Ten protesters injured at Jenin anti-settlement march

Date: 21 / 11 / 2008  Time:  14:04
Nablus – Ma’an –

Israeli troops attacked a peaceful demonstration protesting the continued construction of Israeli settlements and the separation wall on Friday morning, south of Jenin.

The protest took place near the evacuated settlement of Homesh, which is located between Jenin and Nablus in the northern West Bank. When demonstrators reached the abandoned area, Israeli soldiers attacked them with rubber-coated bullets, tear gas and percussion grenades, it was reported.

Ten people were injured, among them 16-year-old Saddam Ragheb Salah, 45-year-old Abed Al-Salam Salah and 40-year-old Imad Shawqat Seif.

Palestinians held Friday prayers at the site of the evacuated settlement, as well.

  Soldiers detain PLC members at anti-wall demonstration near Qalqilia

Date: 21 / 11 / 2008  Time:  21:06
Qalqilia – Ma’an –

Israeli soldiers reportedly shut down a peaceful demonstration in the village of Jayous, north of the West Bank city of Qalqilia on Friday, according to local witnesses.

Soldiers detained Waleed A’saf and Tayseer Khalid, both members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), two witnesses told Ma'an. A number of peace activists and residents of the village were also shortly detained.

Soldiers arrived firing teargas canisters, live bullets and percussion grenades, witnesses said. Cases of teargas inhalation were also documented by Palestinians and internationals, alike. During the incursion, five residents were reported injured and olive trees were uprooted.

Meanwhile, witnesses are reporting that Israeli forces are still patrolling the village, having imposed a curfew on the town.

Marchers had assembled Friday in response to the Israeli constructed "separation barrier," which is being built on land owned by village residents.

Several of the activists are affiliated with the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF), a witness told Ma'an in a telephone interview. Soldiers reportedly arrested one of the internationals and ordered the others not to leave their homes.

The seized international was interrogated and eventually released, the same witness added. By Friday night, forces remained in the village, firing teargas and percussion grenades.

  Dozens suffer teargas inhalation at Bil'in anti-wall march

Date: 21 / 11 / 2008  Time:  15:47
Bethlehem - Ma'an -

Dozens of Palestinian and international demonstrators choked on teargas at a Friday demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil'in, near Ramallah, as Israeli forces fired on the crowd, according to a statement received by Ma'an.

A Palestinian anti-wall organization reported that the rally had been generally peaceful as Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists waved Palestinian flags, banners and posters before the army attacked.

The group's report claimed that Israeli soldiers "showered [protesters] with rubber-coated metal bullets, injuring dozens" during the protest. Most reported injuries were due to teargas inhalation, the report added.

Marking World Children's Day, demonstrators reflected on Israel's "aggression and occupation" against and of Palestinian children, claiming that "hundreds of Palestinian kids" had been shot and killed by Israeli forces and that many more "are languishing in Israeli prisons."

Demonstrators called on Israel to release all detainees and stressed that its "racist wall" must be removed, along with settlements, roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank.

***Updated 20:15 Bethlehem time

  Israel transfers Scottish activist to isolation cell

Date: 21 / 11 / 2008  Time:  15:51
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

A Scottish solidarity activist has been transferred to solitary confinement in an Israeli detention center on Friday after he and two others declared a hunger strike.

British citizen Andrew Muncie relayed a message via his jailed colleagues that he has been isolated and his mobile phone confiscated.

Muncie was arrested along with an American, Darlene Wallach, and an Italian Vittorio Arrigoni, along with 15 Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza. The three activists were accompanying the fishermen, who face daily harassment by the Israeli navy.

The three declared a hunger strike on Thursday night, demanding that Israel return three fishing vessels it seized during Tuesday’s raid in Gazan waters. The solidarity campaigners say that the Palestinians who own the boats rely on them for their livelihoods.

Muncie, Wallach, and Arrigoni were among dozens of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip in the last three months in defiance of an Israeli blockade of the territory.

Meanwhile on Thursday Israeli occupation government defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered Gaza’s borders sealed for the 17th consecutive day, once again blocking critical shipments of food, fuel, medicine, and other goods.

Israeli police yet again demolish East Jerusalem tent protesting demolishing Palestinian homes

Date: 21 / 11 / 2008  Time:  17:28
Jerusalem – Ma’an –

 Israeli police on Friday removed a tent for the third time this week in East Jerusalem, where it was erected in the Shaikh Jarrah neighborhood to protest the demolishing of a house owned by a Palestinian family.

Local witness Nasser Al-Ghawi said that at 9:30 am, representatives of the municipality came with an order evicting the tent, which read: "Within two hours, the tent will be destroyed and its contents will be confiscated."

Ten minutes later, a bulldozer reportedly arrived, backed by a "massive number of Israeli soldiers," to remove the tent and demolish a wall surrounding the land, which Al-Ghawi said belonged to a Palestinian family, despite that Israel claimed it as public property.

Adnan Al-Huseini, the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem, denounced the incident, describing it as "immoral."

Hatem Abed Al-Qader, advisor to Salam Fayyad for Jerusalem Affairs, asked why "a nuclear state like Israel is afraid of the steadfastness of a woman inside a tent?"

"This tent has become a problem for the Israelis. It is now on the top of their agenda,” he joked. But Al-Qader later added that “all of these procedures are illegal."

Ahamd Ar-Ruwiedi, the head of the Jerusalem Department within the Palestinian president’s office, said that “the Israeli judicial system does not constructively deal with issue of Jerusalem.

"It deals with it as if it were a political issue, rather than a legal one," he added.

Israel shuts down East Jerusalem theater over PA backing

Date: 21 / 11 / 2008  Time:  20:00
Bethlehem - Ma’an -

Israeli police ordered the closure of a local theater in East Jerusalem on Friday under the pretext that it was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israeli officials also accused the owners of the Al-Hakawati Theater of having failed to obtain written permission to operate it, as is required under Israeli law.

Schoolchildren were expected to participate in an extracurricular activity sponsored by a local Palestinian organization, "Juthur," or "Roots," along with participants from a number of other organizations in East Jerusalem.

The theater's activities have been disrupted at least eight times during 2008.


***Updated 20:51 Bethlehem time