First paragraph (Teaser):

 
An update from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) mailing list:

1. Family Home Demolished in Jerusalem
2. Mayday in Bil'in - by John
3. After Sharm Al Sheikh - by Mansour
4. Action Alert in support of two Palestinians arrested at anti-wall demo

Rest of the text:

 
An update from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) mailing list:

1. Family Home Demolished in Jerusalem
2. Mayday in Bil'in - by John
3. After Sharm Al Sheikh - by Mansour
4. Action Alert in support of two Palestinians arrested at anti-wall demo

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1. Family Home Demolished in Jerusalem By the Israeli Military

The house of Rami Dabash, his wife and two children was demolished today in the Jerusalem suburb of Tsur Baher by the Israeli Defense forces.

About 125 border police, some mounted on horses, arrived at the house this morning, accompanying a bulldozer. The police formed a cordon at the bottom of the street to prevent journalists and human rights activists from seeing the destruction.

The police refused to produce a military order declaring the area a closed zone and used force to push journalists and activists back away from the demolition site.

Police then assaulted members of the Dabash family while they were giving interviews, including Rami's 68-year-old mother who had just been discharged from hospital after [a] spinal disc surgery.

The Dabash house was not yet fully constructed. The family had started building it in October 2003 after receiving the necessary permissions from the Israeli authorities. They spent $35 000 US on building the house before construction was stopped by the authorities. They were then informed that the house would be demolished. The family then spent a further $12 000 on legal fees in an attempt to challenge the demolition with no success.

The family was not notified in advance as to when the demolition would take place. Rami Dabash's sister, Jalila, said that she had arrived from Beit Hanina to visit her elderly mother this morning when suddenly the bulldozer arrived.

Since 1967, Israeli policy has been geared to create a "Greater" Jerusalem which controls the entire central portion of the West Bank and cuts the physical and economic heart out of a potential Palestinian state.

While constructing 90,000 housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem, the municipality has intentionally created a shortage of 25,000 housing units for Palestinians.

Since occupying the west bank and Gaza strip, Israel has demolished over 12,000 Palestinian homes, leaving some 70,000 without shelter and traumatized.

For more information contact Jalila Dabash
(English/Arabic) on 054 5878155

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2. Mayday in Bil'in - by John

The mayday protest in Bil'in started out small in comparison to last Thursday's protest, which was unprecedented in size for Bil'in. However, the IOF response to the protest was overwhelming. At least nine Palestinians were shot with rubber coated steel. In addition I, along with a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, was hit with fragments of a live round that was fired directly at us by an Israeli soldier.

We were about 70 Palestinians (workers and farmers -- this was Mayday after all), 10 Israeli Anarchists and 9 Internationals.

We started marching and managed to get pretty far before the usual line of soldiers tried to prevent us from reaching the construction site of the Apartheid/ Annexation Wall.

About 10 soldiers and border police met us and told us to leave the area as it was a closed military zone (CMZ).

Arguments erupted, interspersed with slogans and songs in Hebrew and Arabic. When the soldiers and police were asked to show us the CMZ order they could not produce one. Legally, they had no right to stop us from marching!

Nevertheless, the soldiers began using force to get us out of the non-existent CMZ. They unleashed an enormous number of sound bombs followed shortly thereafter with massive amounts of tear gas and rubber bullets.

At this point one soldier fired a rubber bullet that whizzed right past my head, I am not sure whether it was aimed at me or the shebab (youth) in the background. I was pissed off because I was clearly not throwing stones with my arms raised above my head.

Then, in response to the rubber bullets, the stone throwing started.

The Israeli soldiers were trigger-happy and particularly aggressive this day, hence everything descended into a confrontation between them and stone-throwing Palestinians. The IOF was chasing everyone back to the edge of the village.

They actually elevated their firing of rubber bullets from massive to obscene levels. At times it was very uncomfortable (which is an understatement). The almost constant boom of the bullets being shot, followed by the characteristic whizzing sound when they cut through the air close to you is frightening. Many Palestinians have been blinded or killed by rubber bullets. Needless to say, much of the day was spent hunched behind walls.

Nine Palestinians were shot by rubber coated steel bullets. I was amazed that more people were not actually hit.

The tear gas used by the IOF was very strong compared to earlier demos in Bil'in, something which the Palestinians also commented on. Usually the teargas is just annoying (unless you are caught in the thick of it), but today even small wafts made us suffer badly; temporary blindness, nausea and disorientation.

In addition, many teargas canisters were fired directly at people, violating the Israeli Army's own rules of engagement. One Palestinian, Hamza (20) was shot by a gas canister to the head and had to spend the night in a hospital in Rammallah. Recently, Jonathan Pollack of the Israeli Anarchists suffered a hemorrhage after he was also hit in the head by a gas canister that was shot directly at him.

At one point at least five rounds of live ammunition were fired, a serious escalation of the situation.

The confrontations lasted for nearly three hours before the soldiers and police retreated back to the construction site of the Annexation/ Apartheid Wall.

A few Palestinians continued to throw stones. However, most of the demonstrators left, including all but three of the internationals.

Standing at a good vantage point a couple of hundred metres away, we watched something very surreal happening. One of the border police threw down his gun and helmet and challenged one (all?) of the shebab to come close to him to fistfight. Before he reached any Palestinian though, three more border police caught up with him, and he quickly put his gear back on. The four of them then continued to chase and shoot rubber coated metal bullets at the few Palestinians close to them.

Keeping my distance of about two hundred meters I moved to get a better view and find an old olive tree as cover, just in case. I was joined by Gabe, another international, and Ahmad (12) a boy from the village. As Gabe and I were discussing whether the last round fired was live or a rubber bullet, my ears suddenly began ringing. I felt pain to my groin and exclaimed that I was nearly shot in my ... Then Ahmad let out a quiet, though not frightening, sound of pain and held his head. I begin to carry him but he was actually not seriously hurt. He had a small shrapnel wound to his head.

Initially I thought we had been fired on by a rubber coated steel bullet, but I was told by Palestinians that it was in fact a live round and that the soldier had aimed at us. As soon as we had time to think about it, Gabe and I realized that it was in fact live ammunition that was fired directly at us from the soldier standing at least 200 metres away.

The ringing noise was probably the bullet impacting and ricocheting off the tree, sending fragments to Ahmad's head and my groin. It is only with hindsight that I get freaked out, scared and perplexed. I seriously did not believe (or want to believe) that live ammunition had been fired at me like that.

Ahmad's father took him to the hospital where he was examined and a a piece of shrapnel was found to be lodged in his head. Gabe and I went to the tree where we were shot at. We saw where the bullet ricocheted off the tree and found some lead fragments in the fresh holes in the bark.

Later, a Palestinian friend of mine told Gabe and me that the soldier was aiming for anyone, but that since all the shebab were cowering on the ground, all he could see was the three of us behind the olive tree. He took aim and fired. He then aimed again for a second shot, but did not take it when he saw us coming out from behind the olive tree with someone obviously hit.

That really freaked us out but both Gabe and I count ourselves very lucky, as I am sure Ahmad does too.

* * * * *

3. After the Sharm Al sheikh agreement - by Mansour

After the Sharm Al Sheikh agreement, we Palestinians hoped for some peace or at least a cease-fire to work towards peace. We hoped for no invasions, no assassinations, no arrest campaigns, fewer checkpoints and more freedom of movement.

The cease-fire was accepted by the Palestinian movements, but the IOF is still using their guns and tanks for training on the Palestinian people. Invasions and assassinations continue.

It seems as well that arrests can't be stopped because there is still space for the Palestinian people inside the Israeli prisons. The IOF actually increased their numbers of soldiers at checkpoints.

And of sourse there was no decrease in the number of checkpoints. They didn't even increase the lanes of the checkpoints to facilitate movement. Roadblocks which used to have no soldiers now have a number of soldiers to excercise even more control over Palestinian movement.

The fact here, my friends, is that the obstacles that Palestinian people face have remained or increased. And the apartheid wall and the settlements continue to grow.

So how much more of this peace can the Palestinian people take?

* * * * *

4. An appeal to support Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Ahmad Abu Rachme,
who were arrested during a demonstration against the separation wall.

The fate of two Palestinians who were arrested during a protest against the Israeli annexation wall in Bi'lin, West Bank, remains uncertain, with the pair facing time in prison for charges stemming from a protest on April 28th.

As of today, May 2nd, no court date has been set for Riad Yassin, 26, and Elian Abu Rahma, 26.

According to Muhammad el Khatib, Secretary of the Bi'lin Village Council, 6 or 7 people dressed as civilians began throwing stones at soldiers during the demonstration. "I approached them and introduced myself as Secretary of the Village Council and a member of the committee against the wall, and told them to stop throwing stones," Khatib said. Khatib asked the men where they were from, to which they replied, "Saffa," a nearby village. Suddenly, the men who were throwing stones ran after Raid and Elian and caught one of them. One of the stone throwers then brandished a pistol and fired it twice. They then arrested the second demonstrator. After the arrests, four men wearing shirts over their heads and some with police caps on were seen dragging a screaming man up the hill toward the construction site and awaiting police vehicles. Both Raid and Elian are currently detained at Camp Ofer Military Prison.

They were initially charged with attempted murder of a policeman, which carried with it a sentence of up to 19 years in prison. Lawyer Tamar Peleg managed to get authorities to reduce the charges to assaulting a police officer. The pair are currently facing a sentence of 6 months to 3 years in prison.

Secretary of Bi'lin village council, Muhammed Khatab, recently visited the men at Ofer, and said both appeared to have been beaten in custody. One of them appeared to have a broken leg.

Yasin was only released from Military prison three months ago which could make his sentencing more severe.

We therefore call upon you to arouse Israeli public opinion and to send faxes and letters to newspapers and to the Israeli authorities to demand that these two men be set free.

A proposed letter (written by Aron Caspi)

I ..... call you to take all necessary action in order to bring for the immediate release of Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Ahmad Abu Rachme who were arrested at the 28.04.05, during a demonstration against the separation wall at their village.

The two were arrested after trying to prevent disguised Israeli soldiers to throw stones on the Israeli security forces. The exposure of the Israeli undercover soldiers, which carried no identification signs, led to the arrest of the two as a mere revenge in order to defend their reputation.

They are going to be charged with "assaulting a service provider". The Israeli army's use of disguised soldiers is nothing but a shame for the Israeli government and the arrest of two Palestinians that tried to prevent their provocative attack on soldiers is legally indefensible.

I therefore call upon you to bring about their release.

Yours,

------- End of letter-------

Please, send it to all the following addresses, by email and, if possible, ALSO by fax. From abroad, include also the Israeli embassy in your country.

Some of the email may also bounce. However hard we try to update our data, there are always changes (guess why), but for sure some will arrive. Thank you!!

For embassy email addresses:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.html + more on:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel2.html

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street, P O Box 187
Jerusalem 91919, Israel
Phone: +972-2-6753333
Fax: +972 2 6521599
E-mail: pm_...@pmo.gov.il
PM_E...@it.pmo.gov.il

Minister of Justice Tzippi Livni
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Phone: +972-2-6708511
Fax: +972 2 6285438/6288618
E-mail: s...@justice.gov.il (may bounce), man...@justice.gov.il,
pni...@justice.gov.il

Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St., Tel-Aviv 61909, Israel.

Phone: +972-3-5692010
Fax: +972-3-6962757/6916940/6917915
e-mail: s...@mod.gov.il or pni...@mod.gov

To:
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Silvan Shalom
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd., Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91035
Fax 972-2-5303367
e-mail:
Foreign Minister's office - s...@mfa.gov.il
Director General's office - man...@mfa.gov.il
Spokesman's office - dov...@mfa.gov.il
Public Relations - pni...@mfa.gov.il

American Consulate, Jerusalem Email: kee...@state.gov, Fax: +972-(0) 2- 627-7230
European Union, Jerusalem, Email mai...@delwbg.cec.eu.int, Fax: + 972- (0)2-532 6249
UN Special Coordinator, Gaza, Email uns...@palnet.com, Fax: +972-(0)8- 282-0966
S/SMEC, Office of the Special Middle East Coordinator fax: (+1) 202 647 4808

White House Comment Line: 202-456-1111
State Department Bureau of Public Affairs Comment Line: 202-647-6575

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(this update was originally circulated via the ISM's palsolidarity mailing list)