Ongoing Activities

October 3, 2009
Activities in Tuwani & Susya

October 2, 2009
Barrier Removal Near village of Qaryut

September 26, 2009
Water Convoy to South Mt. Hebron

September 9, 2009
Settlers violence in Susya

September 5, 2009
Accompanying Bedouin shepherds in the South Hebron hills

August 22, 2009
Escorting Shepherds and Improving Access Roads Condition At Umm al Kheir

August 15, 2009
Cultivating Land at Halhul

August 7, 8, 9 2009
Work Days in the Isolated Villages of the South Hebron Hills

April to June 2009
The Struggle over Safa

June 6, 2009
Susya and Khirbet Safa

May 23, 2009
Agricultural work and a visit to Hilltop 18 outpost

May 8, 2009
Action in al-Buwera

April 4, 2009
Cultivating land of Halhul residents

March 7, 2009
Planting near Giv’on Ha-Chadasha settlement

March 6, 2009
Planting in Wadi Humus

February 25, 2009
Ceremony commemorating the victims of the massacre at Me-arat Hamachpela (Cave of the Patriarchs), on the 15th anniversary of their passing

November 1, 2008
Focal points of stress in Hebron

October 30, 2008
Protest march against the separation fence in Beit Jala

October 25, 2008
Olive harvesting close to the Otniel outpost

October 21, 2008
Olive Harvest near Mitzpe-Yair

October 20, 2008
Family Olive Harvest in Battir

October 18, 2008
Olive Harvest in Tel-Rumeida, Hebron

October 16, 2008
Olive Harvest in Susya – a joint action with "Combatants For Peace"; military takeover private residence

August 2, 2008
Protest march from Tuwani to Tuba and settlers violence in Hebron

Activities in Tuwani & Susya

Saturday, October 3 2009

On Saturday morning we went to work with the residents of Tuwani in south Mount Hebron. The settlers from neighboring Ma’on invaded the valley which lies between them and Tuwani and planted grape vines in the land owned by the Palestinians. After the settlers took over the land de facto, the military Civil Administration declared all the land which they planted as belonging to them and the remaining land as belonging to Tuwani (even though all of the land in the area is owned by Tuwani). However, when the Civil Administration erected a fence between the two areas it was put up, not immediately after the vines but several hundred meters inside the Palestinian land, in such a way as to take over a larger part of their land.

We went with the residents of Tuwani to plant sabra cactuses near the new fence on the Palestinian side in order to mark the border and show the Palestinian ownership of the area. The Palestinians are worried that the fence will be inched forward as time goes on, slowly taking over the whole of their land in the area. After working the land for about an hour, and just as we were beginning to place the plants in the ground the police and army arrived. However there was no attempt to stop us from working and after two hours the work was done. All the seedlings in the wheelbarrows were planted, marked with a circle of stones and watered.

From Tuwani we continued to Khirbet Susya, where there was a kite building and flying day for the children of the area and the children of the activists. We were followed by the army but they did not interfere with the activity which took place without any problems. It was nice and surprising to see the children having fun despite military presence which frightened some of them (there of course should be nothing surprising in the success of the activity, as kite flying is in no way illegal and yet it seems that in our reality even this is not to be taken for granted).

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Barrier Removal Near village of Qaryut

Friday, October 2 2009

The residents of Qaryut, a village of some 2,500 tucked in a hilly region between the settlements of Shiloh and Eli midway between Nablus and Ramallah, have destroyed the dirt mound blocking their access to the main road 104 times. Today they did so for the 105th time, with the assistance of 10 Israeli and 10 international activists. A mere two kilometers west of their village, along a dirt road, is an entrance to the central highway, Route 60, the residents’ connection to markets, shops and schools in Ramallah and Nablus. But in recent years, they have been forced to take the back route from their village to Route 60, adding 20-25 kilometers to the trip. It has become routine for the villagers; the army blocks their access road 100 meters from the main road, piling dirt and massive boulders several meters high, and they come and with hands and shovels remove it.

This morning, two cars of Ta’ayush activists from Jerusalem joined a car-load from Tel Aviv and a group of international activists at the site of the roadblock. Within minutes over 150 Palestinians from Qaryut arrived, and the work began. We hadn’t been working for more than a quarter of an hour when an army jeep spotted us from Route 60 and pulled over, evidently waiting for reinforcements. These arrived within ten minutes, and the soldiers, with the local commander shouting orders, immediately took firing positions. While most of the villagers and activists continued working, some advanced several meters along the dirt path towards the position of the soldiers, peacefully holding their line 80 meters away and not threatening the soldiers in any way. At least thirty were schoolchildren holding beautiful calligraphy signs of Suras from the Qur'an. To our shock, the soldiers began firing tear gas canisters, calculating the wind effect so that the smoke would waft in the direction of those standing on the path. Two Taayush activists bravely walked across the no-man’s land to confront the soldiers, demanding to know why their first reaction upon arrival was to fire tear gas and shock grenades at children, some as young as five, and old men. Their response was that we were illegally clearing a road. No explanation was provided as to the purpose of the blockage. Meanwhile, still non-violently, a large group of villagers crossed the adjacent empty field and blocked the road. The soldiers soon stopped firing, hurrying to the road and attempting to clear it of protesters. The villagers did nothing to harm the cars, which after several minutes were allowed to pass with soldiers escorting them through the crowd. The feeling was one of exasperation: we won’t let you close our road countless times and stand by doing nothing. We’ll block your road! Having made their statement, the villagers and activists decided to move back towards the dirt mound and finish their work.

But meanwhile, one of the tear gas canisters had set fire to the arid brush next to the road. Palestinian firefighters were called, but the villagers seemed rather unworried. Soon the fire was approaching our cars parked next to the (now mostly destroyed) dirt mound. A few more minutes of work and the road was passable. Wild cheering accompanied first 4x4, and then a small sedan passing through the flattened dirt mound towards the village.

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Water Convoy to South Mt. Hebron

Saturday, September 26 2009

Some 100 Israeli activists left Tel Aviv and Jerusalem today to bring water to several isolated villages in the South Hebron Mount. These villages suffer more than anywhere else from Israel's racist water policy, as they lack connection to water pipes, and suffer from army attacks on what few water wells and deposits they have. Busses where harassed several times on the way, and stopped completely near the Carmel illegal settlement, where soldiers claimed the area was a closed military zone, though no warrant was shown. Activists got off the busses and started marching, passing the bewildered soldiers and policemen and moving on towards their destination. Attempts to stop the spontaneous march failed, and the hostile forces left the area.

Meeting with Palestinian partners, activists mounted water trucks and tractors and traveled the dessert until they reached a physical block on the road, put there by the army to make Palestinians' lives harder. A mass direct action, backed by a bulldozer hired for the cause, broke the road open and allowed water trucks to pass. At this point four soldiers appeared and tried to arrest the driver for the bulldozer, or at least stop it from moving. And so the activists split, leaving a small group to safe guard the bulldozer and allowing the majority to move on to the final destination.

It took the small group that stayed back two hours to convince the soldiers to leave and to secure the safe return of the bulldozer and its owner to their home. Meanwhile, the main group reached the destined villages and transferred eight trucks full of water to local residents. Four army vehicles showed up too late to stop the action, and though declaring the area a closed military zone (this time with a warrant) - could not really do anything to the activists.

With the road open, the water at its rightful place and with no arrests or wounded - the action was declared a success.

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Settlers violence in Susya

Wednesday, September 9 2009

This morning, Ta'ayush activists escorting Palestinian farmers in Khirbet Safa received a message about settlers concentrated in the area of Susya because of the expected evacuation today of the illegal outpost Givat HaDegel nearby. Due to the concern about acts of revenge by settlers toward local Palestinians, two Ta'ayush activists went to the area. One the way, it became evident that our worry was justified. A group of 12 settlers had come to the tents of the Harani and Nawajeh families. The settlers threw rocks, hit men and women, and smashed a solar panel (one of their main sources of electricity). Also, they broke the video camera of a Palestinian activist. Four soldiers arrived shortly after the attack started, but didn't succeed - or perhaps didn't particularly try - to stop it. Only the arrival of additional forces caused the settlers to leave the area. Of course, not one of the settlers was detained or arrested. When we arrived, the attack was over, and all we were able to do was calm the families, sign a report, lodge a complaint with the police, switch video cameras, and organize activists to stay at least through the night. But it was this that the soldiers were in a rush to prevent. The soldiers that were unable to interfere with the settler attack on Palestinians told us it was a Closed Military Zone, and that we had to leave the area. When we refused, one of the activists was arrested for 'insulting a public servant'! He was released after a short interrogation by the Hebron police, and then he returned to Susya.

At the moment, everything is quiet there, and for the time being some international activists and Israelis are staying in Susya. The Palestinians lodged a complaint with the police, but unfortunately, the soldiers who were there reported to the police that there had been no attack. Apparently, not only are all the Palestinians and international activists who were with them liars, but the soldiers were also able to ignore the damage, destruction of property, and broken video camera.

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Accompanying Bedouin shepherds in the South Hebron hills

Saturday, September 5 2009

Over the last weeks there was an increase in settlers’ attacks on Bedouin shepherds near the outposts of Avigail, Mitzpeh Ya’ir, Havat Ya’acov, Talia and Asahel. Soldiers also started recently to participate in the effort to expel the shepherds from their grazing lands.

Following an attack by a settler from the Avigail outpost on a Bedouin shepherd from Mufakara during the course of the week, and after the settlers’ attempt on Friday to persuade the army to expel the Bedouin from the area, we decided to accompany the shepherds on Saturday. While we were with them, and all was especially quiet and uneventful, one of the settlers decided that he doesn’t want the presence of Palestinian shepherds in the area. This was after a “boundary” had been fixed which the Palestinians must not cross (valid for them only and not for the settlers) in order to preserve a distance of 30 metres from the outpost of Avigail. We were with the shepherds in the “permitted” area when the settler arrived. He tried to threaten the shepherds, moving among the sheep and goats in a vain attempt to drive them away, but as we did not react, and continued to peacefully graze the flocks, he then turned towards the huddle of tents and shacks which is the village of Mufakara. Two army jeeps were already standing near the grazing area (the soldiers had already checked the Palestinians’ documents at the beginning of the day, and confirmed the limits of the permitted grazing area). The settler entered the village and started to “check out” the first tent on his way. He walked around inside the tent as if he owned it, the women and children inside screaming with fear. He then started towards another home full of women and children, intending to enter, but we were close behind him and blocked the entrance. He claimed that as there was no electric gate to the village he saw no reason why he couldn’t walk in. His presence and his attempt to enter the tents aroused fear, anger and frustration among the women living there, especially as all the time six to eight soldiers “accompanied” him and did not prevent him from entering private homes. (If it had been the other way round and we had tried to enter Avigail they would immediately have pulled out a “closed military zone” order or have arrested us – not to mention entering private homes) The soldiers protected him from the potential results of his provocation. Only after we begged them to do their duty and get him out of there, and they sensed a brewing storm, did the soldiers (politely) ask him to leave. We returned with the sheep and goats to the grazing grounds, only to find that the soldiers had limited even further the permitted grazing area and did not allow us to reach even the first boundary that had been set.

The settler’s behaviour and his violation of the law were recorded by us and a complaint was filed with the police.

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Escorting Shepherds and Improving Access Roads Condition At Umm al-Kheir

Saturday, August 22 2009

After peacefully escorting shepherds early in the morning at Umm Zeituni (South Hebron Hills), we resumed our work to improve the inner access road in Umm al Kheir (see report on work days of August 7, 8 and 9 2009). Soldiers arrived shortly thereafter and ordered us to stop. As we did not comply with this strange demand, and insisted on proceeding with the work at least until the arrival of Israel Land Administrations officials with an explicit written order, they prepared a ‘closed military zone’ order on the spot and ordered us to leave. Since staying on would have subjected the Palestinians to the threat of detention, we decided to comply. Still, even the hour that we did manage to devote to clearing rocks and filling potholes considerably improved the state of this dirt track that serves the villagers as their sole connection with the world outside. For international volunteers of the World Council of Churches this was an opportunity to witness the arbitrary and one-sided application of force by the Occupation army authorities, who prevent even the minutest improvement in the most fundamental living conditions of Palestinians while ignoring the massive construction and road-paving endeavors ongoing at the neighboring colonies and ‘illegal outposts’.

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Cultivating Land at Halhul

Saturday, August 15 2009

Taayush and international activists joined Palestinians from the Halhul area in an attempt to work their lands close to the entrance of Karmei Tzur colony (see report on a similar action held April 4 2009). Although the land owners are repeatedly reassured that they are entitled to work there any time they wish, they are chased away every time they try to approach the area. Colonists recently took advantage of the fact that the owners are prevented from approaching their land and began to take over and use them for their own purposes. Some moments after we arrived and began to work, army forces arrived and demanded we leave forthwith. Although we presented documents verifying the farmers’ right to work these lots undisrupted, and forbidding the removal of the farmers and their accompaniers, shortly thereafter a ‘closed military area’ order was issued. Our demands for explanations were not met. Even the army’s explicit policy not to issue such orders did not impress the commander on the ground. Under such circumstances we refused to leave. The soldiers began to push the farmers and their accompaniers out of the area, and three activists who refused to leave were detained and released after brief police interrogation.

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Work Days in the Isolated Villages of the South Hebron Hills

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 7, 8 & 9 2009

Ta'ayush activists participated in three work days organized by ICAHD (Israel Committee Against House Demolitions) and shared with international volunteers and ‘Combatants for Peace’ activists, at isolated hamlets of the South Hebron Hills. We repaired water holes, terraces and goat- and sheep-pens in Susya, Qawawis and Umm al-Kheir, and prepared the infrastructure for continued works to improve living conditions there and enhance the local residents’ hold on their localities. The original plan for these work days was to construct several outhouses in Umm al-Kheir, but for the Occupation authorities, apparently, even such basic sanitation cannot be allowed the local Palestinians. Some days before work was to start, officials of the Israel Land Administration arrived, took possession of the construction materials and threatened the residents that if they build outhouses, the army would demolish all structures presently intact. Consulting with the villagers, we decided not to risk it and changed our work plan. However, even attempts to clear rocks and fill potholes in the track that connects the two parts of this hamlet, to improve it even a bit, were immediately met with army intervention, putting a halr to these efforts.

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Susya and Khirbet Safa

Saturday, June 6 2009

It never, and I mean never, rains in the south Hebron hills in June. Days are counted on a simple continuum of hot-hotter-hottest. But here I am standing in the steep road at Khirbet Safa at 9:30 in the morning under an almost cloudless sky, and raindrops are splattering against my skin. It's no storm, but still a kind of miracle. I put it down to Obama's visit to Cairo this week and to his speech which—probably for the first time in decades from an American president—spoke the cooling, simple truth about Israel and Palestine.

Israeli settlements in Palestine, he said, are wrong and have to go. Years of willful blindness and sordid prevarication were washed away by his words. I don't know if he's determined enough to force the change. I hope so. On the ground, in Palestine, needless to say, there's been no change.

We were planning to help with the grape harvest in Khirbet Safa, and we were expecting trouble. For the last seven weekends in a row, violent settlers from neighboring Bat Ayin have attacked the Palestinian farmers here and the Israeli activists who came to defend them. Last week they were particularly vicious. Along with the usual punches and kicks and curses, they overturned Ezra's car and left it on its back, beetle-like, on the path near the field. It took quite a lot of effort by the villagers to get it back on to its wheels. The settlers also stole Jesse's camera and used it as a blunt weapon, and the soldiers, as usual, took no action against them. We were expecting more of the same today.

But the army is ahead of us this time. But the time we arrive, still early morning, the soldiers have turned up with the standard document declaring Khirbet Safa a Closed Military Zone (CMZ) from now until June 21st. The order is illegal—the Israeli Supreme Court recently ruled that the army has no right to use this device in a blanket fashion, to keep farmers from their lands; and the army's own legal advisor adopted this ruling as binding and issued orders to that effect. But out here in the hills, the Court's writ has little purchase. The local commander does what he sees fit, and you can't do much about it—except defy his order and get arrested, as we often do. But today we have other business ahead of us. The grapes of Khirbet Safa will wither on the vine.

On to Susya, to Nassir Nawajeh and his family and the other seventy or so Palestinian shepherds hanging on to what's left of their lands in their tents and shacks perched on the dry escarpment across from the Israeli settlement of Susya—another cruel and toxic site. Here, at Susya, there's a new "illegal outpost"—that's the standard Israeli term for settler expansion without direct government approval, although the new outpost is, like all the others, backed up by the army and the Israeli police. Last month when we marched up the hill to the new outpost to reclaim, for a brief, heady moment, the Haraini family's well, stolen by the settlers, the soldiers chased us off with the inevitable CMZ order. There's no doubt they'll repeat this maneuver today. Here's the plan. Once again the Combatants for Peace are here in force, maybe a hundred of them, a mixed group of Israelis and Palestinians slowly being welded into a single force. It's their initiative. We're going to climb that hill again, right through the Special Security Zone the settlers have declared (illegally) with the army's support, and we're going to erect a Palestinian "counter-outpost" right there on the Nawajeh and Haraini family lands. We don't expect our outpost to survive more than a few minutes (the settlers' outposts always turn into permanent settlements). But there's the principle involved, and the necessary protest, and the symbolic gesture of defiance, and the potential visibility of all the above. If we're lucky, a video clip of our adventure will be shown tonight on the evening news. Everyone in Israel watches the 8:00 news on Channel 2.

The pre-fab structure we're going to put up. It's a bona fide succah, one of the little "booths" the Jews build every year in October to remind themselves of the fragility of things in the world and of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Perfect, in my view, for Susya. In the end, everything has its usefulness. There are the long metal poles, and Amiel hunted all over Jerusalem for the cloth panels, in the color of the Palestinian flag, to tie the poles together. If we get the damned thing up before the settlers and the soldiers attack, it will be a bright burst of red-green-black-white against the stark backdrop of the brown, baked hills.

High noon. It's very hot. I'm not feeling very well—I've been sick for some weeks with a parasite infection—but I'm very glad to be back in Susya with my friends. Ready to go. After the long, mandatory briefing in Hebrew and Arabic, Ofra gives the sign and we set off quickly over the thorns and rocks, first down into the wadi, then up the hill. Jesse has twisted his ankle but he's climbing beside me without complaint. My colleague David Loy, philosopher of Buddhism from Xavier University, in south Hebron for the first time, smiles at me: "I haven't had so much fun since the 60's!" We pass the well—last month's goal—and keep going into the Security Zone, and by now we can see, not far from us, jeeps unloading heavily armed soldiers and groups of settlers in their Shabbat white, all converging on us from above.

But not before we get our succah up and standing. The nice thing about these modern ones is that they're quick and easy to assemble. First the poles go up; then we need the cloth panels—but where are they? Have we forgotten them in the tents? No, one of the combatants races up the hill with them bundled in his arms. We attach them to the poles, and there it is: our own outpost, a brilliant splash of Palestinian color, the wind on the hilltop puffing up the sheets of cloth so that the whole flimsy contraption looks much bigger than it really is, bigger than we imagined it to be. People are clapping their hands and even singing and the photographers are firing away and by now there's a furious argument going on with the soldiers, wispy, wiry Ofra holding her own, lashing them with her tongue, scorning them and shaming them, telling them again and again that their stupid order is illegal and we can prove it, and the soldiers are looking baffled and more and more impatient, one in particular seems to me to be aching to lash out with fists and stick, and they're growling out the usual threats and telling us we have three more minutes before they attack, and the settlers are sitting on the hilltop certain that soon their victory will be assured, and Nasser Nawajeh seems to be unable to believe his eyes, he is back on his land, and the fierce sun is beating down on us and I'm thirsty and bemused and elated and a little distant and discordant all at the same time.

It's one of those moments—a longish one, by our standards. The succah, amazingly, is still intact, for all the soldiers' barking and snapping. It's a sight I'll remember, a little slit in reality where you can catch a glimpse of the truth, a faint shadow of hope. We are doing something worth doing only for its own sake, out of the intrinsic rightness of it, however transient it proves. We brought two families back to their ravished land, we even built a little "house" for them, we staked their claim and we're not about to relinquish it, no matter what happens, not now and not tomorrow or the next day or the one after that, not until the settlers and the soldiers and the policemen go away for good and something like peace comes back to South Hebron.

Finally, as we knew (and indeed hoped) would happen, the senior officer gives the order and his men move in and, though our people hang on to the poles and the cloth panels for dear life, in seconds the succah is undone. Poles and billowing panels collapse over the activists inside, and the soldiers trip and stumble through the ruins, weighed down by their helmets and their guns. A great cry rises up to the sky. "What heroes you are," we scream to these soldiers, "you deserve a medal for this noble act." The Israel Defense Force has overcome another enemy bastion. They are stronger, it might appear, than this motley bunch of unarmed civilians (so many of them ex-soldiers themselves) who came here to erect the succah on the hill.

Or are they? Upon reflection, I suddenly doubt it. I seek out the commanding officer, a heavy-set career soldier, now standing a little apart, and I say to him: "Look at what you've just done, look at the absurdity of it. Forget about the Closed Military Zone and your piece of paper with or without the signature of your superior. Just look at the facts. These settlers have stolen this land from its rightful owners, and you've helped them do it. It's totally crazy. They have no right to be here, and you know it." He looks at me—not quite angry; it seems something has unnerved him. Was it Ofra's eloquence? Was it the sight of these hundred activists milling around on the hill on a quixotic mission of peace? I seize upon his silence. "In six months or twelve months," I tell him, "you'll be ordered to come back here to demolish the outpost, and a year after that you'll be sent to demolish the whole cursed Susya settlement." He looks me in the eyes. "I'll do it," he says.

There it is again, that odd happiness that courses through me at such moments. I'm introduced to Joshua Cohen, a political philosopher visiting from Stanford. I try to define this by now familiar feeling. I tell him I've been reading Kant on freedom, and I think Kant knew the feeling, too. "You mean," he asks, "because of the spontaneity he writes about." Yes, I say, that's exactly it; there are the moments like this when spontaneity strikes, and a person might feel free, immensely and genuinely free, though the feeling may not last more than a few minutes. It has nothing to do with some abstract, universal notion of the moral. It's entirely contingent, and all the better for that. He nods; I can see he knows what I mean. While we're having this little conversation about freedom, the soldiers behind us, apparently in dire need of a Palestinian victim, suddenly pin one of the Palestinian activists to the ground and then march him away uphill. A random choice, no doubt; the man's only crime was to be himself. But then, what use is it to knock down a succah of peace if you don't make an arrest?

Occasionally, even a symbolic gesture of defiance can do the work. I think of Martin Luther King's principle: always you have to bring the situation to the point of open conflict; and you have to be sure that when that happens, there is someone there to take a picture and get it into the news. We succeeded in this today. And tonight many thousands will be marching in Tel Aviv to call for an end to the occupation: tonight, 42 years after the 1967 war, when the occupation began. Maybe something is, after all, beginning to change, like rain in June in the desert. Maybe we can help it happen, in the small ways that finally count. On our way out of Susya, the police swoop down on Ezra and arrest him—for no apparent reason. They put their prisoner in their van and head north toward the police lock-up in Kiryat Arba'. Probably they're angry that today we got under the soldiers' skin, and for a split second they weren't sure what to do, or maybe even what was right. It's enough to make a man a little angry, or sick at heart. So these policemen also spend their fury on our gentle driver, Zaidan; they take away his identity card, they threaten him in all the usual ways, they even wait in ambush for him on the road, hoping he'll make some minor mistake and open himself up to a fine, or worse. You need cops for such things, to keep the world on a steady course. No one said it was going to be easy.

A report on the PSP site

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Agricultural work and a visit to Hilltop 18 outpost

Saturday, May 23 2009

Left Jerusalem at 8 a.m., with a group of 14.

Khirbet Safa
A small group of ours, composed of 3 activists arrived at Safa and joined an older couple, the husband 75 years old and his wife a few years younger. We accompanied them to their vineyard, in the nearby valley besides the Bat Ayin settlement. The husband had already been attacked several times by Bat Ayin settlers. In one of these instances stones were thrown at him and he was severely beaten, resulting in hospitalization and 4 months of recovery at his home. After the terrorist attack which took place in Bat Ayin a month ago he was attacked again. The couple spoke of the settlers with great fear. We began working in their plot, collecting grape leaves. After roughly fifteen minutes we saw 4 settlers in their Shabbat-clothes standing on the hill above us, near the houses of the settlement, making threatening gestures towards us. According to the couple, our presence was what prevented their being attacked at this point by the settlers. We called the army and local police, and described the situation and the proximity of the settlers. The soldier we spoke to told us that there is a large military force in Bat Ayin, but they have no knowledge of the event we were describing.

We called the army a second time, and this time the soldier said that the military forces have not managed to locate us… In the meantime the number of settlers increased and a group of 15 was standing on the hill shouting and gesturing towards us. Several minutes later the settlers descended into the wadi howling war cries, and shouting “ruch min hon” (get out of here). Above us a new group of about 30 settlers congregated after someone was sent to the synagogue to bring reinforcements. We called the army once more, and were again assured that they were searching for us. When the settlers were already in the valley and began throwing stones towards us, a jeep of the border police arrived on the scene stopping a short distance from the settlers, who remained unimpressed and continued to throw stones at us unhindered. Settlers continued to arrived at the top of the hill and from there continue, shrieking, into the wadi. After several minutes the jeep left the area, while the settlers were still present and throwing stones.

At this point, there were many settlers in the area and we decided to leave the area before being lynched. The couple we were accompanying requested we make haste. We began climbing quickly up the wadi, while the settlers followed us shouting and threatening. Two military vehicles arrived at the top of the wadi and ordered everyone to leave the area after declaring it a closed military zone. They threatened arresting anyone who does not get out of the area, yet none of the soldiers got out of his vehicle or made an effort to prevent the settlers from continuing to run our group out of the wadi. When we arrived back at the village, the couple was scared and very distraught. They kept repeating that the army did nothing to stop the settlers besides feebly calling out from the distance.

Hilltop 18
At 12:20 p.m. we arrived, a group of 14 activists, at hill 18. A military jeep idling on the path to the outpost followed us up and stopped near the outpost. A few minutes later another jeep arrived. At the outpost there was a group of 5 teenagers, who did not confront us physically but were severely displeased with our presence and were cursing us. The soldiers were very aggressive, at the moment we arrived they declared the area a closed military zone and ordered us to leave. We asked to see the order, they brought us an order (which took effect at 12:20, our exact arrival time) which was not signed by the brigade commander. They allowed us 15 minutes to vacate the area after which anyone remaining would be arrested. We asked if the order will be enforced on the settlers as well and were told that once we left the area they would vacate the settlers as well.
After 15 minutes we began leaving the outpost, while the soldiers and border policemen, which had arrived in the meantime, hurried and pushed us. We reached the approach road to the outpost and yet the soldiers and policemen continued to push us and threaten us with arrest if we dared argue or ask why the settlers are not being removed. At some point the commanding officer who was not pleased by the speed at which we were leaving begin detaining activists. We sat down on the ground and stated that we will not leave until they release those detained. At this point the soldiers arrested two activists dragging them forcibly to the military jeep, and requested that Ezra Nawi accompany them as well, despite his compliance with the order. The border police officer who was in command promised us that he would release the activists if we left the area in a haste. He released the first activists detained and promised to release the 3 others soon after. We reached the access road to the outpost. Security forces continued to arrive including civilian police and the settlement security force. In the meantime 3 more settler youths arrived and entered the outpost without any interference by the many security forces present which were supposedly enforcing the closed military zone in the area. We, on the other hand, were being pressed to return to the main road, even though we were no longer within the limits of the closed military zone. The soldiers remained aggressive and pushed us although we did not resist and continued walking the whole time. At the end Ezra and the other two activists were taken to the Hebron police. Ezra was released at the end of the questioning and the others were released after receiving a 15 day restraining order from the area.
It goes without saying, that no effort had been made to remove the settlers from the area.

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Action in al-Buwera

Friday, May 8 2009

Our group of close to 40 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals arrived at the al-Buwera neighborhood in the outskirts of Palestinian Hebron, where settlers have recently built a new illegal outpost. Our goal was to build a shack of our own on the premise as a youth peace center. When we arrived, in addition to the settlers there were also approximately 40 people that were taking part in a tour organized by the Mount Hebron Council. The settlers and tour group tried repeatedly to prevent us from erecting our structure while shouting at us and physically attacking us. Despite their efforts we managed to build the shack while the activists protected it with their persons. While we were building some soldiers and many settlers arrived at the site, while the tour group left. The settlers began attacking the activists and tried to destroy the shack. The soldiers did nothing to prevent the attacks, but did order that we leave, and above all demanded that we remove the Palestinian flag hanging on the shack. We explained that there is no reason for us to leave the area since it is not a closed military zone, and that the Palestinian flag is no longer illegal and has even been flown on top of the prime-minister’s house in Jerusalem. Despite this they tried to remove the flag and arrest the Palestinian who put it atop the shack – but happily they did not succeed. In the meantime the police arrived and announced that a closed military zone order was on its wasy, and that once it arrives all those present, activists and settlers will have to leave the premise, and both the shack built on the hilltop – ours and the one the settlers had erected several weeks prior will be destroyed. Throughout all of this the settlers continued to try sabotage our shack and attack the activists. There is clear footage of an attempt to set the shack on fire. The police made an effort to separate the two groups and to prevent the attacks though without much success.

When the order arrived, the head of police in the area, Tzion Go’eli, ordered us to vacate the area to a nearby path after which he promised to remove the settlers as well. We asked to see the order, but he declined promising to show it to us after we moved over to the path. When we were on the path we realized that there had been made no attempt to remove the settlers from the area, while at the same time the army and border patrol police continued to try and push us further away. Though we stressed to the soldiers that we were already fulfilling the demands of the police chief, they continued to push us further away and demanded that we vacate the area completely. Without any warning the arrests began. 8 activists were arrested with the use of excessive force, and the rest of the activists were violently pushed down the hill (see video 8). The activists that were arrested were released several hours later after agreeing to certain restrictions. The activists who were not arrested manage to return to the hill and document the joint presence of settlers and soldiers at the outpost despite the existence of the closed military zone order.

The action was covered widely in the Ha’aretz newspaper as well as in the Palestinian media, including a direct broadcast on the local channel, and coverage in the large television networks and on the front pages of the Palestinian newspapers.

Video at YouTube

Another Video at YouTube

Blog post by Jesse Hochheiser

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Cultivating land of Halhul residents

Saturday, April 4 2009

We set out, about fifty Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals to help cultivate the lands of Halhul residents which are located near Karmei Tzur settlement. Though officially there is no dispute over the ownership rights of the Palestinians on these lands and they are not required to coordinate their work in the area, past experience has taught us that the settlers, and the soldiers and policemen under their influence, make a point of preventing the Palestinians from accessing their lands. And indeed, as soon as we arrived in the area a large force of soldiers and policemen showed up and presented us with a closed military zone order. Our group was pushed out of the land. Two activists were arrested and released that evening.

Photography: Jesse Hochheiser

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Planting near Giv’on Ha-Chadasha settlement

Saturday, March 7 2009

Together with local residents from the area of Bidu, Palestenian and international activists, we planted in the land near the separation wall besides the settlement of Giv’on Ha-Chadasha. Most of the land owners, residents of Beit Aiza village located on the opposite side of the wall, cannot reach their lands. Therefore we were accompanied by the only owner of land in the area who is a resident of Jerusalem and can access the lands, and under his guidance and with phone instructions from the other land owners, we planted in the area.

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Planting in Wadi Humus

Friday, March 6 2009

Together with the residents of Beit Jala and Rabbis for Human Rights we went to plant in Wadi Humus, between Beit Jala and Gilo. However, access to the wadi is denied to all but a few of the Palestinians who have a special permit. Therefore most of our Palestinian partners remained outside the fence. The seedlings were passed under the fence into the restricted area, and only the Israeli activists and a handful of Palestinians with permits planted the seedlings for the group.

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Ceremony commemorating the victims of the massacre at Me-arat Hamachpela (Cave of the Patriarchs), on the 15th anniversary of their passing

Wednesday, February 25th 2009

Yesterday, February 25, on the 15th anniversary of the massacre perpetrated by Baruch Goldstein, we held a joint Israeli-Palestinian commemoration ceremony for the victims, in Wadi Hussein, Hebron. Goldstein murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded many more. Some of the families of the deceased and a number of victims who were wounded attended the ceremony. During this moving ceremony a number of speeches were given among the speakers were Issa Amro and Chagit Ofran.

Though it was a quiet ceremony and not near the Jewish settlement, the police tried to selectively block the entrance of left-wing activists into Hebron using a closed military zone order, and detained 5 of the activists for questioning.

We will continue to insist on our right for a joint, Jewish-Palestinian, non-violent struggle against the apartheid regime in Hebron. History has taught us that sooner or later this struggle will succeed, and this is exactly what the “Security Forces” fear.

Video at YouTube

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Focal points of stress in Hebron

Sunday, November 1 2008, and the rest of the week

For the last fortnight the Palestinian residents of Hebron have been at the height of a wave of continuous attacks by gangs of settlers who see in attacking Palestinians and damaging their property a way of avenging themselves on the legal establishment for every attempt to remove an illegal outpost.

Ta’ayush activists, Rabbis for Human Rights, Anarchists against the Wall and other human rights activists, together with international activists, were called on several times for help by the Palestinian residents who were attacked by stones and beaten. The study of these events shows that the presence of activists in the area not only gives the Palestinian residents a feeling of security but also makes the police and the army interfere more quickly and helps to document the activities of the violent settlers and make the public aware of them.

In the course of these activities several Palestinians and activists were wounded and their cameras broken or stolen.

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Protest march against the separation fence in Beit Jala

Thursday, October 30 2008

Palestinian, international and Israeli activists took part in an event organised by the Lutheran church in Beit Jala. After a communal prayer for peace, reconciliation and justice by Christians, Jews and Muslims, the participants marched to the separation wall demanding removal of the walls from Palestinian land and from the hearts of all those involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Olive harvesting close to the Otniel outpost

Saturday, October 25 2008

The olive harvest took place on Saturday 25/10/2008 close to the settlement of Otniel. The harvest was organised by Combatants for Peace together with Ta’ayush, in the framework of the Olive Harvest Coalition. That same week settlers from Otniel had attacked Palestinian farmers who were harvesting their lands close to the settlement. The soldiers who were there to protect the farmers were also attacked and one of them was wounded. At this the olive harvest was halted by the army and the area declared a closed military zone. During the week contact was made with the owners of the land and it was decided that on Saturday Israeli activists would accompany the farmers so that they could finish the harvest.

On Saturday we set out in two groups. A group of 50 went to harvest close to the Palestinian village of Karma whose olive groves are in the valley a few hundred metres from the army base and the fence of Otniel. The harvesting was done without interference on the part of the settlers, the army or the police, but not all the area was harvested and we did not reach the olives close to the army base (the villagers told us that volunteers from Europe would come to help them there).

The second group of 15 people went to the place where the attack had been earlier that week. As we said, the place is right next to the fence of the settlement, between the old neighbourhood and the new one under construction. This extension makes the Palestinian land into an enclave between two settlements and access to it very problematical. The activists and the land owners started to harvest and worked for half an hour. After half an hour 10 settlers arrived from the direction of the settlement and tried to block the way to the lands. The harvesting was interrupted and very quickly the army arrived in force and an hour later also the police and a representative of the civil administration. Unfortunately, as usually happens in such cases, the harvest was stopped and we (Palestinians and Israelis) were shown an order making this a closed military area. The representative of the civil administration did not deny that this is Palestinian land but insisted that harvesting would only be done in coordination with the Administration. Once again the settlers were the winners and managed to prevent the harvest by using violence.

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Olive Harvest near Mitzpe-Yair

Tuesday, October 21 2008

Around twenty activists arrived at the grove neighboring the illegal outpost Mitzpe-Yair (South Mt. Hebron Region), and harvested undisturbed during the day.

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Family Olive Harvest in Battir

Monday, October 20 2008

A number of Israeli families, including parents and children, joined with the residents of Beitar in harvesting olives from the villagers' groves located in Nahal Refaim. The Israeli and Palestinian families' shared labor, the conversations, the joint picnic, and the experience of climbing the olive trees were fun for all of the event's participants.

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Olive Harvest in Tel-Rumeida, Hebron

Saturday, October 18 2008

At dawn the activists arrived. Around thirty Ta’ayush (Arab-Jewish Partnership) and international volunteers came to the Palestinian groves adjacent to the Jewish settlement in Tel-Rumeida, Hebron, to help the landowners pick their olives. Previous attempts by the Palestinian farmers -- who live behind fences and are subjected to daily violence -- to reach their olive trees had been blocked by the residents of Tel Rumeida, a stronghold of the most militant and extremist Jewish settlers. Even the Israeli police are afraid of these settlers while the military routinely bows down to their commands.

A few days earlier, the activists had been informed that the settlers had entered the groves and had stolen olives from their rightful owners. Complaints to the police were ignored, while the military decided to deny Palestinians all access to the trees.

After meeting their Palestinian partners, the activists began picking the olives. They worked fast and were making considerable progress when four settlers arrived on the scene, and, without warning began beating an international activist and a press photographer, while breaking their cameras.

Photo: Activestills

The settlers had come to the site accompanied by Israeli soldiers, whose job is to protect the settlers from Palestinians. It is therefore not surprising that the soldiers did nothing to prevent the violent attack, did not detain the settlers and even told the settlers that they would do well to hide before the police arrived.

The Ta’ayush activists had already called the police, informing them that the settlers were attacking the olive pickers. This time, the police arrived at the scene fairly quickly, but instead of arresting the belligerent settlers they notified the Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals that they had to leave the area since it was declared a “closed military zone.” Once again the violent oppressors had triumphed.

The activists, however, refused to accept the unjust decision, claiming that it was implemented to stop the Palestinian landowners from reaching their olives. This time the police officers and military thought it appropriate to use force and started evacuating the activists.

Photo: Activestills

Three Ta’ayush activists were arrested, and were taken to a jail, where the police planned to keep them overnight. After midnight, following a request for an urgent hearing their case was brought to court and they were released. Again, the settlers had won the day and managed to prevent the harvest, only this time the event was covered by the press, and the true face of the settlers, police, and military was exposed. Usually, the world is left ignorant of the violence.

To Channel 10 coverage

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Olive Harvest in Susya – a joint action with Combatants For Peace

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Over 100 activists – Palestinian, Israeli & international – arrived at dawn to Susya region. Police claimed that the area has been announced "restricted military zone". After arguing that dozens of Israeli vehicles pass undisturbed, and especially due to the media's attention to the unequal enforcement of the warrant – the harvest was allowed. In light of agreements with the police, some areas were harvested by Palestinians only, while some in cooperation with Israeli & international activists. At the end of the day nearly all the olives at Susya region were picked – including many regions that are routinely not accessible to the Palestinian landowners due to settlers' violence and\or Israeli security forces.

Photo: Activestills

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The same day

At the end of day, we received a desperate call from residents in the rural area surrounding Hebron. For three days the family members were imprisoned in a single room in their own house, as the Israeli army took control over it. During the first two days of the imprisonment a one-year old baby had also been held inside. Only after numerous pleas the grandmother (free outside) was permitted to take the baby. The soldiers presented no valid warrant ordering the seizure nor told the family members how long they were about to be caged in their own house. Four activists stopped by on return from Susya. In vain they questioned the soldiers asking to see a valid seizure warrant. Passing the information to journalists and human rights NGO's, that in turn addressed higher military officers, fruited in the release of the pregnant woman toward evening, and the soldiers' evacuation at 9PM.

Photo: Activestills

The event was covered by Palestinian television and Israeli press.
To Ynet coverage

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Protest march from Tuwani to Tuba and settlers violence in Hebron

Saturday, August 2, 2008

We were invited to join a march of the children and residents of Tuwani, Tuba & Maghaer Al-Abeed, protesting the barring of the road from Tuwani to the neighboring villages by the Ma'on settlers, and repeated assaults of the Tuba & Maghaer Al-Abeed children on their way to Tuwani schools. As customary recently, the Israeli "security" forces had put many efforts in denying access of Israeli and international activists to the area – declared as "restricted military zone". Unfortunately, most activists failed to reach the demonstration. The least that did, witnessed a joyful & colorful parade, overcoming the Israeli military, police and settlers trying to prevent them even the mere right to protest. Despite all, the parade marched through the shortest road from Tuwani and Tuba – a road closed for Palestinian traffic for years (excluding organized Tuba children groups' passage to Tuwani, escorted by military forces). Today, Tuwani children and parents escorted Tuba's children in the forbidden road. During the activity, an international and two Israeli activists were arrested. They were paroled later.

This, though, didn't conclude the day's events. After the march, four activists that arrived at the Hebron police station to collect one of the paroled detainees, noticed a group of approximately twenty settlers escorted by two soldiers approaching Jaabree's family yard (an area announced closed for settlers), just in front of the police station. As we were wondering how this group arrived there (not to mention the military escort…), they started flinging rocks at the Jaabree residence, assaulting some of the family members. The escorting soldiers held to their positions – and did nothing to prevent the violent outbreak. Luckily, we were close enough to arrive swiftly at the scene with cameras, and thus to pressure the soldiers to withhold the settlers' violence. Three of the family members were injured, two required medical care. In the meanwhile, other settlers noticed Ezra's car near the police station, and took the opportunity to sabotage it – just a few meters from the police station's gate-keeper. The four activists rushed back there, and were immediately surrounded and attacked by a crowd of settlers. That managed to engage the police officers in action – arresting the activists (and none of the attackers). Eventually, the activists were paroled as well. Valuable medical supplies and documents were stolen from Ezra's car, in addition to two cut tires.

The Israel Broadcast Authority radio newsflash, in its unbiased fashion, stated that "four left activists burst into a settlement, clashing with settlers" – laugh or cry?

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