Violence Toward Protesters in Israel Continues

On Wednesday, the illegal Israeli colony of Etzion poured its sewage on the grape vineyards of of the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar.

Photo courtesy: ActiveStills.com

(BETHLEHEM) - The past two days witnessed further Israeli war crimes from shooting at unarmed protesters in Gaza, to destruction of land and property, and raids in the middle of the night.

But we also had a good first day of the International conference in Bil'in. It was so good to meet with dear friends (e.g. Neta Golan, Huwaida Arraf, Lubna Masarwa, Iyad Burnat, Mohammed Al-Khatib, and so many more) and make many new ones. Hundreds of people attended on the first day from many countries.

Speeches were delivered from dignitaries (e.g. Archbishop Atallah Hanna) and politicians (e.g. Salam Fayyad). There were representatives of all political factions (Hamas, Fatah, PFLP, DFLP etc) and all perspectives.

But the most interesting of all was the video-uplink with Gaza, facilitated by Lubna Masarwa on this end and our dear friend Dr. Haidar Eid in Gaza. The site of the video uplink was a destroyed three-story residential building whose residents still remain homeless.

We also heard from a daughter of one of the abductees (many activists were abducted by the occupation soldiers and are still held in the gulags of the fascist occupation army). We also heard from relatives of the martyrs (murdered mercilessly by the occupation authorities).

The day Israel killed Bassem Abu-Rahma

Everybody especially remembered the wonderful positive spirit of Bassem Abu-Rahma, murdered one year ago at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid wall.

My excitement about the achievements in Bil'in was needed to balance the pain as we watched the Israeli bulldozers destroy a family's front yard (the family of Mitri Ghneim in Beit Jala).

The olive trees did not stand for too long.

Nor did the children's playground.

The carefully tended garden lasted even less. Feelings of anger, sadness, pain, misery and more fluctuated but the emotions settled always on a sense of betrayal. Why is the world letting this happen? Israeli soldiers behaving like sadists dragging internationals out of the way and preventing all activists from getting close to victims' family as they ravaged the yard.

Six activists managed to get through and were beaten.

Video: Hope demolished in Al-Khadr village near Bethlehem

They included two Palestinians. One international was taken and the others released on site later.

My eyes welled up with tears as I watched two of the family's children return from school and look in horror at what was happening to their gardens.

In Al-Walaja village, the fascist Israeli army uprooted over 50 trees as it bulldozed areas around the illegal colony of Har Gilo, much of the Land of Al-Walaja (near Beit Jala).

On Wednesday, the illegal Israeli colony of Etzion poured its sewage on the grape vineyards of of the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar.

For days, the Israeli army had closed the roads to the village at the main intersection as an act of collective punishment for the peaceful protests of land confiscation.

There will be demonstrations today (Friday) after mosque prayers at Al-Ma'sara, Al-Walaja, Bil'in, and other places throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.

Inside the "Green Line" (areas occupied in 1948), there was also a lot of activity. There, according to speakers at the Bilin conference, apartheid has long been entrenched in the system of laws and regulations in addition to the persistent ethnic cleansing and land loss by the native Palestinians.

Video: Night raid in Bilin the night before the conference

But those who are "on the inside" also continue to resist and refuse to give up their basic human rights, including the right to return to their homes and lands. Uri's video and pictures of the return march touched us here in the West Bank, even though we could not enter through the walls and checkpoints to join them this time. The march is from Tira to Miske, one of 510 ethnically cleansed villages and towns. The march of Native Palestinians coincides with Zionist "celebrations" of this ethnic cleansing which they call "independence day".

A refugee from Miske explained that the reason for the coincidence is that the march was not allowed by the military rules for many years so Miske families took advantage of lax rules on the day of Israeli celebrations to march back to their village during these years and then this became a tradition. (see: March of return by Uri ZACKHEM)

More resources:

Some photos of the ongoing apartheid: activestills' photostream

Photos: The 13th march of return

Video: The Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948

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Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD (formerly of Yale and Duke universities) teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine and chairs the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People. Professor Qumsiyeh has authored over 110 scientific papers in areas of mammalogy, biology, and medicine including mammalian biology and evolution, clinical genetics, and cancer research. He has published over 100 letters to the editor and 30 op-ed pieces in International, national, regional and local papers on issues ranging from politics to environmental issues. His appearances in national media include the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, CNBC, C-Span, and ABC, among others. He is the founder and president of the Holy Land Conservation Foundation and ex-President of the Middle East Genetics Association, and Prof. Qumsiyeh won the Jallow activism award from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee in 1998. Those are just a small list, visit Mazin Qumsiyeh's amazing and informative Website to learn more: qumsiyeh.org, and also pcr.ps.