Israeli Occupation Forces Atrocities in Palestine, May 27, 2008

Five kidnapped, eight injured in Israeli raid in Qalqilia

Date: 27 / 05 / 2008 Time: 10:39
Qalqilia - Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces stormed schools, stores, and residential buildings during a military operation in the West Bank city of Qalqilia on Tuesday afternoon, kidnapping five people and injuring eight.

Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped Yasser Mohammad 'Aref Nofal, Mohammad Akram Shuraim, Abdallah 'Azzam Da'oud, a member of the Preventive Security force, Mohammad Isma'il Badra, a member of the National Security force, and Haitham Ghaleb Al-Aqra'.

Israeli troops raided the Al-Khansaa' and Abu 'Ali Iyad schools, and stormed a residential building in the Shuraim neighborhood in the west of the city. All the building's residents were herded into one apartment while the soldiers ransacked the rest of the apartments and arrested 24-year-old Mohammad Shuraim.

Palestinian sources said that around 35 military vehicles were deployed in various neighborhoods of the city. They added that the troops also invaded a cemetery.

Eight injuries were reported during confrontations that took place between school students the invading Israeli forces.

Sources in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that eight students treated at Dr. Darwish Nazzal Hospital for minor injuries.

Israeli occupation naval forces kidnap six fishermen in Rafah
Date: 27 / 05 / 2008 Time: 12:17
Gaza - Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped six fishermen on Tuesday off the coast of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Hassan 'Azzam, the director of the Department of Fish Resources in Gaza said Israeli occupation gunboats fired at the fishing vessels close to the Rafah shore, then kidnapped six of the fishermen, including Hassan 'Ali Abu 'Ouda, Mohammad Raja' Abu Salmiya, Mohammad Abu 'Ouda, Yousuf Khalifa and Fadel Abu Shalouf. The sixth arrestee could not be identified.

'Azzam condemned what he called "frequent" Israeli attacks on fishermen.

Israeli occupation forces ransack home of Palestinian journalist in Hebron

Date: 27 / 05 / 2008 Time: 10:42
Hebron – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces raided the home of Palestinian journalist Nayif in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday morning.

Hashlamoun was not at home when the raid happened but the Israeli occupation troops handed a letter to his son demanding that Hashlamoun turn himself over to Israeli intelligence for interrogation.

Hashlamoun told Ma'an that Israeli occupation soldiers broke down the front door before ransacking his house.

Israeli occupation forces detain ten civilians across the West Bank

Date: 27 / 05 / 2008 Time: 09:19
Bethlehem - Ma'an -

Israeli occupation forces detained ten Palestinians early on Tuesday morning across the West Bank.

Israeli sources said that Israeli occupation army forces detained ten of "wanted" activists in Nablus, Qalqilia, the outskirts of Bethlehem outskirts the Hebron district, namely Beit Fajjar, As-Samou', Bani Nu'eim and Yatta, confirming that all the detainees were transferred to interrogation centers.

Israeli occupation forces arrest one Palestinian and assault activists protesting settlement expansion in Bil'in

Date: 27 / 05 / 2008 Time: 18:57
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Palestinians in the West Bank village of Bil'in, together with international and Israeli peace activists, protested the expansion of the illegal Matityahu East settlement on Monday while illegal Israeli settlers installed six mobile homes on the villagers' land.

Iyad Burnat, of the Bil'in Committee Against the Wall and Settlement Construction, said that villagers noticed the construction activity early on Monday morning, when settlers protected by Israeli military personnel began installing the caravans on the villagers' land.

The village of Bil'in, located in the Ramallah district, is cut off from its agricultural land by the separation wall. On Monday villagers tried to reach their land in order to stop the settlers from placing the mobile homes, but Israeli troops prevented them from passing through a gate in the wall.

According to Burnat, a small group of men from the village who had been staying overnight on their land managed to reach the trucks installing the settler mobile homes and stood in front of them, blocking their path and interrupting the work. One Palestinian from Bil'in managed to scale one of the settler cranes, holding a Palestinian flag. He remained there and succeeded in stopping the work for almost six hours before being forced down and arrested by Israeli police.

"The entire world has not managed to stop the Israeli settlements for one minute, but we managed to hold up the work for almost six hours yesterday in our nonviolent protest," said Burnat.

Burnat stated that Israeli settlers and soldiers responded violently to the Palestinian, international, and Israeli activists, assaulting the protesters and reporters trying to film the events. He emphasized that this will not stop the villagers' attempts to block the settlement expansion and protect their lands.

The villagers of Bil'in have been conducting weekly nonviolent protests against the illegal separation wall and Israeli settlements for more than three years, together with international and Israeli activists. In 2007 the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in favor of the Bil'in villagers and ordered the Israeli army to dismantle a segment of the wall so that villagers would have access to more of their lands. Eight months after being ordered to re-route the wall in Bil'in "within a reasonable amount of time," the Israeli army has not even begun to plan an alternate route and has refused to comply with the Court's order for "security reasons."

The Israeli High Court of Justice also retrospectively legalized the illegal settlement outpost of Matityahu East, built on Bil'in land, in 2007. Bil'in villagers fear that the latest attempts to expand the settlement with mobile homes are part of a wider plan for settlement expansion in the region.

Burnat urged the Palestinian Authority freeze negotiations with Israel, since Israel continues to expand the illegal settlements and refuses to respect agreements with the Palestinians.

Last November the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks were revived by the US on the basis of the Road Map peace plan. According to the Road Map, Israel must stop all settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Burnat told Ma'an that the villagers of Bil'in will continue their resistance on the ground and their legal work through the Israeli court system to protect their lands.

Israeli occupation troops violently disperse anti-wall protest in Nil'in

Date: 27 / 05 / 2008 Time: 14:32
Ramallah – Ma'an –

Several Palestinian civilians, including journalists, were injured when Israeli occupation troops forcibly dispersed a demonstration against the separation wall in the West Bank village of Nil'in, near Ramallah, on Tuesday.

The spokesperson of the Popular Committee for resisting the separation wall in Ni'lin, Salah Khawaja, said that Israeli occupation troops used tear gas, live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, water cannons, rifle butts and clubs to break up the peaceful demonstration. Khawaja added that several people were arrested. International and Israeli solidarity activists participated in the rally.

The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), a Palestinian political party that participated in the demonstration, said that some 50 soldiers and more than 10 military jeeps were deployed to attack the unarmed demonstrators.

Among the injured, PNI said, was "a Canadian woman who experienced breathing problems after being caught in a fog of tear gas. Another man was beaten with clubs by soldiers and has been taken to hospital suffering from severe pains in his spine."

If completed, Israel's illegal West Bank wall will result in the de facto confiscation of 2,500 dunams of Nil'in's land. Expanding Israeli settlements and other methods of closure, in addition to the wall, will completely separate the villages of of Ni'lin, Mediya, Shukba, Shabteen and Budrus from the rest of the West Bank.

Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, the Secretary-General of the PNI said, "This Wall is not only stealing Palestinian land and much of prime agricultural land, but it is consolidating a system of Apartheid. An entire segregated infrastructure is being created to separate Israeli settlers living illegally on confiscated Palestinian land, from Palestinians. This is being done at the expense of the Palestinians whose land has been, and is being stolen to build this infrastructure, and at the expense of all the Palestinians who will be isolated from their lands, workplaces, key services and kinship networks as a result."

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