despite the fact that this is allegedly a peripheral matter, perhaps it would pay for those at the helm of the government to remember the words of Ecclesiastes: ‘Thy name is better than good oil.’” (Ma’ariv-NRG, 10/16/07; Mabat, 10/17/07; Ynet 10/16/07; Yedioth Ahronoth, 10/18/07)

What is not being said about the Ketziot prison raid provoking a dead

ISM Media Group. On October 22nd, at two in the morning, Israeli prison guards from Ketziot prison in the Negev desert began searching the tents and belongings of Palestinian inmates. Searching prisoners' tents in the middle of the night is a usual form of harassment; keeping people from sleeping. Some prisoners resisted the search due to the early hour and the army responded by throwing sounds grenades and shooting tear gas canisters into the tents of prisoners and at prisoners themselves.

It has been reported in the news that between 30 and 250 inmates have been injured, and that the Israeli forces used 'non-lethal' methods to subdue the prisoners. It has also been reported in Israeli and international news that in the 'riot' that the prisoners created, the Palestinian prisoners burned their own tents. When tear gas is shot the canisters are extremely hot, they frequently start fires when landing near grass or trees. More likely than Palestinians burning the tents in which they sleep, with their possessions, is that the tear gas canisters or the explosions from sound grenades started the fire.

The information that the Israeli military unit Nahashon have used only
'non-lethal' methods has also proved to be misleading, or to use
another word, false. What has gone unreported in Israeli and
international news is that one inmate, Mohammed Al-Ashkar, was shot in
the head and died at Soroka Medical Center, in Israel. Al-Ashkar was
twenty-five and had only one month left on his term. Sources are
mixed, some people say it was a rubber-coated steel bullet, some
people say it was live ammunition. Regardless of the type of bullet, a
man died, so it was clearly a lethal weapon which killed him.

If live ammunition was used, one must wonder why prison guards would
find the need to open fire on their unarmed inmates. If it was rubber-
coated steel bullets that killed Mohammed Al-Ashkar, then the farce of
calling such bullets 'non-lethal' must end.

For more information call:
02 2971824
0542389549
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The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led  non-violent resistance movement committed to ending Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land.  We call for full compliance with all relevant UN resolutions and international law.

For specific media inquires such as interview requests, photo usage, etc. please email the ISM Media Office at media@palsolidarity.org

Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent, 23.10.07. The IPS refused to allow journalists to enter the ward or interview prisoners yesterday, saying it feared the media's
presence could reignite the riots. Photographers were barred for the same reason. The crowd dispersal sachets were fired by members of the IPS's Massada Unit, which is considered one of Israel's leading riot dispersal and hostage rescue units. The army and police have often borrowed its services. The PA denounced what it termed an Israeli assault against Palestinian prisoners and accused the IPS of using clubs, gas grenades and rubber bullets against the inmates. It put the number of wounded
prisoners at about 50.

Gaza hospital to stop surgery as runs out of gas

GAZA (Reuters) 21.10.07. A Palestinian health official said on Sunday Gaza's main hospital would be forced to stop surgery because Israel had banned imports of anesthetic gas, but Israel said it had not blocked medical supplies. Khaled Radi, spokesman of the Hamas-run ministry of health in the Gaza Strip, said Israel had told the company that imports hospital supplies into Gaza it would not supply the gas, which is needed to conduct surgery. He said the hospital had barely two canisters of gas left and would have to halt surgery soon. "This is a crime against humanity. Israel is killing patients, including women and children," Radi said.

Gaza's Shifa hospital is the main medical facility in the impoverished coastal enclave, home to 1.5 million people, and is used for major operations. Radi said supplies of anesthetic gas were also running out at Gaza's four smaller hospitals.

But Israel, which has shut the Gaza border to everything but humanitarian supplies since Hamas seized the coastal territory in June, said it had not stopped the flow of medical supplies and that anesthetic gas would be allowed in.

"I don't know if there has been a request for this gas but if there has there should be no problem," said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli coordinator for the Palestinian territories. "They get all the medical supplies they ask for."

Israel has tightened border restrictions around Gaza since the violent takeover in June. The Jewish state last month branded Gaza an "enemy entity" in response to regular rocket attacks from militants inside the territory.

On the Road to Nowhere, [Palestinians] Pay the Toll

Israeli soldiers, border police and police officers arrest foreign activists, members of the International Solidarity Movement, protesting against the construction of Israel's separation fence in the northern West Bank village of Masha, near the town of Qalqilya, Tuesday Aug. 5, 2003. Israeli forces detained 47 Palestinians and foreign activists and the army said the protesters were arrested after refusing to leave a closed military zone. (AP Photo/Muhammed Azba). Since the 1970s Israel has confiscated at least 7,000,000 square metres -- eighty percent -- of the land of Mas'ha, to build the illegal Jewish settlement of Elkana.

Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service, 21.10.07. Route 505 has been blocked at the western edge of this village by the $2.5 billion barrier Israel is building to separate Jews from the Palestinians of the West Bank, splitting a largely shared economy whose shops, factory floors and restaurant terraces once provided a rare meeting place for two peoples. Now they are living increasingly estranged lives in the land they are unable to share.

Hani Amer walking near the wall which runs next to his home in Mas'ha. In the background lies the illegal Jewish settlement of Elkana. (Amer Madi). When Hani Amer refused to leave his land 'voluntarily', a new strategy was introduced. An Israeli officer came to Hani Amer and threatened that he could not stay. According to Hani Amer, he said, 'We will break you, if you don't accept our good offers. We could send someone to shoot at the settlement and we will have already prepared the charge against you. Then your house will be bulldozered because you are known as a terrorist.'

The Israeli government says the steps it has taken help ensure Israel's security in the absence of a peace deal. But Palestinian officials argue that the impoverishing effects of the economic separation spawn unrest in the territories and increase the potential for attacks inside Israel. Israel's economy is nearly 40 times larger than that of the territories, even though its population is less than twice the Palestinian one in the territories. The lopsided effects of Israel's economic withdrawal have left much of the territories economically lifeless. "We knew them," said Ruven Hirak, 51, an Israeli economics professor at Bar-Ilan University, who lives in the wealthy Jewish settlement of Elqana along Route 505 just beyond the separation fence from the village of Mas-Ha. Grocery shopping in Elqana's busy central mall one recent afternoon, Hirak said of his Palestinian neighbors, "I sat with them in restaurants, bought from them, and some of them worked here.

"Now," he said, "there is no relationship at all."

אלקנה

Elkana

	דונם Dunam	מקרא Legend	אחוז %Percent	אקרים Acres
שטח כולל	1,444		100	361	Total Area
קרקע פרטית פלסטינית	746.5		51.7	186.6	Private Palestinian Land
אדמת סקר	0		0	0	Survey Land
אדמה שנרכשה ע"י יהודים	0		0	0	Land bought by Jews

Graphic by Peace Now

According to the World Bank, the Palestinian gross domestic product per capita has shrunk 30 percent -- to $1,129 -- since the uprising began. Unemployment and poverty rates have spiked across the territories, especially during the 16-month international embargo that followed Hamas's election victory. By contrast, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Israel's per-capita GDP is $31,767, nearly double what it was on the eve of the Palestinian uprising. The more than 550 military checkpoints, roadblocks and other obstacles within the West Bank, along with restrictions presented by the 456-mile separation barrier, have made it impossible for many Palestinian merchants to attract customers outside their small local markets. On the eve of the uprising, 136,000 Palestinians, or nearly a quarter of the labor force, worked inside Israel or in Israeli-owned enterprises in the territories. With a financial stake in Israel's security, said Persky, the Israeli army officer, only a "very few" were even tangentially involved in suicide attacks. Today, 47,400 Palestinians from the West Bank, or less than 9 percent of the workforce, have such permits. The United States and Europe are increasingly the largest markets for Israel's more than $40 billion in annual exports -- including cut diamonds, high-tech hardware and software, arms and agricultural products. Less than 5 percent of Israel's exports are sold in the Palestinian territories. By contrast, roughly 90 percent of Palestinian exports are sold inside Israel.

full text

related links
Israeli Troops Arrests 47 Barrier Activists
"They will not break me"

PCHR Calls for Investigating the Death of 4 Palestinians and injury of 31 in Rafah and Gaza City

PCHR calls for investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of 3 people, including 2 children, and injury of 16, including a child critically wounded, yesterday and this morning in Sheja’eya Quarter in Gaza City. The Centre also calls for investigating the death of a woman and injury of her son and 14 others in armed clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Rafah yesterday. The Centre calls for publishing the results of the investigation in public, and for prosecuting the perpetrators.

In the early morning hours of Saturday (20 October 2007), clashes resumed between the Palestinian Police and members of Hilles clan in Sheja’eya Quarter in the eastern part of Gaza City. The clashes came after 2 days of relative calm. The new round of clashes resulted in the death of 3 persons and injury of 18 others; raising the total since the start of these clashes to 7 killed and 42 injured.

The Center’s preliminary investigation indicates that clashes erupted between both sides in the early morning hours of yesterday in Baghdad Street. Gunmen deployed in the streets, took positions on rooftops, and closed streets with earth barriers. Both sides used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG). An RPG fell in Sobhi Abu Karsh Elementary School, causing material damages and panic among children. The clashes continued till approximately 1:00 on Sunday and resulted in the death of 2 people; one of them a child. Thirteen others were injured, including 2 policemen. The people killed are:

- Mohammad Salama Hilles (25), killed by an RPG shrapnel to the head, legs and body.

- Mohammad Fu’ad El-Susi (15), killed by a bullet to the head.

El-Susi’s brother, Osama (19), informed PCHR that his brother was standing at the corner of the street leading to their house, about 500 meters from the clash area. Osama was standing about 100 meters away from his brother. He stated that the clashes were sporadic; and that they were surprised by gunfire. His brother was hit by a bullet in the head and fell on the ground. Osama was injured by 2 bullets in the legs.

In a related incident, a child was killed and 3 others injured by the Police in Sheja’eya Quarter yesterday evening. The Center’s preliminary investigation indicates that at about 16:00 on Saturday (20 October 2007), a group of youth in Mansour Street in Sheja’eya attacked a policeman and beat him. A police force arrived and fired indiscriminately, killing Khaled Salman Hamdan (8) by a bullet to the chest as he was walking with his mother to a wedding in the area. Three others were injured, including one child who was critically injured.

It is noted that tension persists in Sheja’eya Quarter with gunmen deployed in the streets and on roof tops. The police continue to surround the quarter despite the announcement yesterday of an agreement between both sides to end the clashes.

In Rafah, clashes broke out at about 2:00 on Saturday between gunmen from Islamic Jihad and others from Hamas in various parts of the city. Machine guns and RPG’s were used in the clashes; gunmen took to the roof tops; and both sides exchanged kidnappings. The clashes continued till the early morning hours of Sunday (21 October). Heyam Ahmad Saqer, a 51-year old woman, was killed by a bullet in the back. Fifteen people, including 3 policemen and 2 children, were injured. Most of the injuries were listed as moderate. Mohammad Khalil Saqer (22), the son of the woman killed, informed PCHR that his mother was killed in front of their house in Shaboura refugee camp when members of Islamic Jihad attempted to kidnap one of their neighbors who was a Hamas activist. Armed Hamas members intervened to prevent the kidnapping and fired indiscriminately in the area. Saqer did not specify the source of fire that killed his mother.

In continuation of the Rafah clashes, members of Islamic Jihad shot this morning the policeman Mohammad Eleyan Barhoum (19) and hit him with several bullets in the legs. In addition, they injured 2 passers in the area:

- Khaled Mohammad Dahliz (45), injured by shrapnel in the right shoulder.

- Hala Suliman Ayesh (31), injured by a bullet in the foot.

The clashes in Rafah came on the backdrop of a police attempt to detain an Islamic Jihad activist, Abd El-Fattah El-Afifi, charged with a “hit and run” of a policeman at the entrance of Tal El-Sultan area on Friday morning.

In light of these developments, PCHR:

- Calls upon the PNA, represented by the Attorney-General, to seriously investigate these clashes, to publicly announce the results of the findings, and to prosecute the perpetrators.

- Affirms the need to respect the law regarding use of firearms by law-enforcement personnel in line with international standards, and in a manner that guarantees respect of human rights.

Public Document

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For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 - 2825893

PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org

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The Opposite of Silence

Phil Zabriskie/Jerusalem, TIME, 20.10.07. There is an Israeli group called Breaking the Silence, former soldiers who want to publicize what they’ve seen and done in the Palestinian Territories in order to counter what they perceive as Israeli leadership's desire to obscure what happens day-to-day in the name of security, and an inclination amongst the public to ignore it. They’ve collected several hundred interviews with ex-soldiers, staged exhibitions, and, with a group called Children of Abraham, they lead tours in Hebron. Members act as guides, discussing past experiences and current dynamics. They tour Hebron because there is an Israeli-administered area in the middle of the town, IDF soldiers protecting small groups of Israeli settlers, which Israeli citizens can legally enter. Plenty attention paid to the historical Jewish presence in Hebron, the strife between populations, the still-resonant massacre in 1929 of 67 Jews by Arabs, the near wholesale absence of Jews in Hebron until after the 1967 War. Their route into Hebron passes through Kiryat Arba, one of the larger West Bank settlements, wherein one finds Rabbi Meir Kahane Park and the grave of Baruch Goldstein. In 1994, Goldstein, an American-born doctor and resident of Kiryat Arba, shot and killed 29 Palestinians as they prayed in the Muslim section of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and was then himself killed. He was a follower of Kahane, a man who called Arabs a “cancer” that must be excised and founded the extremist Kach Party, which Israel outlawed and branded a terrorist organization. The guide starts to speak. A man storms into the circle loudly denouncing the tour’s presence, accusing everyone of planning to defile a holy site. This is Noam Federman from Tel Rumedia, a small settlement inside Hebron, a Kahanist who has been jailed in the past. Federman reaches the guide and shoves him in the chest with both hands. Yehuda Shaul, a Breaking the Silence founder, pulls out his video camera. When the guide speaks, Federman shouts or sings over him. Other settlers arrive, including Baruch Marzel, another of Kahane's American-born, oft-arrested acolytes and the founder of an outfit called the Jewish National Front. One of the settlers calls Shaul a terrorist and a Nazi. The police come. The guide accuses Federman of assault. Federman, despite the roughly 30 witnesses, accuses the guide and Shaul of assaulting him. The guide, Shaul, and Federman must all go to the police station to give statements. The tour continues into town, a Children of Abraham member pressed into the role of tour guide. Through a fortified army checkpoint, shuttered shops in an abandoned marketplace along the main road, which is closed to the Palestinians who make up roughly 80% of Hebron's population. An IDF military outpost that's also, for some reason, home to some settler families. Pathways Palestinians use to get to their homes since they can't drive or walk on the roads they once used. A checkpost at the edge of Tel Rumeida, where further passage is denied for security reasons. One feels the absence of leaders ready to confront the complexities and perils of this place. One feels the the prominent presence of people who think this bizarre, embattled state is how things are supposed to be, as dictated by book, or history, or psyche.

Near Tel Rumeida, Baruch Marzel, who’d been with Federman at the Goldstein grave--and who once advocated assassinating the founder of Peace Now--turns up again. “You are hearing nothing but lies,” he says. “Have you heard the history? Have you heard about Jews who were killed?”

“Yes,” says a tour participant. “Yes, we have.”

“Not the real truth,” Marzel responds. “They terrorize us, attack us constantly, and these people”—the tour leaders—“tell you lies.” Presumably, he feels the same about B’tselem, which just released a report on settler violence in Hebron, saying it's getting worse.

On the way out, the original guides return from the police station. One tour member had video of the confrontation, but says a file was opened, an investigation begun, into the charges against and made by Federman. Thus endeth the tour.

Applying law not clashes

Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades Information Office, 20.20.07. At least one person was killed when new clashes broke out on Saturday between the Palestinian police in the Gaza Strip and a clan called "Hellis" family ,medics said.

"Mohammed Hellis was killed today and 12 others were wounded in renewed clashes between the Executive Force and the Hellis family," a medical official said on condition of anonymity.

It should be noted that the clashes erupted after stopping a jeep full of militants in the Gaza Strip. The militants, who belonged to Hellis family, shot three of the Executive Forces. The executive forces tried to catch those who shot the Executive force men but found fire from the Hellis family.

The Spokesman of the Interior Ministry in Gaza, Ehab Al-Ghusain, said that the Fatah-affiliated Hillis family is responsible for the fighting after not adhering to an agreement reached with the police through mediators.

Today, The Interior Ministry decided to catch the charged persons whomever they are and to apply the law in the Palestinian street to end chaos and to achieve calmness in the Gaza Strip.

Jérusalem, une ville sainte qui divise

Monique Mas, RFI, 19.10.07. Jérusalem-Est ayant été annexée en juin 1967 au secteur occidental de la ville sainte occupé depuis 1948, la Knesset, le Parlement, avait décrété Jérusalem «capitale éternelle et indivisible d’Israël», le 30 juillet 1980. Une décision jugée nulle et non avenue par le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies, Etats-Unis compris. Il n’empêche qu’aujourd’hui encore, une loi prévoit que toute concession territoriale concernant Jérusalem doit être approuvée par la majorité absolue des députés. Hier, la moitié d’entre eux (60 sur 120) ont signé une pétition hostile à tout abandon de souveraineté aux Palestiniens sur les quartiers arabes.

L’idée d’un «partage» de Jérusalem avec les Palestiniens révulse la majorité de l’opinion israélienne, comme en témoigne par exemple le sondage publié mardi par le journal Yediot Aharonot. Selon ce dernier, 68% des Israéliens interrogés ne veulent même pas y songer, 11% renvoyant la question à un référendum devant lequel ils accepteraient de s’incliner si la majorité de leurs compatriotes concédaient le transfert de certains quartiers arabes de Jérusalem sous administration palestinienne, ce qui laisse un petit 20% de citoyens de l’Etat hébreu favorables à cette perspective.
Tout particulièrement sensibles à la symbolique religieuse de sites tels que le Mur des Lamentations, l’Esplanade des Mosquées (érigée sur l’ancien Temple juif) ou le Saint-Sépulcre, les Israéliens sont encore moins partageux concernant la Vieille Ville de Jérusalem. 16% seulement d’entre eux accepterait une souveraineté conjointe israélo-palestinienne sur les lieux saints du judaïsme, de l'islam et du christianisme, 21 % préconisant une souveraineté internationale et 61% revendiquant l’autorité pleine et entière d’Israël sur ces vestiges emblématiques.
Depuis 1967, Israël s’est attaché à limiter la présence arabe à Jérusalem en s’efforçant en même temps d’isoler sa «capitale éternelle» du reste des territoires palestiniens et de rendre toute rétrocession illusoire. "ésidents étrangers» dotés du seul droit de vote aux municipales à Jérusalem, les Arabes sont aujourd’hui plus nombreux que les Juifs à Jérusalem-Est.