Showing posts with label protest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protest. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Massive oppression and rising temperatures don't stop the popular struggle
Some 25 Israelis, over 30 internationals, Palestinian supporters, a DFLP delegation and the Palestinian Minister of Culture joined Bil'in locals for the weekly demonstration against the wall. Demonstrators carried posters of Tristan Anderson, who was hit in his head a year ago by a gas canister in Ni'lin, and is still in critical condition.
This time the army decided to set a "honey trap" for the protesters. The gates in the fence were left open for them to charge through, while soldiers without protective gear (so they can run faster) hid on the Palestinian side of the fence, waiting to charge the protesters from behind and make arrests. The local shabab, however, quickly picked up the soldiers in hiding, and stormed forward despite the showers of gas canisters and rubber bullets that injured two youths. The soldiers retreated back behind the fence, and the shabab celebrated by charging to the fence. Soon enough, the organizers took over, restrained the local youth, and led some 30 protesters to the fence for a peaceful demonstration. As the wind was favorable and the soldiers slightly less trigger happy than usual, an Israeli recovered ex-soldier took advantage of the opportunity to preach to the soldiers, urging them to recognize their exploitation by Israeli politicians and contractors and to cross over and join the Palestinians demonstrating against occupation.
A smaller than usual weekly demonstration in Ma'asara, no more than fifty people strong (of different nationalities), was met after marching in the heavy heat through the village streets by a larger than usual combined army and border police force. Soldiers set up near the first houses of the village, deeper than ever before, and prevented the demonstration from proceeding towards the village lands.
After giving speeches in Arabic, English and Hebrew, a small group of demonstrators went through the barbed wire set on the road, and was pushed by the soldiers who also threatened activists will be arrested as the area is a closed military zone. Demonstrators on both sides sat on the ground, beat drums, sang songs, and called upon the soldiers to abandon the oppression of the popular struggle and join it in stead. The soldiers, already with stun and tear gas grenades at hand, were somewhat taken aback faced with this act of non-violent resistance and the many cameras documenting all over the place. And so, with nobody arrested and no attack on the demonstrators, activists eventually decided to leave willingly and escape the burning sun, promising to return next week as well.
All Reports
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Clashes mark Jerusalem Day of Rage
Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police in two areas of occupied East Jerusalem after Palestinian groups called for a "day of rage" over the reopening of a synagogue in the Old City.
Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police who responded with stun grenades in the Shuafat and Essawiyya neighbourhoods early on Tuesday.
At least 90 people were wounded in the clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with around 15 people seriously hurt by rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas inhalation and at the hands of Israeli police.
Israel security forces said about eight police officers were lightly injured in clashes that ended with up to 60 arrests.
About 3,000 police officers had been deployed in East Jerusalem and nearby villages after Hamas and other Palestinian groups called for action in response to the reopening of the Hurva synagogue.
The Hurva, considered by some people to to be one of Judaism's most sacred sites, reopened for the first time in 62 years on Monday in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.
The walled Old City is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which makes the reopening of the synagogue controversial.
Moreover, al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site, and the Hurva are about just 700 metres apart.
'Extremely tense'
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Essawiyya, said Palestinian protesters hurled stones at the Israeli border guards, who responded using stun grenades.
"It is an extremely tense standoff. Police want to patrol the situation using as little force as possible, they told us, but they are wearing full riot gear," she said.
"From our vantage point we can only see about 20 Palestinian protesters, hurling stones, which they have been doing throughout the night and into the morning.
"It seems a few number of protesters against a large number of border guards."
Adnan al-Husseini, the governor of East Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera from al-Aqsa mosque that only a few people had been able to attend prayers because of restrictions placed on movement by Israeli authorities.
"Also many police are at the entrance of the Old City and the mosque and on the streets of the Old City. So movement is very difficult and very tense.
"People are trying to come to the mosque, the shops, their houses. And unfortunately the Israeli police are stopping them."
Israeli officials have limited access to al-Aqsa for the fifth consecutive day for security reasons.
Palestinian men under the age of 50 have not been allowed to enter the mosque.
Micky Rosenfeld, the Israeli police spokesperson, told Al Jazeera: "Throughout the morning we have been dealing with local disturbances. A group of 50 to 60 Palestinians who are causing riots.
"The rest of Jerusalem itself is absolutely quiet. The Temple Mount is closed to visitors and tourists.
"Our units are responding to small incidents in and around East Jerusalem."
Hamas warning
The previous day, Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political chief who is exiled in Syria, strongly condemned the ceremony.
"We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple," he said at a meeting of Palestinian groups' leaders in Damscus on Monday.
He urged Palestinians in Jerusalem to "take serious measures to protect al-Aqsa mosque from destruction and Judaisation".
Meshaal also said that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should "launch a campaign to protect Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites there".
The Hurva synagogue, first built in 1694, was destroyed in 1721 and then demolished during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The nearby al-Aqsa site is revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprising al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
An Israeli government decision to include two West Bank religious sites in a Jewish national heritage plan has already angered Palestinians and raised tensions in recent weeks.
The announcement last week of Israeli plans for new settler homes near East Jerusalem has also contributed to the unrest.
Message from Abbas
Against this backdrop of escalating tensions, Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, left for Moscow on Tuesday to present the Quartet - which includes the US, Russia, the EU and the UN - with Palestinian conditions for starting peace negotiations with Israel.
Al Jazeera has gained exclusive access to the content of letters that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, despatched with Erekat, in which he accuses Israel of exploiting Palestinian and Arab goodwill.
Abbas says Israel's stepped-up settlement activity, especially in East Jerusalem, threatens to "permanently derail peace talks".
In the letter, he also calls on the Quartet to take "effective" steps against Israel
Source
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Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police who responded with stun grenades in the Shuafat and Essawiyya neighbourhoods early on Tuesday.
At least 90 people were wounded in the clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with around 15 people seriously hurt by rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas inhalation and at the hands of Israeli police.
Israel security forces said about eight police officers were lightly injured in clashes that ended with up to 60 arrests.
About 3,000 police officers had been deployed in East Jerusalem and nearby villages after Hamas and other Palestinian groups called for action in response to the reopening of the Hurva synagogue.
The Hurva, considered by some people to to be one of Judaism's most sacred sites, reopened for the first time in 62 years on Monday in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.
The walled Old City is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which makes the reopening of the synagogue controversial.
Moreover, al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site, and the Hurva are about just 700 metres apart.
'Extremely tense'
Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Essawiyya, said Palestinian protesters hurled stones at the Israeli border guards, who responded using stun grenades.
"It is an extremely tense standoff. Police want to patrol the situation using as little force as possible, they told us, but they are wearing full riot gear," she said.
"From our vantage point we can only see about 20 Palestinian protesters, hurling stones, which they have been doing throughout the night and into the morning.
"It seems a few number of protesters against a large number of border guards."
Adnan al-Husseini, the governor of East Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera from al-Aqsa mosque that only a few people had been able to attend prayers because of restrictions placed on movement by Israeli authorities.
"Also many police are at the entrance of the Old City and the mosque and on the streets of the Old City. So movement is very difficult and very tense.
"People are trying to come to the mosque, the shops, their houses. And unfortunately the Israeli police are stopping them."
Israeli officials have limited access to al-Aqsa for the fifth consecutive day for security reasons.
Palestinian men under the age of 50 have not been allowed to enter the mosque.
Micky Rosenfeld, the Israeli police spokesperson, told Al Jazeera: "Throughout the morning we have been dealing with local disturbances. A group of 50 to 60 Palestinians who are causing riots.
"The rest of Jerusalem itself is absolutely quiet. The Temple Mount is closed to visitors and tourists.
"Our units are responding to small incidents in and around East Jerusalem."
Hamas warning
The previous day, Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political chief who is exiled in Syria, strongly condemned the ceremony.
"We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple," he said at a meeting of Palestinian groups' leaders in Damscus on Monday.
He urged Palestinians in Jerusalem to "take serious measures to protect al-Aqsa mosque from destruction and Judaisation".
Meshaal also said that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should "launch a campaign to protect Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites there".
The Hurva synagogue, first built in 1694, was destroyed in 1721 and then demolished during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The nearby al-Aqsa site is revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprising al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
An Israeli government decision to include two West Bank religious sites in a Jewish national heritage plan has already angered Palestinians and raised tensions in recent weeks.
The announcement last week of Israeli plans for new settler homes near East Jerusalem has also contributed to the unrest.
Message from Abbas
Against this backdrop of escalating tensions, Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, left for Moscow on Tuesday to present the Quartet - which includes the US, Russia, the EU and the UN - with Palestinian conditions for starting peace negotiations with Israel.
Al Jazeera has gained exclusive access to the content of letters that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, despatched with Erekat, in which he accuses Israel of exploiting Palestinian and Arab goodwill.
Abbas says Israel's stepped-up settlement activity, especially in East Jerusalem, threatens to "permanently derail peace talks".
In the letter, he also calls on the Quartet to take "effective" steps against Israel
Source
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Galloway's Gaza mission runs into protests
George Galloway's high-profile mission to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has run into controversy, just as his convoy reaches the final leg of its 5,000 mile journey.
Egyptian activists who had been planning to welcome Galloway's Viva Palestina trucks as they cross from Libya into Egypt today will instead be staying at home, after allegations surfaced that Galloway was planning to take part in official receptions with the unpopular Egyptian government, despite having recently called for it to be overthrown.
Rumours that Galloway had agreed to meet Ahmed Ezz, a steel magnate who is a close associate of President Hosni Mubarak and has been caught up in several corruption scandals, caused an outcry among groups opposed to a president Galloway has dismissed as a tyrant.
The mile convoy of 110 vehicles left England on 14 February and travelled through Europe and North Africa. Egyptian opposition groups had been preparing a "red carpet" welcome for Galloway and his caravan, impressed at the British MP's forceful denunciations of Mubarak's stance on the Gaza crisis. The Egyptian government largely refused to open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza during Israel's recent 22-day military assault on the area, prompting Galloway to declare that the "dictatorship" of Mubarak was "jointly responsible for the murder of every Palestinian who has died these last two years".
Earlier this week, Saad el-Katany, an MP for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, said Galloway's arrival and the issue of aid for Gaza had united Egypt's fragmented opposition movement. "Egyptians across the political spectrum welcome the European convoy," Katany said in a statement. The sentiment was echoed by Abdel Gelil Moustafa, a co-ordinator for Kefaya, the country's largest secular opposition force, who promised public receptions for the convoy at each of its stops in Egypt.
But yesterday the opposition mood soured after accusations that Galloway had planned to co-ordinate with the ruling NDP party and take part in a welcoming ceremony featuring Ezz. In a statement on its website, the Egyptian Popular Committee for the Support of the Palestinian People - an umbrella organisation of opposition groups - said it was cancelling its plan to receive Galloway's convoy.
Some activists are claiming that Galloway was allowing the aid convoy to be used as a propaganda stunt by a repressive government. Hossam el-Hamalawy, a prominent opposition blogger, labelled Viva Palestina an "ass-kissing carnival". Source
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Egyptian activists who had been planning to welcome Galloway's Viva Palestina trucks as they cross from Libya into Egypt today will instead be staying at home, after allegations surfaced that Galloway was planning to take part in official receptions with the unpopular Egyptian government, despite having recently called for it to be overthrown.
Rumours that Galloway had agreed to meet Ahmed Ezz, a steel magnate who is a close associate of President Hosni Mubarak and has been caught up in several corruption scandals, caused an outcry among groups opposed to a president Galloway has dismissed as a tyrant.
The mile convoy of 110 vehicles left England on 14 February and travelled through Europe and North Africa. Egyptian opposition groups had been preparing a "red carpet" welcome for Galloway and his caravan, impressed at the British MP's forceful denunciations of Mubarak's stance on the Gaza crisis. The Egyptian government largely refused to open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza during Israel's recent 22-day military assault on the area, prompting Galloway to declare that the "dictatorship" of Mubarak was "jointly responsible for the murder of every Palestinian who has died these last two years".
Earlier this week, Saad el-Katany, an MP for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, said Galloway's arrival and the issue of aid for Gaza had united Egypt's fragmented opposition movement. "Egyptians across the political spectrum welcome the European convoy," Katany said in a statement. The sentiment was echoed by Abdel Gelil Moustafa, a co-ordinator for Kefaya, the country's largest secular opposition force, who promised public receptions for the convoy at each of its stops in Egypt.
But yesterday the opposition mood soured after accusations that Galloway had planned to co-ordinate with the ruling NDP party and take part in a welcoming ceremony featuring Ezz. In a statement on its website, the Egyptian Popular Committee for the Support of the Palestinian People - an umbrella organisation of opposition groups - said it was cancelling its plan to receive Galloway's convoy.
Some activists are claiming that Galloway was allowing the aid convoy to be used as a propaganda stunt by a repressive government. Hossam el-Hamalawy, a prominent opposition blogger, labelled Viva Palestina an "ass-kissing carnival". Source
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