Collective action continues as tanks roll into Gaza

Palestinian mobilization all across the West Bank continued yesterday, even as the Occupationْs massacre in Gaza intensified and tanks were rolling into Gaza. The ongoing collective action gives voice to the unified Palestinian condemnation of the Occupationْs heinous crimes, and solidifies their resistance to the continuous repression that they face.Hebron district saw several demonstrations and other actions take place, as national and Islamic activists came together to call for a general strike to protest the attacks in Gaza. Near Hebron city, the Al Fawar refugee camp was the site of a large demonstration last night, with hundreds of people joining the protest. Further clashes occurred in the village of Yatta, south of Hebron, where 26 year-old Thalal Ali was injured by Occupation forces.Similar violence from Occupation forces occurred in Qalqilya, where one person was killed and many were injured in confrontations with the forces. Twenty year-old Mufid Saleh Walwil was killed by live bullets in the head and chest as he was taking part in a demonstration condemning the assault on Gaza. In Jenin and Nablus, protests took place outside of the local Red Cross offices, chanting their solidarity with the people of Gaza, and issuing a letter to the organization urging it to condemn the Occupationْs war crimes. This is especially pertinent for the Red Cross, as the Occupation has targeted medical personnel since it began its ground invasion. According to Red Crescent sources in Gaza, five Red Crescent medics have been killed since ground troops entered the Strip. Nablus district also faced several incursions and invasions yesterday, as Occupation forces raided the villages of Beita and Huwwara. Several injuries were reported in Beita, as forces fired tear gas, sound bombs and live bullets inside the village. Sixteen year-old Mustafa Salami was hit by a live bullet and was taken to hospital, but remains in stable condition. In Huwwara, Occupation forces invaded the village and occupied homes by installing military posts on several rooftops. In Bethlehem and Ramallah, meanwhile, hundreds of people from all spectra of Palestinian society gathered to demonstrate in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Protestors in both cities carried out their demonstration in the most central areas, attracting plenty of local media attention. Actions are also taking place in ْ48 Palestine, particularly amongst the student population. A large demonstration was held in front of Haifa University, with participants calling for a studentsْ strike in protest against the assault on Gaza. Under the call of ôOne Nation, One Pain,¤ Arab students announced that in addition to their strike at their universities, they plan to stage a hunger strike as well. All of these initiatives came as the Occupation intensified its attacks on Gaza by sending in ground troops and occupying the streets of Gaza City and other areas. To date, approximately 521 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the bombings, with some 2,400 people being injured. Despite the Occupationْs continued denial of the existence of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, UN OCHA reports that 13,000 people have been made homeless as a result of the bombing, and some 70% of the people of Gaza are without electricity due to the targeting of electricity generators. Furthermore, the Occupation continues to seal of the Gaza crossings, as fifteen vans carrying desperately-needed humanitarian supplies were prevented by Occupation authorities from entering the Strip.

West Bank rises up in response to massacre in GazaIn response to the bombing attacks that have left 205 people dead in Gaza, Palestinians across the West Bank and inside the ْ48 have organized to protest the crimes. In almost every district, mass marches and clashes have occurred. The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign has joined networks and committees such as the National and Islamic forces, the Committee against the Siege in the mobilizations that are rocking the entire West Bank.In Ramallah some 5,000 people headed the calls for demonstrations. Part of the demonstrators marched to the old road of el-Bireh, the location of the central offices of the so-called Civil Administration. The road, a site of daily confrontations at the beginning of the Second Intifada, was today again the site of heavy clashes. At the same time, in Qalandiya, the anger of the people erupted into violent confrontations against Occupation forces at the checkpoint.Popular demonstrations have occurred in nearly all the communities already organized for weekly actions against the Wall. In Jayyous, hundreds took to the streets in protest. Stones are hailing down on the Occupation soldiers in the neighboring village of Azzoun, where protestors are blocking the main road. In Niْlin people have mobilized, fighting against soldiers in the fields outside the village.Most of the West Bankْs main cities have seen popular actions. In Tulkarm and Nablus, hundreds went out in the streets to protest against the bombings of the Gaza Strip. In Hebron, university students led a mass march towards the old city where they stood up against soldiers and settlers in hours of clashes on Shuhada Street. Even in Jerusalem, people mobilized in demonstrations along Salahuddin Street in the city center and in the villages around the city.Inside the Green Line, Palestinians in Um el-Fahem, Haifa and Nazareth are staging angry protests. The rage of the people is not only directed against the Occupation forces, but also at the complicity of Arab regimes that have lacked any action so far; against the Palestinian National Authority which is still persuing its relations with the criminal Occupation authorities; and against the world community that until today refuses to impose the sanctions that would pressure the Occupation to respect Palestinian rights.More demonstrations are organized for tomorrow. More than 205 people have died today and hundreds more are in critical condition. Hospitals in Gaza lack the medicine, blood and space to treat the injuries, and only the most seriously wounded are being admitted. The people in the West Bank are committed to continue their mobilization and ensure that Palestinian martyrs have not died in vain.

The Weekly Demonstration in jayyous Village

large demonstration against the Wall was held in Jayyous on December 26,with about 120 people, mostly youth, protesting against the new path ofIsrael's Wall that will permanently confiscate nearly 6,000 dunums ofvillage land. The demonstration, which lasted for nearly five hours,resulted in several injuries to villagers, international solidarityactivists, and four Israeli soldiers. At 1:00 in the afternoon, the protestors began to march from the centerof the village, to the south gate of the Wall, which is the area that isslated to be re-routed. As they marched, Israeli forces stormed thevillage and declared a closed military zone until tomorrow. This wasfollowed violent clashes between the youths of the village and Israelisoldiers at the gate of the apartheid wall.Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers had prevented a number offoreign peace activists from entering the village grounds after it wasdeclared a closed military zone, with soldiers on the roads leading tothe wall and gate, and took Jayyous resident Bahjat Jayousi in custody fora few hours.The scores of young men from the village, had set off after Friday prayersspontaneously towards the gate in the barrier built on their land,individual soldiers fired heavy barrages of tear gas and sound towardsyoung people.The fighting escalated when a contingent of soldiers stormed the villageand the occupation pursued the young into the village and fired rubberbullets and live sound grenades.There are still clashes in the village to the moment, as soldiers areraiding houses in search of young people. Seven youths were injured by rubber bullets today, two in the legs, andanother in the head.
Mohammad Othman .

EThey will not break me

EThey will not break me


Hani Amer lives with his wife and six children in the village of Mas'ha in Qalqilya district. His six-year-old son is the youngest child. According to Hani, since the 1970s Occupation forces have confiscated at least 7,000 square metres -- eighty percent -- of the land of Mas'ha, to build the Jewish settlement of Elkana. Until now Hani Amer and his family have resisted all attempts by the Occupation military and settlers to chase him away. Today their house has completely surrounded by the Wall and high fences. The family exhausted all its resources in its resistance to the Wall, but Hani Amer is determined to stay.A visit to the Hani Amer familyOne hour after we left Ramallah we arrive at what appears to us to be a highly protected industrial site. It turns out to be the blocked entrance to Elkana settlement. Some years ago, the road used to connect Mas'ha with Nablus was closed by the Occupation military with a roadblock, which has been replaced by several gates over the past few years. Hani Amer has been waiting for us behind the gates and the minute we are seen, he comes to greet us. The first gate with heavy metal bars is right in front of us; it is two metres high with barbed wire on top. It completely closes off the road. The army used to have the only key to this gate. The lock on the gate has been removed after successful protests by Hani Amer. After four metres another gate blocks the road, this time a solid, one metre high metal gate. On the yellow painted gate we see a red sign with a white hand that warns us to stop.Then we approach the wall, which crosses the road as a high metal fence with sensors. Right behind the fence is a dust road that is swept every day, to enable the Occupation soldiers to identify the latest footprints. The wall is built on Hani Amer's land at less than twenty metres from his house. Next to his house the well-known grey concrete wall arises. Between the concrete wall and the fence, there is a small two metre high metal gate, also painted yellow. Hani Amer holds the key to this gate. Every time he opens the gate he is confronted with the message the Israeli military painted on the wall next to 'his' gate, a yellow Star of David and 'Israel'. We cross the dust and asphalt road behind the wall and see another high fence with a red sign warning us: 'Mortal danger military zone. Any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his life'. Our footprints are wiped out within half an hour by the two tractors which daily sweep the dust road.A story of resistanceHani Amer tells us that the settlement was developed from a military compound nearby, which was used by the British, the Jordanian and later the Occupation army successively. In the '80s the first settlers came to live on the compound in mobile caravans. Gradually the settlement expanded and about eighty percent of Mas'ha is now within the Wall, including a natural well that was destroyed by the Occupation army in 1967. The villagers tried to rehabilitate the well, but could not obtain permission to get access to electricity for the water pump. 'We understand that they also want to have that land', says Hani Amer.Hani Amer's story of material loss started in 1991, when part of his house was demolished because it was 'too close to the asphalt'. This reason was difficult to understand, while the house was situated in an agricultural area. In 1994 the restaurant he owned was demolished.In 2003 and 2004 the nursery and the agricultural shop of Hani Amer were confiscated by Israel in order to build the Wall. The house of Hani Amer stands on the land of the once flourishing nursery of 3.000 square meters. He shows us the spot where the agricultural shop was situated. Hani Amer invested 55.000 US dollars earned from the sale of his house in town, in a poultry farm on his land, which is now inside the Wall. In 2004 the Occupation army demolished the farm. Hani Amer has taken demolition orders to court. In the courtroom he stated, 'I know I will lose. I am here to prove what you are. You are not a state. You are a mob', and then he left.Increased threatsInitially the Occupation administration tried to buy Hani Amer's cooperation, offering excessive amounts of money for his property. But Hani Amer refused all offers. He once explained to an officer, 'Your understanding of life is different. It makes me happy to talk to the land, live with the land and the trees. There is no price for it'.However, when Hani Amer refused to leave his land 'voluntarily', a new strategy was introduced. An Occupation officer came to Hani Amer and threatened that he could not stay. According to Hani Amer, he said, 'We will break you, if you don't accept our good offers. We could send someone to shoot at the settlement and we will have already prepared the charge against you. Then your house will be bulldozed because you are known as a terrorist.'Shortly after the Wall was erected the military closed the gate when a son was still outside. They were separated from each other for one week. Friends threw food and other supplies over the gate. Now Hani Amer has the key of 'his yellow gate', and the enormous gate at the entrance remains open. But whenever people come and visit him, soldiers are around. They are warned by the sensors on the fence of the Wall. Sometimes they interfere, like this time. Two soldiers call Hani Amer from behind a huge fence that separates the house of Hani Amer from the settlement. They question him and after a while they want to talk to the international guest. I walk the twenty metres to the fence; they stand on the other side with their guns, sunglasses and green military jeep. I look them straight in the face when they ask me why I am here. I explain that I am paying a visit to Hani Amer. They order me not to take pictures from the settlement. They don't know that is too late for their command.The settlers live in their posh houses within twenty metres of Hani Amer's house, on the land of the villagers of Mas'ha. They also have their share in threatening Hani Amer's family. At night they throw stones at the house and keep the family awake. Sometimes the solar power panels for hot water on the roof are damaged. Sometimes, when the children play outside in the garden, the settlers start to throw stones. With both his hands on his heart Hani Amer says, 'I am most of all fearful for the safety of my kids. However, I am not going to give up my resistance. If the entire globe stands on one side and want to fight me, they will not break me. It is easy to kill me, but to break my will to stay is impossible'.

For additional information, contact: mobilize@stopthewall.org
Mohethman@gmail.com