Palestine-Israel, The Anarchists Against the Walls and the joint struggle against separation fence

Bil'in, Um Salmuna, Ni'ilin, Kafin, and in Tel Aviv

This week we participated in the struggle in Bil'in, Um Salmuna, Ni'ilin, Kafin, and in Tel Aviv. In Bil'in during the week it was mainly around the outpost, the lands of the village on the west side of the separation fence, and the 3rd International Conference, and the 172nd Friday demo. In Ni'ilin it was the Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday demonstrations. At Um Salmuna it was the usual Friday demonstration. In Kafin it was the opening ceremony of the protest tent against the refusal to let the villagers access to their lands on the other side of the separation fence. In Tel Aviv, Saturday, it was the critical mass against the occupation and the demo of 1967 Nacsa 41st year. Italiano]

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The Anarchists Against the Walls and the joint struggle against the separation fence

This week we participated in the struggle in Bil'in, Um Salmuna, Ni'ilin, Kafin, and in Tel Aviv. In Bil'in during the week it was mainly around the outpost, the lands of the village on the west side of the separation fence, and the 3rd International Conference, and the 172nd Friday demo. In Ni'ilin it was the Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday demonstrations. At Um Salmuna it was the usual Friday demonstration. In Kafin it was the opening ceremony of the protest tent against the refusal to let the villagers access to their lands on the other side of the separation fence. In Tel Aviv, Saturday, it was the critical mass against the occupation and the demo of 1967 Nacsa 41st year.

BIL'IN

The state force and the colonial settlers harass the people who keep presence in the outpost built west of the route of the separation fence during the struggle against robbing the lands there. From time to time they even infringe on the lands belong to Bil'iners. Activists of the AAtW help to maintain the present there to minimize harassment of the Bil'iners, and replace them when they are prevented to reach the outpost.

This week, as part of our activities in Bil'in we participated in the 3rd International Conference on Nonviolent Popular Struggle. We also took part in the logistics of maintaining the Bil'in outpost.

In the big Friday demonstration in which conference participants from Palestine and abroad took part we had the usual harassment. After the lively marched of chants, dancing and slogans, from the center of the village to the route of the separation fence, we converged near the gate to the west of the separation fence. As usual, after a while, and without any provocation, the state force started to shoot tear gas canisters and rubber coated bullets.

Many suffered from the tear gas, few were injured by the direct sooting of canisters of tear gas (which is forbidden by the Israeli law...) - including Abdallah Abu Rakhme of the village popular comity.

Following is a media report on that harassment:

"Top EU official hurt in Bil'in protest: Vice President of European Parliament Luisa Morgantini hurt by IDF tear gas... Diplomatic incident in West Bank: Vice President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini and Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan-Maguire were hurt Friday after inhaling tear gas during an anti-security fence protest in the West Bank village of Bil'in.
Later, Italian Judge Julio Toscano reportedly suffered head wounds after being hit by a tear gas grenade. The judge was taken to a Ramallah hospital for treatment.

According to protesters, dozens of the hundreds of demonstrators on hand were hurt by tear gas, while several were hit by gas canisters.

Former Palestinian National Security Advisor Jibril Rajoub and Palestinian Legislative Council Member Dr. Mustafa al-Barghouti were also hurt by tear gas.

The IDF said that about 70 Palestinians and left-wing activists took part in the protest [really few hundreds - I.S.] and hurled stones at security forces, who used crowd dispersal means in response. [The usual lie. Often the state force start their massive shooting after the youngsters respond to initial shooting. However, this Friday - like many others, the state force do not have the patience to wait for the kids stone throwing, and start the massive shooting with no provocation of any kind - I.S.].

Regarding Morgantini's condition, the army said that "those who take part in such protests and violate a closed military zone order should not be surprised to see the IDF respond with tear gas."


One of the protest organizers, Yonatan Pollak said that the army fired a "dazzling amount" of gas canisters, "about 30-40 per barrage."

[This is a new automatic shooter of tear gas canister developed for the use in the war on Gaza Strip and is tested in the Bil'in and Ni'ilin demonstrations - I. S.]

The IDF said that it regretted the fact that "week after week large numbers of security forces need to deal with Israeli rioters, who turned public disturbances into a regular occurrence."

The army noted that the weekly protest forces it to divert troops from other tasks such as counter-terror operations and defense missions.

[For their own PR needs, the Israeli state spoke persons claim that the Israeli activists of the AAtW are responsible for the incitement of the Palestinians to do the disobedient actions. The truth is that our presence is mostly needed for the prevention of use of live ammunition by the state forces in the dispersing of the Palestinian demonstrators... as the state force are forbidden from using live ammunition when Israelis are present. - I. S.]

This week like they do it sporadicly, border guards gendarmes tried in vain to block the way of some of the AAtW activists from reaching Bil'in.

Video clip of 30-5-08 demo in Bil'in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIqKZqykskc
Video of Friday's 6-6-08 Bil'in demo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23ul33taRtY
video of the 3rd annual Bilin conference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcSnysC0O8

NI'ILIN

One of the invitations:
"Demonstrations in Ni'ilin are expected to continue next week, with one already this Sunday morning. Please SMS or call me at 054xxxx if you can come. Also keep in mind that there will likely be demos Tuesday and Thursday"

One report:

"Cat: "Hi, Today demonstration in Ni'ilin was very powerful and well attended. In its nearly four hours we were able to disrupt construction three times for about 15 minutes each. 23 people were injured, 4 of them bad enough that they
had to be taken to the hospital.

There will be another demonstration Tuesday where the villagers will try and block the bulldozers and disrupt construction again."

Another report:
"D.: " Muhammad A. and myself were gassed together yesterday. As we took cover behind the wide trunk of an olive tree we conversed (in fluent Hebrew): He is somewhat over 40, worked in Israel at a tree nursery till about ten years ago, his direct family was cleansed from Jaffa in 48. His father was a well to do petrol merchant and with his savings he bought land tracts around his new refuge, Ni'lin. Today three families inhabit their original home in Jaffa, near the Clock Tower: He checked.
Muhammad's larger family owned about 800 acres (including some in Bil'in's famous now area). Settlements have been erected over most of this property. The last of the 300 dunums (75 acres) belonging to Muhammad's direct family are now swallowed to the last square inch in front of his eyes. Some of this was already gulped before by the Hashmonaim illegal settlement. The only compensation Muhammad receives from the settlers (Israeli-state) is their generous sewage products."

Photos: https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9136/index.php Including photo by Meged Gozani / Activestills.org

Palestine: Daily mobilizations to disrupt construction in Ni'ilin Monday, June 02 2008
"For the past two weeks, a nearly daily mobilization has been taking place in the village of Ni'ilin, where construction of the wall has begun. This video depicts a demonstration from Thursday, in which villagers and supporters tried blocking the bulldozers and were met by harsh military violence, which included concussion grenades, teargas and rubber bullets, as well as kicks and punches. Twelve were injured during the demonstration and two, one Palestinian and one Israeli, were arrested.

Friday saw a relatively calm demonstration, as no construction was happening, and though massive amounts of teargas were used, there were no injuries.

On Sunday, [1st of July] a general strike was declared in the village, and over 300 people set out to stop the bulldozers. The demonstrators were met by a massive contingent of soldiers who rained volleys of teargas, concussion grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets on them. Nevertheless, protesters have managed to get to the bulldozers and disrupt the construction three times during the day. 23 were injured and treated in the village's infirmary, while four of them had to be sent to the hospital for the severity of their injuries.

[The AAtW people who were on the way to participate in the demonstration just missed the Israeli state force... When we arrived, the soldiers just retreated from the village. So we participated in the demonstration without their
interference. I. S.]

The wall in the area is planned to leave about 2,500 dunams (approx. 620 acres, 250 hectares), practically annexing them to the nearby settlement. The route of the wall on village's lands was planned in order to allow, amongst other things, the construction of a graveyard for the adjacent settlements.

Demonstrations and the attempt to block the construction is expected to resume Tuesday and continue in the foreseeable future.

"today the army uprooted some trees. a delegation of land owners from the village went out to see what is going on and shame the soldiers. they will probably do the same tomorrow and we are invited for a demo on Wednesday."

On Wednesday 4-6-08 we participated in additional demonstration in Ni'ilin. See the video clip bellow.

On Friday, after the Bil'in and Um Salmuna demonstrations activists of the AAtW joined the special "noise orchestra for welcome of Saturday" for the near by Hashmonaim colonialist settlement (built on lands robbed in the past from Ni'ilin). The separation fence is supposed to supply it security but is really a mean for its expansion on more lands of Ni'ilin.

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Ni'lin Demo against the wall 29-5-08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ht0ecKZ0-0
Ni'lin demo against the wall 1-6-08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H-etRbeMu8
Ni'lin demo against the wall 4-6-08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfhHkilQC44


KAFIN

"On Thursday there will be a demo in Kafin and an opening of a protest camp. We are invited to both and I hope to get a more detailed invitation to pass on. If you can make it please get in touch with I."

"Greetings

Near the village of Kafin on the northern West Bank, the "Separation Fence" was erected already several years ago, cutting the villagers off from a large part of their lands. This despite that strong protests were also joined by the members of Kibbutz Metzer, located on the other side, who have good contacts of many years' standing with the people of Kafin.

Nowadays, the Kafin villagers are allowed only twice a week to cross the gate and get to their lands, which is not enough to carry on the necessary agricultural work. A few days ago they could only watch helplessly as a fire broke out and many of their olive trees were destroyed (and this is not the first fire of that kind!)

On Thursday this week, which is the anniversary of the occupation (June 5), the Kafin inhabitants will erect a protest tent near the fence separating them from their land, with the modest demand that the gate be opened every day, for needed agricultural work, rather than only twice a week. They intend to stay there for as long as it takes.

The Mayor of Kafin, Sa'id Karashi, called this morning to me as to other peace and anti-occupation activists and asks that Israelis who care will arrive and take part in erecting the protest tent, on Thursday June 5 at 11.00 in the morning. Please make all efforts to arrive!

For transportation details call I. S. of Anarchists Against Walls at 03-xxxxx.
Gush Shalom"

A day before the action, Buma, a member of the Kibbutz Metzer, contacted us and tried to convince us to renegade on our promise to participate. He claimed our presence will harm the village and so think a village authority...

Disregarding it, with directives of the village activists, a team of the AAtW and representative of Gush Shalom arrived in Kafin.

We participated in the march from the village to the project tent where dignitaries from the village and of the Palestinian leadership gave speeches.
We were inspired when we heard the part of the speeches giving honer to the joint struggle of Bil'in, Um Salmuna, and Ni'ilin, as inspiration to the expanding popular struggle against the separation fence and occupation.

SATURDAY

In Tel Aviv, the radical coalition the AAtW participate in, organized the 41st anniversary of the Nacsa - the occupation war of 1967.

The anarchist block contained in it the cyclists of the critical mass against the occupation that preceded the demonstration, the drummers circle, our flags and banner.

We also participated in discussion circled following the demo - mainly the one whose subject was the call of Palestinian initiative to boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.