NPK-info 28-07-2005


NPK-info 28-07-2005 - Nederlands Palestina Komitee / www.palestina-komitee.nl ______________________________________________________________________ De muur - One year on: The illegality of the Wall Correct link: http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/384.shtml - One year after the ICJ – The G8 and World Bank Cementing Israeli Apartheid and Occupation Analysis, The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, July 7th, 2005 http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/960.shtml - Vandaag actie SOS – Stop the Wall! / zie hierna http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/07/27/sos-%e2%80%93-stop-the-wall/ RIGHTS-MIDEAST: Israeli Soldiers "Getting Away With Murder" - HRW Katherine Stapp http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29188 Palestina-Karavaan - Update http://www.vredessite.nl/nieuws/2005/ - TV zondag: http://nmo.omroep.nl/cgi/nmo/?s=4&id=10&e=496 - Naast het NOS-journaal attendeerde het NPK Netwerk en NOVA op "de muur", zie hierna. Onderin actueel nieuws [van ISM] over geweldloos verzet tegen de bezetting. Europese Sanctie-campagne vanwege Israel’s bezettingspolitiek http://www.against-the-wall.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=5 Op de site van deze vanwege 1 jaar genegeerd ICJ-advies gestarte campagne komt z.s.m. meer toelichting. NPK/WL, 28-7-2005 ______________________________________________________________________ SOS – Stop the Wall! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank — Black smoke will be seen rising at 10 a.m. on Thursday July 28 along the path of the Apartheid Wall in the central West Bank region from Marda to Qalandia as an SOS to the world to take action to stop Israel’s annexation of land, and imprisonment of the Palestinian people. In an era that witnessed the forces of freedom and world peace bring an end to the ideology and policies of racial segregation in South Africa and the United States, where the international community is focused on the defense of human rights, the Israeli Occupying Power continues building a of racial segregation which threatens the development of civilized humanity and violates international human rights law. The International Court of Justice on July 9, 2004 issued an advisory opinion on the legality of the wall Israel is building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, declaring it illegal, stating it “must come down. “To date, Israel continues to confiscate Palestinian land, demolish trees and erect a wall that locks Palestinians into ghettos, cutting them off from their source of livelihood and from each other. Behind the smokescreen of the Gaza disengagement, the very foundations of peace are destroyed as the Apartheid continues to be constructed to the deafening silence of the international community. On Thursday, July 28 the people of the Salfit, Ramallah and northwest Jerusalem villages who have been using nonviolent resistance to combat the Wall from Marda (Salfit) to Budrus (Ramallah), Biddu (NW Jerusalem) to Bil’in (Ramallah), will light rubber tires on fire along the path of the Wall sending up an SOS to the world — STOP THE WALL! We will also be placing black ribbons on our cars to symbolize the oppression, sadness and death caused by this Apartheid Wall. We call on those who see and hear us around the world to use this black ribbon to spread the word about the destruction and new Apartheid created with this Black Wall and to join the efforts of the Palestinian people, along with Israeli peace activists and people from around the world who seek true peace in this region. For more information please contact: 054-792-4952 or 0599-57-52-57. ______________________________________________________________________ [] Bijgaande attendering is ook Netwerk toegezonden. ----- Original Message ----- From: Wim Lankamp To: Redactie/TV NOVA Cc: NPK Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 1:16 PM Subject: Internationaal Gerechtshof en VN over "de muur" 2004-2005 Beste NOVA-redactie Deze al bijna voorbije julimaand valt te bedenken dat een jaar geleden "de muur" werd veroordeeld door het Internationaal Gerechtshof te Den Haag [9-7-2004] en door de Algemene Vergadering van de VN [21-7-2004]. Uitgesproken werd toen wat gedaan moest worden door de VN-lidstaten en met name door Israel [afbreken muur, nederzettingen, ...]. Inmiddels weten we dat ook deze volkenrechtelijk geldende uitspraken worden genegeerd met daarbij gedoogsteun van de nederlandse regering, "gastvrouw/heer" van het Internationaal Gerechtshof. We hopen dat u aan dit feit aandacht kan en wil geven; voor het volkenrecht is het immers nooit komkommertijd. Het zou goed zijn daarbij dan ook aandacht te geven aan de al vele vele maanden durende dagelijkse geweldloze demonstraties tegen "de muur" [] en de doorgaande bouw daarvan [inclusief verwoestingen en geweld]. Het gaat daarbij om demonstraties door Palestijnen, anti-kolonistische Israeli's en mensen van velerlei nationaliteiten. Die laatsten voor zover ze worden toegelaten; zie http://www.vredessite.nl/nieuws/2005/ [Vredeskaravaan naar Palestina] over het niet toelaten van Europese vredesactivisten. En zie vooral http://www.stopthewall.org/ en http://www.palsolidarity.org/. We constateren dat Israel sanctieloos kan doorgaan met de bouw van de muur en uitbouw van nederzettingen in de bezette West-Bank en bezet Oost-Jeruzalem terwijl alle camera's bijna uitsluitend zijn gericht op de Gazastrook. Wellicht herkent u iets van 't beeld van dat konijn in het duister en die lamp? Vriendelijke groeten Wim Lankamp, Nederlands Palestina Komitee www.palestina-komitee.nl [] zoals http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4027.shtml P.S. Zie ook o.a. http://www.miftah.org/ ______________________________________________________________________ ----- Original Message ----- From: "International Solidarity Movement" <neta_golan@yahoo.com> To: <palsolidarity@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 3:38 PM Subject: [palsolidarity] ISM DIGEST: Israeli military targets leaders of nonviolent resisistance 1. Israeli military targeting Palestinian leaders of non-violent resistance: update on three such leaders. 2. Crackdown on peace activists in West Bank 3. SWEDISH ACTIVIST APPREHENDED AT TEL AVIV AIRPORT 4. A West Bank village opts for peaceful protest to broach the Wall 5. Agricultural buildings in West Bank village demolished for Israel's illegal wall 6. SOS - Stop the Wall! 7. Trio of protests against the wall set for communities across the West Bank 8. SWEDISH ACTIVIST APPREHENDED AT TEL AVIV AIRPORT *********************************************** 1. Israeli military targeting Palestinian leaders of non-violent resistance: update on three such leaders. ACTION ALERT 27 July 2005 Abdullah Abu-Rahme Abu-Rhame was arrested in a nonviolent protest on July 15, 2005. A Judge at Ofer military base on Tuesday, July 26, ruled that Abu-Rhame was "too dangerous" to be released on bail and that he will be held until the end of the proceeding against him. Abdullah is a prominent leader in the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements which organizes regular non-violent demonstrations. When he was arrested, he was inside a large prop constructed to look like a bridge along with Israeli and foreign peace activists that carried a banner which read "peace needs bridges not walls." According to the evidence provided by the prosecution, he was arrested shortly after making the statement "I'm not leaving, this is my home. You go back to Tel Aviv." He has been charged with assaulting a police officer, incitement, and disrupting public order. In his initial statement, arresting Officer Yitzchaki claimed Abu-Rhame, hit him in the throat with his elbow and tried to grab his weapon. However, during his third questioning when asked if he was sure that Abu-Rhame tried to take his gun "on purpose." He replied that he was not. The charge of trying to grab the weapon was subsequently dropped but surprisingly the rest of the testimony by Officer Yitzchaki was not brought into question. The other two charges remain vague. Video footage clearly illustrating Abdullaha's innocence had no effect on the judge. What becomes obvious is that Abu-Rhame was actually arrested for organizing non violent resistance to Israel's annexation barrier in a peaceful manner that clearly illustrated the structure's illegality. His Attorney Tamar Peleg will appeal the decision. Tamer Al-Khatib: Arrested in a nonviolent action against the wall on July 20, 2005. Al-Khatib was released on 2,000 shekels bail July 26. He was also ordered to stay at least 300 meters from the wall's route for the next 30 days by a military judge at Ofer military base. Tamer was arrested after being beaten out of a metal cylinder that he locked himself into on the route of the wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in along with a group of foreign activists including Israelis. They were all charged with attacking Israeli soldiers. Video footage taken at the protest absolved Israeli and international activists. Although given a chance to be released the same day, they declined. They chose to stay in jail in solidarity with Tamer who was transferred to a military detention center. He was not expected to see a judge for eight days. Upon viewing the video footage, the civil judge who dealt with the three foreign peace activists said "it was apparent that it was the soldiers who had beaten the demonstrators and not the other way around". Rateb Abu-Rahme: 40-year-old Abu-Rahme was arrested with his younger brother, Abdullah Abu-Rahme, also at a nonviolent demonstaration. Charges of throwing stones at soldiers were subsequently dropped for "lack of public interest". A military judge this week dropped the case against Rateb without acknowledging the fact that the military police officer who accused Rateb of throwing stones had confessed to giving false testimony. After viewing video footage of the Bil'in demonstration, the military judge Captain Daniel Zamir, stated: "there was no reason for the defendants arrest; there was no reason for the shooting that wounded him or the blows he received from the soldier", adding that "the reality was strangely different, to put it mildly, from the testimony of the prosecution witnesses". Please call and fax: Tzipi Livni Minister of Justice 29 Salah al-Din Street Jerusalem 91010, Israel Fax: +972 2 628 7757 E-mail: sar@justice.gov.il Menahem Mazuz Attorney-General/Legal Advisor to the Government Ministry of Justice 29 Salah al-Din Street Jerusalem 91010, Israel Fax: +972 2 628 5438 +972 2 627 4481 Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit Chief Military Attorney 6 David Elazar Street Hakirya Tel Aviv Israel Fax: +972 3 569 4370 E-mail: c/o arbel@mail.idf.il ********************************************** 2. Crackdown on peace activists in West Bank Israeli forces employed an increased level of brutality against nonviolent Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists Friday during demonstrations in the West Bank villages of Asira and Bil'in. ASIRA Over 250 villagers of Asira, in Nablus district, gathered at 10 a.m. Friday to begin the demonstration for free movement and against military closures that have effected their community since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Israeli Armed Personnel Vehicles, deployed since dawn, surrounded the villagers before they could take Sabaatash road, which leads to Nablus, and reach the roadblock. The army confiscated accompanying cars, an ambulance and keys, cameras and film, and immediately blocked the entry to several Arab and International journalists. An officer told Khannan Aljamen, a community leader, that the demonstration was illegal and that he would shoot straight to the head if anyone tried to continue on. Without warning, a soldier shot a young man in the hip to prove his point. Medical volunteers have reported that the injury is not critical. Khannan, with some knowledge of Hebrew, also overheard a soldier point out two other young men on top of a car. He said " Make sure you hit them." Khannan placed himself in front of the guns and yelled that they stop the shooting. The soldiers spat on him. A high-ranking officer reiterated, "I promise you, if anyone moves, we will put a bullet through his head!" The Israeli army also detained and arrested the 10 Israeli peace activists before they could reach the demonstrators. Nine internationals from Canada, Sweden, the United States, and one Palestinian resident of the Balata refugee camp were detained by soldiers at the Sabaatash roadblock as they headed toward Asira from Nablus to join the demonstration. They demanded passports and refused to allow anyone to pass under the pretext that it was a closed military zone. The villagers were left alone to deal with the violent repression of their protest against the roadblock. When Khannan asked the officer "why do you allow the settlers to freely move on these lands, and not the Palestinians? What about those sheep over there... are they allowed to move?" They officer replied, "I would like to keep it closed forever, you have no right to move. The sheep can move, they are animals." After an hour and half, the most the soldiers left the village. When the foreign activists arrived two hours later from another route, soldiers were still roaming among the trees in the surrounding hills. The Israeli activists were released one hour after there detention and returned to israel. BIL'IN Residents of the West Bank village of Bil'in - along with Israeli and foreign peace activists - were chased by Israeli soldiers Friday afternoon during the protest against construction of the illegal barrier being built in the village. As the area was filled with tear gas from canisters shot into various points around the community, at least two Israeli activists were kicked by soldiers as they lay on the ground. Six people were arrested. About 200 people took part. Bil'in protesters, known for making costumes for their demonstrations against the Annexation Wall, wore masks Friday depicting the faces of U.S. President Bush and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice as they marched toward the wall route. Before the action, as people in Bil'in donned white caps and T-shirts - reading in Arabic and English, "We oppose the wall" - several Israelis traveling from Tel Aviv to join the protest were stopped by soldiers and detained en route. Another 20 Israelis managed to arrive in the village and participate. Starting just after 1 p.m., men, women and children from the village donned masks of either Bush or Rice and covered their eyes with orange ribbons, the symbol used by supporters of the settlements in Gaza. Several carried a large sign reading "Gaza Disengagement == West Bank expansion." The orange blindfolds were meant to symbolize U.S. leader's being blinded from the addition to settlements in the West Bank by the removal of settlers in Gaza. The action ended with about 15 people being temporarily detained by soldiers who had bolted at them to break up the protest. Six people were arrested in all. They were: Jawad Asi, a Palestinian from the village of Beit liqya; Noga Alui and Uri Ayalon, Israelis from Tel Aviv; Marcy Newman and Ted Auerbach of the United States; and Natalia Nuñez of Sweden. Asi was kept apart from the others at a police station at the Givat Ze'ev settlement. The arrestees were charged with being in a "closed military area" and of assaulting soldiers. Video footage taken by activists led to the immediate drop of assault charges against all of those arrested. The Israelis and internationals were issued 15-day bans from entering Bil'in. "It's ridiculous, because they only call it a 'closed military area' after we're already there. It's not declared one before that," Newman said. "The other irony is that we were accused of assaulting soldiers. We were the ones being assaulted." While two Israelis were kicked, Nueez reported that one of the soldiers began spanking her once the tear gas had been fired and solders began running at the activists. Meanwhile, as Palestinians, Israelis and internationals in villages across the occupied territories protested the wall, planned settlement expansion and the closure of much needed roads, Prime Minister Arial Sharon visited the West Bank settlement of Ariel - just after a chat with Condoleezza Rice at his ranch in the Negev Desert about the upcoming Gaza disengagement - making promises to "expand" and "strengthen" the settlement in the near future. CAMERA CONFISCATION At least one person in Bil'in on Friday reported soldiers had tried to take his camera while he recorded footage of Israeli activists being kicked. In Nablus, several cameras and film were seized. Being that no physical harm can come to a person by having a lens pointed at them, it's a logical assumption that the goal is to limit publicity about the harsh treatment soldiers inflict on Palestinian civilians and peace activists. Video footage proved Friday that the charges of assault lodged by soldiers were false. Video footage of a Wednesday protest in Bil'in also showed that it was soldiers who had attacked activists when they tried to accuse a group of internationals of assault. It's interesting that those who allegedly work to protect a democratic state are so eager to limit free speech by confiscating the tools of free speech. ********************************************** 3. SWEDISH ACTIVIST APPREHENDED AT TEL AVIV AIRPORT Swedish peace activist Shora Esmailian is currently being held at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. She arrived 15.00 yesterday and was interrogated for ten consecutive hours. A representative from the Israeli Defence Departement in charge of the interrogation demanded information from Esmailian about certain Palestinians. We do not know if Esmailian even has any information. Israeli authoroties appear to be blackmailing her for entry into the country. Apparently thousands of blackmailed Palestinian collaborators are not enough. The Israeli government would now like to destroy the relationship between foreigners and Palestinians by creating suspicion. However, they cannot jail foreigners forever, nor can they torture them. So this policy will fail. Shora has refused to collaborate and was denied entry - without any stated reason. In spite of repeated requests, neither the Swedish General Consulate in Jerusalem nor the lawyer has been informed about the reasons for the apprehension. ********************************************** 4. A West Bank village opts for peaceful protest to broach the Wall MOHAMMED KHATIB The Seattle Post Intelligencer http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/233676_arab24.html Sunday, July 24, 2005 Israel's planned evacuation of its illegal Gaza settlements is a positive step but it should not be mistaken for the end of Israel's military occupation. While the world's media focuses on Gaza, the Israeli government is using the opportunity to expand settlements in the West Bank. Throughout the current Intifada, while international attention was on killings by the Israeli military, invasions of Palestinian areas and suicide bombings, Israeli settlement expansion has continued at an accelerated rate. In my village of Bil'in, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israel is building one new settlement and expanding five others on our land and the land of neighboring villages. Our village has launched a campaign of peaceful protest because Israel is building its wall on our land in order to annex the six settlements and take roughly 60 percent of our village's 1,000 acres of land. These settlements already consume most of our area's water. These settlements will form a city called Modi'in Illit with tens of thousands of settlers, many times the number to be evacuated from Gaza. Even in Gaza, it is not clear that the evacuation of settlements will mean the end of Israel's occupation. For occupation to end in Gaza, all the infrastructure of Israel's occupation must be removed and the Palestinian Authority must be given control over everything -- the borders, the air and the sea. Otherwise, Gaza will just be a big, open-air prison. Nevertheless, the evacuation of the Israeli settlements from Gaza is an historic opportunity for Palestinians. We must seize this opportunity to free a small piece of Palestine. All the Palestinian parties should remain united, maintain the cease-fire and stop fighting one another. If we fight amongst ourselves for control of our land, none of us will control it. We must unite to take back our land. While the spotlight is on Gaza, throughout the West Bank Israeli military occupation continues, through settlement and Wall construction, arrests and killing. For people who do not live under occupation, occupation is just a word. But for us it means much more. The Israeli occupation has taken away our freedom of movement. I am 31 years old and I have only visited Jerusalem twice in my life, though it lies only 20 miles away. Jerusalem is the third holiest place for Muslims and the capital of our historical Palestinian state. I went there once as a child with my parents, and a second time when my son went for medical care. When my friend Ramzi was shot in the head in July by soldiers with a rubber-coated steel bullet during one of our peaceful demonstrations against the wall, even his mother was not allowed by Israeli authorities to visit him in an East Jerusalem hospital. I have also only seen the Mediterranean Sea in photos, even though it borders Palestine and sits 12 miles from my home. Since I was a child all I've seen around me is the violence of occupation. Two of my best friends have been killed, one at the age of 13. He was holding a stick and an Israeli soldier shot him. They said they thought he was armed. My other friend was shot dead while simply standing in his yard at his home during the second Intifada when Israeli soldiers invaded Ramallah. Occupation also means simple things like not being able to see my children play on the same land I played on as a child. When I was young, while my parents worked their farmland, I would often play under the olive trees near where my mother gave birth to me. Now that land has been stolen and the trees uprooted to build illegal Israeli settlements. Instead of seeing my children play under those trees, I will watch a child who is a stranger play there -- a child whose family just recently came to live on our land, without any right to do so, simply because of the power of the occupation. Because we are victims of the occupation, in my village we don't want to continue the cycle of victimizing other children, this time Israeli children. After what the Jewish community endured during World War II, they have continued the cycle of oppression here in Palestine. In Bil'in, we have chosen to break this cycle by using nonviolent resistance to fight the occupation. We want to pass this peaceful way of resisting, which I strongly believe in, on to other villages. We want to increase the chance of peace and also reclaim our rights. One year ago, the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the world's highest legal body, ruled that Israel's construction of the Wall on Palestinian land violated international law and must be stopped. Today, Palestinians in villages like ours are struggling to implement the ICJ decision and stop construction using nonviolence, but the world has done little to support us. Bil'in is being strangled by the Wall. Though our village sits 2 1/2 miles east of the Green Line, Israel's Wall and settlements will take more than 60 percent of our land. This land is also money to us; we work it. Bil'in's 1,600 residents depend on farming and harvesting our olive trees for our livelihood. The Wall will turn Bil'in into an open-air prison. After Israeli courts refused our appeals to prevent Wall construction, we, along with Israelis and people from around the world, began peacefully protesting the confiscation of our land. We have opened our homes to the Israelis who have joined us. They have become our partners in struggle. Together we send a strong message -- that we can coexist in peace and security. We welcome anyone who comes to us as a guest and who works for peace and justice for both peoples, but we will resist anyone who comes as an occupier. We have held more than 50 peaceful demonstrations since February. We learned from the experience and advice of villages like Budrus and Biddu that resisted the Wall non-violently. Palestinians from other areas now call people from Bil'in "Palestinian Gandhis." Our demonstrations aim to stop the bulldozers destroying our land, and to send a message about the Wall's impacts. We've chained ourselves to olive trees that were being bulldozed for the Wall to show that taking trees' lives takes the village's life. We've distributed letters asking the soldiers to think before they shoot at us, explaining that we are not against the Israeli people, but against building the Wall on our land. We refuse to be strangled by the Wall in silence. In a famous Palestinian short story "Men in the Sun," Palestinian workers suffocate inside a tanker truck. Upon discovering them, the driver screams, "Why didn't you bang on the sides of the tank?" We are banging; we are screaming. Israeli soldiers act against our peaceful resistance with terror. They attack our peaceful protests with teargas, clubs, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition, and have injured more than 100 villagers. They invade the village at night, entering homes, pulling families out and arresting people. They collectively punish the entire village for protesting, as the local military commander told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. At a peaceful protest in June, soldiers arrested brothers Abdullah and Rateb Abu Rahme, two village leaders. Soldiers testified that Rateb was throwing stones. A few weeks ago, an Israeli military judge ordered Rateb's release because videotapes showed the soldiers' claims were false. Shortly after Abdallah and Rateb's release, Israeli soldiers came to Abdallah's house at 3 a.m. and ordered him to come for interrogation the next day. During the interrogation, an Israeli intelligence agent threatened Abdallah and hinted that people in Bil'in would be killed if we continued our demonstrations. Days later, Ramzi was shot in the head and seriously wounded. During our demonstration on July 15, the marchers attempted to physically represent a bridge. We wanted to illustrate the idea that peace needs bridges, not walls, and that instead of building walls the Israeli government should invest in creating understanding and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. On the outskirts of the village, more than 200 soldiers awaited us in full battle gear. They again attacked our peaceful march. Abdallah and my brother Akram were violently arrested with no justification. Akram was released Thursday and Abdallah has a second hearing today. The Palestinian people sent a message of peace through our newly elected leadership, and we implemented a cease-fire from February through early July. Still, a year after the ICJ decision, Wall and settlement construction on Palestinian land continues. Behind the smokescreen of Israel's Gaza withdrawal, the real story is Israel's attempt to take control of the West Bank by building the illegal Wall and settlements that threaten to destroy dozens of villages like Bil'in and any hope for peace. Bil'in is banging, Bil'in is screaming. Please stand with us so that we can end Israel's occupation and achieve our freedom by peaceful means. Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of its village council. ********************************************** 5. Agricultural buildings in West Bank village demolished for Israel's illegal wall June 26 2005 Residents in the West Bank village of Fundook awoke at 7 a.m. Tuesday to the sound of their livelihood being demolished as heavy equipment sent there by the Israeli military began demolishing agricultural structures to make way for Israel's illegal Annexation Barrier. Fundook is a small village in the West Bank that is located near the illegal settlements of Ariel and Kedumin. The wall is being built through a huge swath of the villager's farmland, denying them of basic rights to food and to earn an income from their agricultural work. ************************************************ 6. SOS - Stop the Wall! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday July 27, 2005 RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank - Black smoke will be seen rising at 10 a.m. on Thursday July 28 along the path of the Apartheid Wall in the central West Bank region from Marda to Qalandia as an SOS to the world to take action to stop Israel's annexation of land, and imprisonment of the Palestinian people. In an era that witnessed the forces of freedom and world peace bring an end to the ideology and policies of racial segregation in South Africa and the United States, where the international community is focused on the defense of human rights, the Israeli Occupying Power continues building a of racial segregation which threatens the development of civilized humanity and violates international human rights law. The International Court of Justice on July 9, 2004 issued an advisory opinion on the legality of the wall Israel is building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, declaring it illegal, stating it "must come down. "To date, Israel continues to confiscate Palestinian land, demolish trees and erect a wall that locks Palestinians into ghettos, cutting them off from their source of livelihood and from each other. Behind the smokescreen of the Gaza disengagement, the very foundations of peace are destroyed as the Apartheid continues to be constructed to the deafening silence of the international community. On Thursday, July 28 the people of the Salfit, Ramallah and northwest Jerusalem villages who have been using nonviolent resistance to combat the Wall from Marda (Salfit) to Budrus (Ramallah), Biddu (NW Jerusalem) to Bil'in (Ramallah), will light rubber tires on fire along the path of the Wall sending up an SOS to the world - STOP THE WALL! We will also be placing black ribbons on our cars to symbolize the oppression, sadness and death caused by this Apartheid Wall. We call on those who see and hear us around the world to use this black ribbon to spread the word about the destruction and new Apartheid created with this Black Wall and to join the efforts of the Palestinian people, along with Israeli peace activists and people from around the world who seek true peace in this region. ********************************************** 7. Trio of protests against the wall set for communities across the West Bank A trio of demonstrations are planned for Friday in villages and cities around the West Bank. If the Israeli military's history is any indicator, violent response to the peaceful protests is expected. PROTESTING THE "BARRIER" IN JENIN: Israel's illegal barrier near the northern West Bank town of Jenin consists of a patrolled labyrinth of chain fences. At noon Friday, residents of the town will be joined by several organizations and foreign activists as they head toward the barrier which cuts across agricultural land to protest the lack of access to their own territory. People will gather at the city center of Jenin at 10 a.m. to travel to the nearby village of Zububa, which is close to the green line, the Israeli/Palestinian border that was stipulated in 1967. At noon, the demonstration will begin with a prayer in the agricultural fields near the fence. Following that, participants will march toward the fence to display banners and Palestinian flags. In the past, protesters approaching the fence have met with a violent response from Israeli soldiers. REMOVING ROADBLOCKS ON THE ROAD TO ASIRA: Peace activists are planning to remove roadblocks from the road directly connecting Nablus to the small farming village of Asira on Friday. The road has been blocked since the start of the Palestinian uprising against the occupation. The Popular Committee of Asira has requested the presence of Israeli peace activists. The Israeli military has been paying close attention to the roadway, and anyone venturing near is immediately subjected to response from Israeli soldiers. The people of Asira are prevented from farming even their land that has not been confiscated by Israel. The road from the village to the land has been blocked with an earth mound by the Israeli army. Five families live outside of this block and are unable to reach their homes by vehicle. Israeli army jeeps regularly patrol the area and prevent people from accessing their land. Students, workers and the sick are all adversely affected. Even ambulances are not allowed a quick passage to the village. Last Friday, as villagers demonstrated to demand their freedom of movement, the army cracked down on the protest with an assault that progressed from concussion grenades and teargas, to rubber bullets and live ammunition. The Army also invaded the village and confiscated cameras and film from demonstrators. Seven Israeli activists were arrested on the way to the village, and international activists and the press were detained on their way from Nablus. SURPRISE THEME FOR BIL'IN PROTEST AGAINST THE "BARRIER": A nonviolent protest against the building of the illegal separation barrier near Bil'in is set for Friday at 1 p.m. Residents of Bil'in will be joined by Israeli and International peace activists in the latest of a series of creative protests against the building of the illegal barrier that has occurred near Bil'in. The protests are known for their nonviolence and dramatic themes. Last Friday, a group of villagers wore masks of U.S. President George W. Bush and Condoleeza Rice. This Friday's theme has not been announced. ************************************************ ______________________________________________________________________