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

1. Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Abu Rachme released!
2. Public Hanging Against the Wall
3. The army is inside Beit-Likya right now - by Leila
4. Request for translators

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

1. Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Abu Rachme released!
2. Public Hanging Against the Wall
3. The army is inside Beit-Likya right now - by Leila
4. Request for translators

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1. Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Abu Rachme released!

Bil'in, May 29th

Today, a judge in Ofer military court released the two arrestees from the April 28th demonstration in Bil'in on bail of NIS 15,000 each. The two have been released to their village and will be required to appear in the police station once per month. Almost all Palestinians arrestees are held until the end of the proceedings against them. This near-unprecedented and surprising victory is a clear acknowledgment by the judge that he believes the two are innocent.

Background: During a demonstration on the 28th of April, undercover Israeli provocateurs threw stones at Israeli soldiers. The provocateurs were exposed by the Palestinian organizers of this non-violent demonstration who approached them and told them to stop throwing stones. The provocateurs then took out their weapons and grabbed Riad Mohamad Yassin and Alian Ibrahim Abu Rachme from the peaceful crowd. Initially the military prosecutor wanted to charge one of them with attempted murder, apparently because an undercover Israeli special forces agent fell and hurt his head. Human rights Attorney Tamar Peleg managed to get the charges reduced to assault.

Thanks to everyone who sent faxes and made calls on their behalf!

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2. Public Hanging Against the Wall - by Fred

Bil'in, May 27th

On Friday after prayers, the people of Bil'in together with international and Israeli activists gathered at the mosque for a protest. A huge banner reading "The Apartheid Wall: the Final Stage in Israel's Expansionist Policy" had been turned into a gallows: ten ropes were hanging from the banner. Ten Palestinians were wrapped in white shrouds and written on their chests in English, Hebrew and Arabic were what the Apartheid Wall would kill in Bil'in and Palestine: "Trees", "Freedom", "Movement", "Peace", "Culture", "Water", "Hope", "State", "Community" and "Justice". These 10 were to be "hung" when we reached the construction site or the line of soldiers.

Surprisingly we managed to get pretty close to the construction site. Usually we are stopped right at the edge of the village. However, today was different. It seems to have been designated by the Israeli army as a media war between themselves and the village of Bil'in. The army had decided to put on a show for the Israeli media and had invited lots of camera crews and journalists. The IOF has gotten very bad press from Bil'in, unsurprisingly as they have been very brutal in repressing peaceful protests, using obscene amounts of rubber bullets, teargas and sound bombs (and occasionally live ammunition), and beating and arresting non-violent activists. Today, the Israeli Army was going to show their nice side to the Israeli public, hence they let us come a bit closer.

At some distance from the soldiers we started the hanging, and chanted slogans against the Wall, after which we slowly proceeded towards the line of soldiers and media. The `hung' villagers did a very good job in pretending to be dead and the media loved it. Ten hung Palestinians in Islamic funeral shrouds in front of about 30 Israeli soldiers was too great a photo opportunity to miss!!!

The soldiers were on their best behavior for the day and they had brought in several female soldiers and an army ambulance for visual effects. In my two months in Bil'in I have only seen one female soldier, and never an army ambulance. The official spokesperson of the occupying forces was there. The IOF wanted to show that it is the protestors that always start the violence (ignoring, of course, that the occupation in itself is violence), a clear distortion of past events. They also wanted to show how benevolent the Israeli Army is when they allow Palestinians to protest.

After the media had had plenty of time to film the protest and had interviewed the hung Palestinians, we simply turned around and left the soldiers. There was no stone throwing. The media war was something that the IOF could not and did not win on this day.

Photos from Yahoo News:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050527/481/jrl11405271511
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050527/481/jrl11605271512
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050527/481/jrl11305271447
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050527/481/jrl11205271440

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3. The army is inside Beit-Likya right now - by Leila

May 27th

The army is inside Beit-Likya right now.

150 teenagers are playing football, some kind of tournament. Younger kids go to watch the football match - so far so normal, you say. If your elder kid goes to play football his smaller brothers want to watch.

But then the picture changes. At 6pm the army starts to shoot tear gas at the teenagers and the kids. Afterwards they shout from a distance that the football field is a military zone and tell them to: "get the hell out of there".

They are still shooting tear gas.

This follows the arrest of 11 people from the village yesterday, the youngest 19 years old. Among the citizens who were arrested were people on the way to their work. They took them from their cars and then they were transferred to offer camp.

This follows the shooting of a pregnant mother and 2 girls.

Which follows the murder of Kamal and Udai, 14 and 15 years old, who were shot near the football field where they were playing football.

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4. The ISM media team is looking for translators from English to Arabic and vice versa.

Please contact i...@palsolidarity.org if you speak both these languages fluently and would like to help out with an Arabic website and an Arabic PalSolidarity list.

In solidarity,

ISM media committee

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(this update was originally circulated via the ISM's palsolidarity mailing list -- minor editing, formatting and links were applied before its posting here)