URGENT: Please Condemn Settler Attack on Palestinian Farmers in Yanoun

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:
On Saturday, 7 July 2012 at approximately 3:00PM (GMT+2) Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Itamar approached three Palestinian farmers in Yanoun who were harvesting their wheat and grazing their sheep. The settlers were armed with knives and killed three of the farmers’ sheep.
 
A clash then ensued, in which the settlers and farmers began throwing stones at one-another. When EAs arrived to the scene, three fires were ablaze in the fields, but it was unknown whether the flames were intentionally lit by the settlers or were started by teargas canisters that the Israeli military fired at the farmers. Nonetheless, two wheat fields and one olive grove were burnt, and when other Palestinian farmers arrived at the scene to turn out the flames, Israeli soldiers and police prevented them from reaching the fields by firing more teargas at them.
 
In total six Palestinians were injured, and five were hospitalized:
·      Jawdat Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was beaten and stabbed multiple times by settlers, then shot in the face and foot by Israeli soldiers. He was then handcuffed by Israeli soldiers and attacked again by the settlers while the soldiers pursued other Palestinian farmers. After being attacked, the military did not allow a present ambulance take him to a hospital or care for him for approximately 3-hours.
·      Ibrahim Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was beaten by a soldier on his head with the butt-stock of an M16 rifle, causing damage to his eye, and was later beaten by settlers while handcuffed.
·      Hakimun Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was shot in the arm at close range by a soldier.
·      Adwan Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was beaten by settlers with clubs.
·      Ashraf Bani Jaber: was beaten by a soldier with a club.
·      Jawdat Ibrahim (Hospitalized): was handcuffed, beaten by Israeli soldiers and then released for the settlers to attack as they watched. He was then tied up by the settlers and left on his land; he was found the next morning (Sunday, 8 July 2012).
  
Rashid, Mayor of Yanoun and long-time EAPPI local contact, expressed fear that settlers initiated the clash to enforce new invisible boundaries, which would defacto confiscate much of the area’s wheat fields to the Itamar Settlement.
 
ADDITTIONAL INFORMATION:
Yanoun is a small village in Area C of the West Bank, just southeast of Nablus. It has about 65 inhabitants who are dependent upon farming and animal husbandry as their main source of livelihood. The village is surrounded by the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar and since 1996 the residents of Yanoun have consistently experienced settler harassment and violence, as well as property damage and confiscation.
 
In October of 2002 the settlers of Itimar forcibly evacuated Yanoun of its inhabitants. International humanitarian agencies and Israeli human rights organizations then came to Yanoun to provide a protective presence with the aim of facilitating the return of the community. These left Yanoun within weeks of the community’s return; however, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) has remained in Yanoun since October 2002. Based in Yanoun Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) provide a protective presence, monitor, and report on human rights violations in the community, as well as the entire Nablus Governorate and Jordan Valley.
 
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW:
The International Court of Justice has stated that the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian persons in Times of War applies to the occupied Palestinian territory.
 
All Israeli settlements are illegal according to Article 49 the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."
 
Article 4
of the Fourth Geneva Convention states, “Persons protected by the Convention are those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.” Thus, according to International Humanitarian Law, Israel has the duty as an occupying power to protect Palestinians from settler attacks.
 
MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
We encourage you to:
·       Forward this email to your networks.
·       Inform your representative in parliament about what is happened in Yanoun.
·       Update news/media agencies (radio, TV & print) in your countries about this incident.
·       Contact (Preferably fax) the following officials and call on them to condemn this attack and hold Israeli settlers accountable for the human rights violations that they commit against Palestinian civilians:
o   Your Ambassador and/or Consul General in Israel
§  http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Sherut/ForeignInIsrael/Continents
o   The Israeli Ambassador in your country
§  http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm

You may use the sample letter below or draft your own:

Dear Ambassador / Consul General / Minister / Judge Advocate General / Lieutenant-General,
 
I call upon you to condemn Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians and to call for all those who violate human rights in the oPt to be held legally accountable for their actions.
 
On Saturday, 7 July 2012 at approximately 3:00PM (GMT+2) Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Itamar approached three Palestinian farmers in Yanoun who were harvesting their wheat and grazing their sheep. The settlers were armed with knives and killed three of the farmers’ sheep.
 
A clash then ensued, in which the settlers and farmers began throwing stones at one-another. Israeli soldiers and police arrived to the scene only to support the settlers’ attack on a defenseless community.
 
In total six Palestinians were injured, and five were hospitalized:
·      Jawdat Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was beaten and stabbed multiple times by settlers, then shot in the face and foot by Israeli soldiers. He was then handcuffed by Israeli soldiers and attacked again by the settlers while the soldiers pursued other Palestinian farmers. After being attacked, the military did not allow a present ambulance take him to a hospital or care for him for approximately 3-hours.
·      Ibrahim Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was beaten by a soldier on his head with the butt-stock of an M16 rifle, causing damage to his eye, and was later beaten by settlers while handcuffed.
·      Hakimun Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was shot in the arm at close range by a soldier.
·      Adwan Bani Jaber (Hospitalized): was beaten by settlers with clubs.
·      Ashraf Bani Jaber: was beaten by a soldier with a club.
·      Jawdat Ibrahim (Hospitalized): was handcuffed, beaten by Israeli soldiers and then released for the settlers to attack as they watched. He was then tied up by the settlers and left on his land; he was found the next morning (Sunday, 8 July 2012).
 
Though the settlers were the attackers in this clash, the Israeli Military and Police provided them with protection to carry out the attack. The soldiers and officers attacked Palestinians who defended themselves from the settlers, did not attempt to put out the fires that blazed through Palestinians’ fields - nor let anyone else do so, and delayed medical attention for the victims of the attack.
 
Like the many Israeli settler attacks that take place on an on-going basis across the occupied Palestinian territory, no Israeli settlers were arrested during this attack.
 
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME

--
Nader Hanna
Advocacy Officer
Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine & Israel (EAPPI)
P.O. Box 741
Jerusalem 91000
Tel: +972 2 628 9402
Fax: +972 2 627 4499
Mobile: +972 54 815 7652
E-mail: eappi.advocacy@alqudsnet.com
Skype: eappi.advocacy
Website: www.eappi.org <http://www.eappi.org/>

You can now receive tweets when EAPPI articles hit the website. Sign up at www.twitter.com/eappi <http://www.twitter.com/eappi> .

Urgent alert! Save Susya village from destruction! 19 June 2012

Urgent alert to save Susya village from destruction!

Please Sign this Petition:

Dear friends,

In days Israeli bulldozers plan to demolish my village in the Hebron
hills. But if people from around the world to stand with us in our
struggle we may be able to remain in our homes. Sign my petition and
share widely:

My name is Nasser Nawajah, I’m 30 years old and live in a Palestinian
village called Susiya in the occupied West Bank. Israel calls my home
an “illegal outpost” and is about to come and demolish the village for
the sixth time since I've been here. Unless you can help.

An ultra right wing zionist group successfully petitioned the High
Court to have our village destroyed -- but with help from friendly
groups in Israel, we’ve won a brief two week reprieve. We now only have
days left before the bulldozers are due to tear down our tents and
trash our possessions. My people have lived on this land for
generations -- and together we can stop the Israeli authorities
demolishing our clinic, our granaries and our solar panels.

If people from all over the world stand with Susiya we can keep our
village alive and my home standing. Join us now to ensure that Israeli
authorities know that the world is watching. Sign this petition now and
share with your friends:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_My_Village/?bcDPbab&v=15503 <http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_My_Village/?bcDPbab&amp;v=15503>      

(for more detailed information on Susya see:
http://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/)
June 19th, 2012 


Dear Friends,

Please have a look at the announcement below. For the last twelve years we have worked closely with our Palestinian friends in Susya, protected them to the best of our abilities from continuous violent harassment by Israeli settlers and by the army, fought the legal battle to keep them on what is left of their lands, celebrated weddings and births with them, cleaned wells, put up solar-energy installations in the village, and stood by them in their homes and fields. The Civil Administration– that is, the Occupation authority– has now distributed demolition orders which, if carried out, will destroy the entire village. This means only one thing: cruel and violent expulsion. Those of you who are in Israel: please come with us to the protest vigil on Friday, June 22nd. Those of you who are abroad: we urge you to make your protest known, urgently, in whatever ways you can, in the media, in appeals to your representatives in government and in high positions, to anyone who can intervene. Although the Occupation as a whole aims at dispossessing Palestinian civilians as its sole raison d’etre, only rarely have we seen an attempt like this to drive out an entire village in one fell swoop. This is not the first time the Susya Palestinians have been expelled from their lands; we must not let it happen again. I will be sending out a more detailed description soon; meanwhile, please read the information below and, if you can, sign up for the Friday vigil.

Best, David

Protest Vigil in Susya

Israeli army forces are threatening to demolish the entire Palestinian village of Susya.
This week, demolition orders for approximately fifty dwelling structures were handed out, which add to numerous additional orders issued recently. In addition, the Civil Administration has announced to the residents of Susya that it intends to implement six demolition orders issued in the 1990s and 2001. From past experience, such notices are only given when there is genuine intention to go through with demolitions.

The demolition orders cover most of Palestinian Susya. Not only dwelling structures but also animal pens, water cisterns, the solar-powered electricity system – everything.

Unlike Givat HaUlpana, this is not a case of building on lands privately owned by others. The rights of Susya’s Palestinian residents over the land in which they reside have been legally demonstrated and acknowledged by the Israeli authorities. The occupation authorities deliberately refrain from approving a master plan for Susya in order to deny its residents (like those of many Palestinian villages in area C) any possibility to build in a manner the Israeli authorities will consider legal.

Unlike the settlers form Givat HaUlpana, no one will offer the residents of Susya any reimbursement. They will receive no alternative housing. No one will speak of a housing arrangement during the interim period. Netanyahu will not offer to relocate their homes.

After their village will be demolished, the residents of Palestinian Susya will simply be driven into the desert, and not for the first time. Since the establishment of the nearby Israeli settlement of Susya, the residents of Palestinian Susya were evicted from their lands four times.

On Friday, June 22 we will stand side by side with the residents of Palestinian Susya in a protest and support vigil and will call:
No to the fifth demolition of Susya!
No to the expulsion of people from their homes and tents!
No to the silent transfer of the Palestinian population out of area C!

For transportation from Jerusalem call Moriel – 054-3157781
For transportation from Tel Aviv call Alma – 054-2292474

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If not in teh UK. please write to your senators, members of parliament, secretary of statee etc...

If in the UK, please write to your MPs, Foreign Secretary Rt Hon William Hague MP, the Foreign Minister (Alistair Burt, MP) , to sanction Israel for these illegal demolitions, and of projects funded by the EU.

FCO
Foreign & Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street,
London.
SW1A 2AH
emails:
Alistair Burt MP    <psminiterburtinfo@fco.gov.uk>
Rt Hon. William Hague MP , Secretary of State   <private.officegsi@fco.gov.uk>

Gush Shalom calls for abolition of "Jerusalem Day" 20 May 2012

Press Release May 19 2012   
  
Gush Shalom calls for abolition of "Jerusalem Day". This is a holiday only to settlers and racists, who get a license to provoke and harass Palestinians . . The real 'Jerusalem Day' - when Jerusalem becomes the capital of two states living in peace.


A lie does not become a truth, even if repeated forty-five times. Jerusalem is a not a united city, and has never been a united city in the forty-five years since 1967. East Jerusalem is a Palestinian area under occupation rule. Just so is it treated by the  governmental and municipal authorities of the State of Israel, and by the settlers who are dispossessing the Palestinian inhabitants, with the funding and backing of these authorities - as recently happened again in  the Beit Hanina Neighborhood.

"Jerusalem Day" is not a holiday to Israel's citizens or to residents of Jerusalem. It is a holiday only for the young settlers, who are given by the Jerusalem Police a free hand to hold a provocative "Flag Dance" throughout East Jerusalem – even though in previous years this "dance" developed into an ongoing chain of racist harassment and violence against Palestinian inhabitants.

It is time to end the lie and erase this ugly stain from the calendar of the State of Israel. The real Jerusalem Day will be the day when the occupation ends and Jerusalem becomes the capital of two states - West Jerusalem the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. Only then can Jerusalem truly be a united city, by the free will of all its inhabitants - Israelis and Palestinians alike.


Contact: Adam Keller, Gush Shalom Spokesperson 054-2340749

Solidarity !!!

Israelis and Palestinians will demonstrate at the Old City's Damascus Gate against the "Jerusalem Day",  which is the Day of Occupation

Today, Sunday May 20, there shall be marked the so-called "Jerusalem Day", dedicated to glorification of the myth of the Unity of the City. But Jerusalem is not united, it is divided and occupied. "Jerusalem Day" a day of celebration for the settlers who make of use of this date to hold various activities in East Jerusalem, activities which are, year after year, accompanied by the terrorizing and mass use of violence against Palestinian inhabitants.

We will join our Palestinian partners in marking Nakba Day which occurred last week and protesting against the Right-wing "Flag Dance" which celebrates the ongoing occupation of East Jerusalem. The East Jerusalem neighborhood committees invited Israelis to join in the

Protest event at the Damascus Gate at wall of Jerusalem's Old City, facing the Right-wing "Flag Dance", on Sunday, May 20, 2012, at 6:00 PM.

It should be noted that the protest is organized by Palestinians and it is our partners who will determine the nature of the demonstrations. We must also warn that in recent years, "Jerusalem Day" is often marked by violence from both settlers and the security forces.

For more information: +972-52-5357456 

Stop uprooting Palestinian Trees!

The Israeli Army plans to force farmers from Deir Istiya, a village in
the northern West Bank, to uproot 1400 olive trees in Wadi Qana by the
first of May.

The village, together with international and Israeli supporters, will
resist and open up a protest camp in the olive goves.

It is to expected that the Israeli army will respond with the usual
excessive force to quell the resistance and enforce the uprooting of the
trees. The village needs all the outside support it can get.

The International Women's Peace Service IWPS, who are based in the
village of Deir Istiya, set up a online petition to write to the
relevant Israeli politicians in protest:

Uprooting trees is one of the many strategies the Israeli government uses to weaken the spirit of Palestinians peacefully living on their land. Sign this petition to show your support that uprooting these trees is not ok for the following reasons:

1. There is no logical reason for why the Israeli Defence Force needs to uproot these trees. 
2. Agriculture is one of the few remaining ways of how Palestinians put bread and butter on their table. By destroying these trees the IDF is abusing their basic human rights. 
3. These trees are owned, planted and cared for by Palestinians on their own land. They are not stolen, they do not harm anyone, and they are not on Israeli owned land. Ask yourself why then do these trees need to be uprooted?

Please sign this petition so we can show the Israeli government that the outside world cares about the atrocities they think they are secretly committing.

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-uprooting-palestinian-trees

Please keep informed in the following days and help us reach out to the
media and a wider public:

http://iwps.info/
http://palsolidarity.org/

Contacts in the village:

International Women's Peace Service 00972-9 251-4644; 00972-597317193
Rezeq Abu Nasser (Farmer): 00972-599116416
Nazmi Salman (Mayor of Deir Istiya): 00972-599788273

International Women's Peace Service

--
“They have succeeded in dominating us more
through ignorance, than through force”.
Simon Bolivar

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."  Voltaire

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the  oppressed"  - Steve Biko

Starving for Freedom: Six Years on the Abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat, One Month on the Hunger Strike of Hana Shalabi

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

www.freeahmadsaadat.org + campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org

Twitter:http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat

March 14-15, 2012 marks the sixth anniversary of the attack on Jericho prison and the Israeli abduction of Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades, who had been held under U.S. and British guard in a Palestinian Authority prison.

For the past three years, since March 18, 2009, Ahmad Sa'adat has been in isolation in an Israeli occupation prison, subject to solitary confinement, poor health care and intense repression. Similarly, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, one of his comrades also abducted from Jericho in 2006, has been in isolation for many months. The demand to end the isolation of Ahmad Sa'adat - and his fellow prisoners in solitary confinement - sparked the September-October 2011 hunger strikes that swept through the occupation's prisons.

As we mark this anniversary, a Palestinian prisoner's hunger strike has once again captured the attention of the world, very soon after the heroic 66-day hunger strike of Khader Adnan. Hana al-Shalabi, released in the October 2011 prisoner exchange, was re-abducted on February 16, 2012, and is held under administrative detention without charge or trial. She has now been on hunger strike for 28 days.

 

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat echoes the call of Hana al-Shalabi's parents for a day of action this Saturday, March 17:

"We call upon...all Palestinians to go to the streets and participate in the support action planned on Saturday March 17 in solidarity with our daughter Hana Al-Shalabi and all administrative detainees. We will continue supporting our daughter’s hunger strike and we want to let our daughter Hana know: we are with you in your hunger strike until you achieve your demand; your immediate release from the unjust Israeli jails. 

Your support to Hana is necessary to achieve Hana’s immediate release; it is also needed to support our daughter in her open hunger strike which she has started on February 16, 2012.

Finally, we call upon all administrative detainees to join Hana’s hunger strike until you achieve your own immediate release and put an end to the unjust Israeli policy of administrative detention which violates human rights and International law."

Similarly, we join in the call for people around the world to take action on April 17, Palestinian Prisoners' Day, for Ahmad Sa'adat, Hana Shalabi, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Khader Adnan, and all of the nearly 5,000 Palestinian prisoners held within the jails of the occupation:

"On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Tuesday, April 17, we ask that all supporters of the Palestinian political prisoners’ movement bring Khader Adnan’s spirit of resistance to the doorsteps of his captors and would-be killers...Let Khader Adnan’s hunger strike mark the beginning of a revitalized global movement for Palestinian prisoners, their rights, their families, and their struggle. Together, we can make it so."

Ahmad Sa'adat, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Khader Adnan and Hana al-Shalabi - alongside their nearly 5,000 sisters and brothers - are paradigmatic examples of the steadfastness of Palestinian prisoners. Despite the abuse and isolation they have suffered, Palestinian prisoners - and the Palestinian people as a whole - will continue to resist occupation, racism, and settlement in order to obtain their rights to freedom, self-determination and return.

On this, the sixth anniversary of the storming of Jericho prison and the abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat reiterates that it is long past time to end the dangerous and damaging policy of Palestinian Authority security coordination with the Israeli occupation. This policy is responsible for ongoing political repression and for the imprisonment of Palestinians in both PA and Israeli jails. It must be noted that Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades were abducted not from their homes but from the Palestinian Authority jail that had held them - contrary to Palestinian law - for over four years at the time of the military siege.

The policy of security coordination is the policy that kept Ahmad Sa'adat, a Palestinian national leader, behind bars for four years before the Israeli attack and abduction. It poses a deep danger to the Palestinian cause, and represents the inverse of the unity and national solidarity displayed overwhelmingly by Palestinian prisoners standing together across all lines to confront occupation. It endangers the accomplishments of the Palestinian revolution and dishonors the struggles of the Palestinian people over its decades.

In addition, it must also be emphasized that United States and British guards maintained the prisons that held Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades in Jericho, and that they were warned and exited the prison in a coordinated fashion prior to the Israeli occupation attack - when their presence there had been repeatedly, and falsely, justified as "protection." The actions of the US and British guards and monitors in Jericho prison are yet one more example of the active complicity and responsibility for occupation by these states. Further, we call upon international authorities, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to take up their responsibility to address the ongoing suffering and abuse of Palestinian political prisoners by occupation forces.

Six years after the abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat from Jericho prison, the Palestinian people and Palestinian prisoners are steadfast as ever, unbowed by repression, confronting the occupier from behind its own bars. They are a living beacon of steadfastness and inspire our struggle for the liberation of each prisoner - and the liberation of all of Palestine, its land and its people.

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

Take Action!

1. Picket, protest or call the Israeli embassy or consulate in your location and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat, Hana al-Shalabi, and all Palestinian political prisoners. Join in March 17 actions and events!

2. Distribute the free downloadable Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat flyer in your community at local events.

3. Write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly to demand that prisoners' rights are recognized. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at JER_jerusalem@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situations of Hana Shalabi and Ahmad Sa'adat. Make it clear that isolation is a human rights violation and a form of torture, and that the ICRC must stand up and play its role to defend prisoners' rights. 

4. Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org with announcements, reports and information about your local events, activities and flyer distributions.

WHO IS AHMAD SA'ADAT?

Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was elected to his position in 2001 following the assassination of the previous General Secretary, Abu Ali Mustafa, on August 27, 2001 by a U.S.-made Apache missile shot from an Israeli military helicopter as he sat in his office in Ramallah. PFLP fighters retaliated by assassinating Rehavam Ze'evi, the racist extremist Israeli tourism minister and head of the Moledet party, notorious for his political platform based on the "transfer" or ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, on October 17, 2001.

Sa'adat was abducted by Palestinian Authority security forces after engaging in a meeting with PA officials under false pretenses in February 2002, and was held in the Muqata' PA presidential building in Ramallah until April 2002, when in an agreement with Israel, the U.S. and Britain, he and four of his comrades were held in the Palestinian Authority's Jericho prison, under U.S. and British guard.

He remained in the PA jails, without trial or charge, an imprisonment that was internationally condemned, until March 14, 2006, when the prison itself was besieged by the occupation army and he and his comrades were kidnapped. While imprisoned in the PA jail in Jericho, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Since that time, he has been held in the prisons of the occupation and continually refused to recognize the illegitimate military courts of the Israeli occupation. He was sentenced to thirty years in prison on December 25, 2008 solely for his political activity, and has spent three years in isolation at the present time.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/

campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org

Twitter: @FreeAhmadSaadat

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