THE HANDSTAND
august 2005
Israeli Army surrounds Asira demonstrators. Shoots one villager
by Sarita Ahooja
July 22, 2005
Over 250 villagers of Asira, Nablus district, gathered at 10 a.m. this morning to begin the
demonstration for free movement
and against the military closures that have effected
their community since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa
Intifada.Israeli Armed Personnel Vehicles, deployed since dawn, surrounded the villagers before they could take Sabaatash road, which leads to Nablus, and reach the roadblock. The army confiscated the accompanying village cars, ambulance and keys, cameras and film, and immediately blocked the entry to several local Arab and international journalists. An officer told Khannan Aljamen, a community leader, that the demonstration was illegal and that he would shoot straight to the head if anyone tried to continue on.
Without warning, a soldier shot a young man in the hip to prove his point. Medical volunteers have reported that the injury is not critical.
Khannan, with some knowledge of Hebrew, also overheard a soldier point out two other young men on top of a car. He said "Make sure you hit them."
Khannan placed himself in front of the guns and yelled that they stop the shooting. The soldiers spat on him. A high ranking officer reiterated, "I promise you, if anyone moves, we will put a bullet
through his head!"
During this time, the Israeli army detained and arrested the 10 Israeli peace activists before they could reach the demonstrators. Nine internationals from Canada (including myself), Sweden, the
United States, and one Palestinian resident of Balata refugee camp, were detained by soldiers at the Sabaatash roadblock as we headed towards Asira from Nablus to join the demonstration. They claimed that we were playing games with them and demanded to see our passports. They refused to allow us to pass under the pretext that it was a closed military zone.
The villagers were left alone to deal with the violent repression of their protest against the roadblock. When Khannan asked the officer "why do you allow the settlers to freely move on these
lands, and not the Palestinians? What about those sheep over there...are they allowed to move?" They officer replied, "I would like to keep it closed forever, you have no right to move. The sheep
can move, they are animals."
After an hour and half, the army left the village and returned to their military base. The Joursem military base is considered the second largest after the Syrian-Jordanian border military base.
When the internationals finally arrived 2 hours later from another route, soldiers were still roaming among the trees in the surrounding hills. The Israeli activists were released one hour after there detention and returned to Israel.
Khannan informed us that army jeeps had entered the village the night before and shot gunfire in the air to intimidate the villagers, an act of intimidation that has become all too routine. We stayed to speak to some villagers that were not attending the Friday prayer before returning to Nablus. The plans for the Thursday July 28th demonstration to open Nablus are now being worked out to ensure international and media presence.
Israeli soldiers bolster camera confiscation tactic by ISMedia,July 23
At least one person in Bil'in on Friday reported soldiers had tried to take his camera while he recorded footage of Israeli activists being kicked. In Nablus, several cameras and film were seized. Being that no physical harm can come to a person by having a lens pointed at them, it's a logical assumption that the goal is to limit publicity about the harsh treatment soldiers inflict on Palestinian civilians and peace activists. Video footage proved Friday that the charges of assault lodged by soldiers were false. Video footage of a Wednesday protest in Bil'in also showed that it was soldiers who had attacked activists when they tried to accuse a group of internationals of assault. It's interesting that those who allegedly work to protect a democratic state are so eager to limit free speech by confiscating the tools of free speech.
Security Council turns down separation fence issue Ha’aretz Friday, July 22, 2005 Staff and AP
By Amos Harel, Shlomo Shamir and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents,
The PLO's delegation to the UN failed on Friday to turn a Security Council briefing into a discussion about the Separation fence. The briefing was given by the UN's envoy to the Middle East, Albert De Soto, and focused upon the disengagement. UN members friendly to Israel complemented it for undertaking the Gaza Pullout. De Soto said that he thought the move was a "brave action".
The PLO's representative, Famia Barghouti, was the only one who spoke against Israel, criticizing the separation fence being built across the West Bank.
Israeli UN ambassador, Dan Gilerman, said in response that the fence was a "historical step" and a "first-rate means of terrorism prevention". The Security Council ambassadors also condemned the latest terrorist attacks in Israel, and showed concern for the situation in Lebanon.
UN sources added that the PLO representative withdrew her motion calling for an emergency meeting to discuss the separation fence after it became clear that such a proposal did not draw support at a time that Israel was disengaging its forces from Gaza.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/603565.html
Ariel will forever be an integral part of Israel
By Aluf Benn
During a visit to the West Bank settlement of Ariel on Thursday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that in the future an expanded Ariel would be an integral part of Israel. "I reiterate and clarify that this bloc is one of the most important. It will forever be part of the State of Israel. There is no other thought and no other direction of thinking. "I came here today to see how the city can be expanded and the bloc strengthened, as I do and shall do in the other blocs. This bloc will forever be an inseparable part of the State of Israel, territorially contiguous with the State of Israel like the other blocs," he said.
Sharon met with Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman, MK Yehiel Hazan (Likud), who lives
in Ariel, and city council members to discuss the construction of the separation fence around Ariel and plans to upgrade the local college to a university. During the meeting with Nachman and the council members, Sharon criticized Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, also a member of his Likud Party, without mentioning him by name. "There is a Knesset member in our party who constantly, in a hysterical and shrieking tone of voice, announces the next stage of the disengagement, even
though he knows it's a lie. I cannot issue denials all day long. I hear MKs saying that I'm going to divide Jerusalem, but I don't intend even to discuss Jerusalem. The incitement keeps recurring, and even those who incite know it's a lie and that there won't be a second or additional disengagement, and that Jerusalem will not be divided."
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/603562.html
There's a Settler in Every Israeli
By Amira Hass mailto:amira@haaretz.co.il
. . . the West Bank settlement enterprise has become a means of socioeconomic advancement for many Israelis. Some 400,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements. They have hundreds of thousands of relatives and friends who visit them regularly, and for whom the settlements are a natural and formative reality. They know that they, too, can obtain houses in Gilo, Ma'aleh Adumim or Alon Shvut the likes of which they could not obtain in Israel. For them, this is a way of dealing with the gradual destruction of the welfare state.
Even those who do not intend to move to the settlements benefit from their existence. The settlements ensure Israel's continued control over the West Bank and its water sources, thereby ensuring the continued unfair distribution of the land's water in a 7:1 ratio, to the Palestinians' detriment. Therefore we, the Jews, can be wasteful, as if we lived in a land with abundant water. Major highways are also built on lands stolen from the Palestinians - like the modern ring road around Jerusalem, or Route 443, which provides an additional entrance to Jerusalem, for Israelis only.
These roads serve not only the settlers, but also many others, whose developing middle-class consciousness requires convenience, efficiency, and time-saving. Contractors, construction companies, and architects; employees of the Israel Electric Corporation, the Public Works Department, and the Education Ministry; newspaper owners, who publish huge advertisements about new neighborhoods five minutes from Jerusalem - all benefit from the building boom. And that is without even mentioning the fact that the settlements guarantee a continued security threat to their residents and builders, and therefore necessitate the growth of the security industry.
In the heart of every Israeli lives a little settler. Therefore, today's criticism is narrowly focused and completely misses the real point, which is the illegal and immoral colonization policy. This policy ultimately benefits an ever-growing portion of the Israeli public - which is therefore not
troubled by the question of what it is doing to the region's future.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/596329.html