january 2005

Israeli settlements expanding to annihilate Green Line and take all land up to the Israeli Wall

The Wave of Settlement construction along The Separation Wall

Under the shadow of the disengagement plan, a new wave of settlement construction is taking place in the West Bank. It is especially noticeable along the Green Line, from the area of Elkana and Oranit near Kufr Kassem, via Zufin (east of Kokhav Yair) all the way to Reihan in the north: Companies privately owned by the settlers, alongside state agencies, are renewing the construction of settlements and building thousands of housing units, with the objective of obliterating the Green Line and effectively annexing all the land made inaccessible to its Palestinian owners by the Fence. This operation complements the strategy of annexation and dispossession implemented by the Separation Fences.

The last two years' struggles led to some substantial, though partial, achievements: Several centers of popular resistance to the occupation formed, which blocked the progress of the Fence in some areas (the Salfit/Ariel region and around Budrus), but not in others (Jerusalem and Hebron Mount). However, it must be noted that with the current political constellation being unfavorable for actually building the Fence, the Sharon administration is making use of the lull in order to advance the infrastructure work, so that once the political tide turns the eventual erection of the Fence System will be feasible within a very short time.

While the construction of the fence itself is being stalled, work on the accompanying settlements is in full swing, ostensibly as extensions to existing settlements so as to disguise the maneuver. Often, as in the area of Alfei Menasheh, they are in fact kilometers away from the existing settlement

The extent of this process is beginning to unfold:

• The people of the Israeli community of Nirit (located on the Israeli side of the Green Line) have successfully stopped (for the time being) the construction of an extension to Alfei Menasheh settlement across the Green Line from Nirit, which was planned to rely on Nirit's infrastructure.

• Alfei Menashe itself is now expanding to fill the area all the way to the Fence, between the villages Ras a-Tira and Ras Atiya and on their lands.

• Further north, opposite Jayyous, the settlement of Zufin, some 200 family strong, is adding 2100 new housing units in new extensions, to be built on Jayyous land.

• In the area of Sal'it (south of Hirbet Jbara) a new extension plan has been deposited, adding 2000 housing units, which will create a continuous settlement stretch all the way to Zur-Nathan on the Israeli side of the Green Line.

• Further north, the settlement Reihan is targeted for massive expansion.

We are dealing, therefore, with a substantial process of annexation and settlement in the northern part of the Fences System, aimed to complete the process of dispossessing the Palestinians of their land. The fingerprints are all over: in Zufin and Alfei Menashe the entrepreneurs are private companies owned by the settlers; in other areas, the main entrepreneur is the Department of Settlement of the Jewish Agency itself. And so, while public discussion in Israel focuses on the settlers' threats, the process of settling the Occupied West Bank continues, under the auspices of the Fence and with the assistance of the occupation authorities.

This last operation fits in with Sharon's long-term strategy of obliterating the Green Line and broadening the political accord regarding the settlements, by focusing on settlements near the Green Line, which offer "a high standard of living" and "personal security"; and by getting the palestinians out of the way through appropriating their land and turning them into "security hazards" (securing the safety of Shaul Mofaz by destroying widow Zohriya Murshad's orange grove is a case in point). The present wave of settlement is occurring under favorable political conditions: the haze and confusion surrounding the "Disengagement Plan" allow Sharon to immediately perform the components relating to the West Bank— strengthening the settlements. In Israel, founding the unity government offers a convenient political framework for focusing the annexation efforts to the areas which were in any case intended for annexation according to the Barak-Sharon trajectory; all the while, in the Occupied Territories, the occupation authorities focused over the last months on the attempt to force normalization, in order to prove that the Palestinians have accommodated themselves to life under the shadow of the Fence. The Fence enables the entrepreneurs who build settlements security for their investments; to those who seek to settle in safety. it guarantees an effective separation from the dispossessed local population and fast development-annexation.

Precisely for those reasons, it is our duty to contribute our share in the attempt to block this process, and to divert the attention to its political significance and the destruction it entails. When constructed, the Fence cut off the people of Jayyous from 72% of their lands (8,600 dunum), in addition to the 500 dunum on which it was constructed. The people of Jayyous now need permits in order to cross over to their fields, but only a few of them hold such permits. The villagers grow citrus, guavas, olives, and more. the agricultural production of the village fulfilled a central place in the whole area—because of the extent of the land, their fertility and the advanced cultivation systems. These were all destroyed by the Fence: all 6 water-wells of the village are outside the Fence, and the people now have to buy water from surrounding villages. Drying Jayyous accelerated the process of dispossession: at times the occupation authorities prevented the access even permit holders, not allowing maintenance of irrigation systems and caring for plants. This way, according to our data, 15,000 citrus trees died. drying the agriculture and destroying the surrounding enable the conversion of fertile lands into a real-estate object, in the process of colonization.

Constructing the new settlements—be it the northern and eastern outposts of Zufin, building an industrial zone at the foot of the Fence or making a road to connect the different settlements—will bring to completion the process of dispossession. A substantial part of the lands which are left in the hands of the people of Jayyous will be west of the settlements, and in order to reach them they will have to cross the settlements. Based on existing tradition, that will turn the people of Jayyous into a security risk, that must be prevented from crossing the road and the settlement on their way to their fields. Raising the Fence becomes part of a well known pattern in the process of colonization: buying land from collaborators, declaring Palestinian lands as "State Lands", discontinuing local communities and disturbing the social and economical texture of life, drying the agriculture and transforming farmers into a "security risk" in their own fields.

The people of Jayyous stood out in their struggle against the construction of the Separation Fences. Their courageous resistance last week stopped the continuation of the work. We ought to stand alongside them in their struggle. At the beginning of the struggle against the Fence it was difficult to foresee the possibilities embedded in the popular struggle against it. Now is the time to rise against the Fence Settlements.

Palestinians vote in municipal polls ; they do not want women candidates!

These elections are the preamble to broader local elections that will take place in the larger cities and municipal authorities in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The voting polls opened at 7 A.M. and will close at 7 P.M. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who cast his ballot in the East Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis, praised the vote in 26 West Bank municipalities as "the first step toward the establishment of the Palestinians state."

To keep order at polling places, Israel allowed Palestinian police armed with pistols into some towns and villages that have been off-limits to them under interim peace accords signed in the early 1990s.

The secretary general of the Central Elections Committee, Hussein al-A'arj, expressed hope that a large portion of the eligible Palestinian voters will exercise their right and bolster democracy in the Palestinian Authority. Al-A'arj also said that Israel could help if it lifted the roadblocks that would enable voters to make their way with greater ease to the polls.

One of the most interesting features of these elections is the participation of women candidates among the 826 individuals who are bidding for a post on their local council. According to the law of local elections in the Palestinian Authority, women are guaranteed 16 percent of the seats in their township. With the exception of the municipality of Uja, a small village north of Jericho, all the others have two or three seats reserved in the majlis (the council) for women. However, the conditions do not appear to be as favorable as the law dictates. In one case, that of the village of Ya'bed near Jenin, six women originally registered as candidates changed their mind and withdrew their bids for seats in the local council. The reason for their change of heart reportedly stemmed from pressure from their families, who considered the possibility that their female relatives would sit in the council alongside the men as offensive.

There is now only one candidate, Maysoun Badarne, 44, which according to the election law can be elected by just a single vote. Her village has a population of 17,000, with 6,750 eligible voters.
During the election campaign, clans expressed their opposition to photographs of the female candidates being shown. Badarne, a teacher in a girls elementary school, told Haaretz yesterday that "there was serious pressure on the women to pull out of the race, and that is why they pulled out. Fifty-two percent of the villagers are women, and there is no reason why they will not be represented. They have pressured and continue to pressure me to pull out, but I have a task, and I cannot accept that there will be no women on the village majlis."

Mother detainee attacked in Telmond detention

Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies, December 2, 2004, 23:07

A humanitarian organization said on Thursday, that soldiers in Telmond detention, broke into a number of rooms used by female detainees and attacked them causing 15 injuries.

Among the wounded detainees, Mirvate Taha, a mother of an infant who is with her in detention.

Mirvate and her child sustained several bruises.

Lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Wael Mahameed, said that he visited Telmond and met with a number of female detainees who told him that soldiers clubbed them and sprayed them with gas, 15 detainees were wounded.

The detainees told Mahameed that soldiers repeatedly force them out of their rooms and conducted provocative searches, and repeated attempts of naked body searches.

Mahameed added that male detainees in Hadarim protested the attacks against the female detainees, and clashed with the soldiers.

The administration placed a number of detainees in solitary and clubbed tens of them.

Ibrahim Yassin, the representative if the detainees in Hadarim said that the situation is very bad and that the rooms are overcrowded.

Yassin said that some detainees have to sleep on the floor, in the cold rooms, and that soldiers are not providing them with the needed covers and mattresses.

The detainees in Israeli detention camp and prisons are suffering from medical neglect and very harsh living conditions, especially detainees who are suffering from different diseases.

Torture, Medical neglect, bad or corrupt food, overcrowded cells and clod climate in detention are the main violations the detainees are facing in Israeli detention centers.

Kelly Minio-Paluello arrested for filming peaceful demonstration near
Ramallah
Jolifanto, Dan and Rachel, 16.12.2004 18:32

Journalist and community activist Kelly Minio-Paluello (23) was arrested brutally by Israeli Border Policemen while filming a peaceful demonstration on Tuesday outside Ramallah, Occupied Palestinian Territories. She is currently being held in Hadera Detention Centre awaiting deportation. Kelly has visited Cambridge several times. Her husband, Cambridge activist Mika Minio-Paluello, remains in Palestine.

On Tuesday December 14, the people of Bil'in accompanied by international and Israeli activists and journalists marched peacefully against the construction of the illegal Israeli Apartheid Wall. The village of Bil~Rin, located west of Ramallah, has been told that three-quarters of its land will be confiscated and handed over to the neighbouring Israeli settlement during wall construction.

The demonstrators marched peacefully through their land, using their presence to obstruct the military surveyors planning the precise route of the Wall. To repress the nonviolent demonstration, 30-40 Border Policemen fired tear gas and plastic-coated metal bullets into the crowd, before baton-charging those remaining. Kelly Minio-Paluello, who was filming throughout the demonstration, documented several Palestinians being dragged off for individual beatings by groups of baton-wielding soldiers. When the soldiers realized she was filming, Kelly Minio-Paluello was wrestled to the ground and dragged up the hill. Later, a second American was arrested for filming.

Kelly Minio-Paluello said, "I was arrested filming the unprovoked attacks of gangs of heavily-armed soldiers on women and teenagers who dared to say, 'Stop stealing our land!' Israel depends on shooting mothers with tear gas and beating their children with batons to enforce the occupation and subjugate the people of Palestine. It relies on violence to quell civil resistance, yet tries to hide this fact from the world. That is why I am in prison." Since her arrest, Kelly Minio-Paluello has been stripsearched in an attempt to humiliate her and interrogated in the Ministry of Interior. She is currently being held in Hadera Deportation Centre, where a judge issued Kelly with a deportation order. Minio-Paluello has neither been informed of her charges nor been allowed to represent herself. She has not been told when she will be deported or informed of her rights.

Kelly Minio-Paluello is a journalist and community activist. She entered the country legally in October, has a visa, has never been deported or denied entry. She is working on various media production and training projects as part of the Balatacamp.net collective. See Balatacamp.net/~balata/website/balata.htm for further information.

Contact: ++972 [0]54 6346923 (Kelly in prison)  mika@balatacamp.net (Kelly's
husband Mika)