tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17990376847005883612012-02-16T17:11:33.321+02:00I am working for a women's peace group in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we witness, document and publicise human rights abuses and peacefully intervene to prevent them. This blog is a brief account of the things I have seen in the West Bank, more detailed reports on these events can be found on the IWPS web pageIsabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-60657103289748749412009-08-24T13:54:00.001+03:002009-08-24T13:55:46.884+03:00

The International Women's Peace Service in Palestine is currently inviting applications for women to join them as long term volunteers working on the ground in Palestine.IWPS is a team of women human rights workers, who provide international accompaniment to Palestinian civilians, document and non-violently intervene in human rights abuses and support acts of non-violent resistance to end the

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-56051738803805409042008-12-29T23:44:00.003+02:002008-12-30T11:48:23.782+02:00

I have not written anything since leaving Palestine but I feel compelled to write about the Israeli massacre in Gaza, if only to ensure that people have a chance to hear a different point of view than the one being aired by our glorious government and ‘unbiased’ media. The death toll currently stands at 345 Palestinians and 2 Israelis, with 1450 Palestinians injured. The UN has confirmed that at

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-68784272901527303072008-08-09T18:04:00.010+03:002008-12-29T23:56:08.952+02:00

Over the past couple of weeks, we have made a number of visits to a house in East Jerusalem in which a family is living under the threat of eviction by the Israeli authorities. The Al Kurd family have lived in their house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood (pictured right) since 1956, but on 16th July 2008 the Israeli Supreme Court issued an order to evict them. This order gives the go ahead for

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-70260389889280393752008-08-03T13:33:00.003+03:002008-08-03T14:03:33.575+03:00

Bassam Aramin's 10 year old daughter was killed after being shot in the head by an Israeli border policeman outside her school in 2007. This week he wrote a letter to the father of 10 year old Ahmed who was killed on Tuesday in Ni'lin. Here is a link to the letter:http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31031

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-77494792780180984822008-07-31T18:12:00.003+03:002008-08-04T22:08:23.347+03:00

Late last night after getting home from Ahmed’s funeral, we began to hear reports that another boy had been shot by Israeli soldiers in Ni’lin. This morning, doctors have confirmed that 17 year old Yousef Ahmad Younis Amera, who was shot in the head with 2 rubber coated steel bullets from close range, is now clinically dead. They expect him to survive for just a few more hours.With tensions

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-23913344002302074942008-07-31T00:37:00.004+03:002008-08-03T13:59:58.345+03:00

Today we went to the funeral of Ahmed Mussa, the 10 year old boy killed yesterday by an Israeli border policeman. The funeral procession began in Ramallah where hundreds of people, including Ahmed's family, drove in convoy to bring his body home to Ni'lin where thousands of mourners were waiting.When the convoy reached Ni'lin, there were dozens of soldiers and border police waiting on either side

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-44834046213105725492008-07-30T01:00:00.004+03:002008-07-30T01:23:13.837+03:00

While finishing the post below, news came through that a 10 year old boy called Ahmed Ussam Yusef Mousa, has been killed by an Israeli soldier during a demonstration in Ni'lin. He was shot in the head with live ammunition from close range and died instantly.Having seen the behaviour of soldiers in Ni'lin over the past couple of weeks it is horrible to say that this tragic and utterly deplorable

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-31016352241043303232008-07-30T00:53:00.003+03:002008-07-30T00:58:41.930+03:00

On Wednesday we went to a women’s only demonstration in Ni’lin. Women from all over the West Bank joined Israeli and international women in a demonstration against the construction of the Apartheid Wall and the confiscation of land belonging to the village (see post below for background).I had thought that being a demonstration made entirely of women, the soldiers might show a little restraint in

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-42624083987483611202008-07-26T23:50:00.007+03:002008-11-13T12:09:30.349+02:00

Attack No.1:On Saturday we met a 44 year old Palestinian woman who had been attacked by a female Israeli settler on her way to work. The woman was at a bus shelter near Zatara checkpoint at around 9am waiting for the bus that would take her to work in the local council. As she waited, a group of settler women approached her. She recognised one of them to be a woman who had verbally abused her a

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-37512450469271468402008-07-21T11:37:00.005+03:002008-07-21T11:46:37.838+03:00

In recent weeks I have attended a number of demonstrations against Israeli policy in the West Bank village of Ni’lin.Before 1948 Ni’lin owned 58,000 dunums (1 dunum is 1000 square metres). In 1948 the Israelis annexed 40,000 dunums to be part of their new state. After the Israelis occupied the West Bank in 1967 they built illegal Israeli settlements with roads leading out into ‘Israel proper’.

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-64031385539684620892008-07-20T18:44:00.005+03:002008-11-13T12:09:30.709+02:00

This is a little long but please bear with me as again it is a story that needs to be told.On Sunday and Monday we joined a farmer and his family from the village of Kufr Qalil as they tried to harvest almonds from their land. The land is very close to an illegal Israeli settlement. The Israelis took away some of the farmer’s land to construct a road to the settlement, so his land is now split

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-924511140745407582008-07-15T16:26:00.005+03:002008-11-13T12:09:30.969+02:00

On Wednesday I went to a demonstration in Azzun Atma to mark the 4th anniversary of the ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague that the Wall being built around the West Bank is illegal and construction should stop immediately. Since the ruling construction of the Wall has continued unabated and peaceful demonstrations have been held around the West Bank on each anniversary of

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-85930463468915381082008-07-12T19:06:00.004+03:002008-11-13T12:09:31.093+02:00

On Saturday we joined villagers from Sarra on a demonstration against a roadblock that prevents them accessing the road that connects them to surrounding towns. The roadblock means that for those working or studying outside of the village, simple journeys they have to make every day have become long and unpredictable. To travel eastwards they must now go to the opposite end of the village, travel

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-16367429305263873502008-07-04T00:07:00.003+03:002008-07-26T23:49:18.464+03:00

I’m sure everyone has read about or seen the incident in Jerusalem this week in which a Palestinian used a bulldozer to kill three Israelis and injured dozens more. These deaths and injuries were horrible and should not have happened; rightly they have been condemned internationally. In contrast, I doubt that many people have heard about the deaths of four Palestinians this week at the hands of

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-76563460744864238252008-06-30T21:27:00.009+03:002008-11-13T12:09:31.544+02:00

On Monday we went to Mas’ha where the Apartheid Wall has not only been built around a village preventing people reaching their land, it has also been built so that it excludes one house from the rest of the village leaving it trapped behind a 40m long, 8m high concrete wall on one side and a 3m high fence on the other. The Wall has been built to ‘protect’ the illegal Israeli settlement built on

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-85199379448246382742008-06-30T20:34:00.010+03:002008-11-13T12:09:32.157+02:00

On Saturday we went to a demonstration / solidarity visit to Wadi Qana. This is a small valley in the Salfit district. It’s very pretty particularly during the winter months and Palestinians have used its water sources for centuries as it has numerous natural springs. Since the occupation began in 1967 the Israelis have been gradually annexing the land, forcing the Palestinians who lived in the

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-5383661715272838522008-06-29T13:09:00.013+03:002008-11-13T12:09:32.709+02:00

On Friday we visited the villages of Burin and Azira al Qibliya. Both villages are located at the bottom of or on the side of steep hills at the top of which illegal Israeli settlements have been built. The villagers face a lot of problems with Israeli settlers attacking them or their property. Setting fire to Palestinians land has become a common tactic for settlers, they know what the land

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-23421038836481022202008-06-23T13:26:00.005+03:002008-11-13T12:09:32.996+02:00

On Tuesday we visited a village in the Jordan Valley that is under the threat of being removed from the map completely. Since 1967 when Israel took over the West Bank the area surrounding the village has been used as a military training camp. On the lands farmed by the villagers the Israelis carry out training exercises using live ammunition, tanks and helicopters, to date 50 villagers have been

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-54051587217246299472008-06-23T13:26:00.003+03:002008-11-13T12:09:33.315+02:00

On Sunday we visited the small village of Kufr Ein, not far from Haris, where a man had been arrested and his family did not know where he was being held. The Israeli army had visited the home he shared with his parents on 3 occasions in recent weeks, each time they had ransacked the house overturning furniture. Although they were not specifically looking for the detained man, he was in the house

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-45495251892350231002008-06-23T13:25:00.007+03:002008-11-13T12:09:33.440+02:00

I have now been in Haris a week, it’s a small village in the Salfit district of the West Bank.Although a long way from so called Israel proper,the village is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements that have been built on land confiscated from Haris and the surrounding villages. An Israeli watch tower marks the entrance of the village and a huge highway built on land belonging to village

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-17127160627949838522008-06-23T13:25:00.006+03:002008-11-13T12:09:33.910+02:00

After being here a couple of days I went to my first demonstration at Bil’in, a small village near Ramallah. Israel has annexed more than 60% of the village land for illegal settlements and the Israeli ‘security’ Wall. The Wall which in Bil’in consists of a large military road with electrified fences on either side cuts right through village lands. Every week a demonstration is held by

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799037684700588361.post-78787123494807682702008-06-23T13:23:00.000+03:002008-06-23T13:24:04.164+03:00

Although I’ve only been here a week I already feel like I have a lot that I want to tell people at home. I’ve even got to the point where I’m thinking I’ll leave out the ‘less important’ experiences or I’ll never manage to write them all down. However one of my main reasons for coming here was so that I might get the opportunity to report on the things that go on here that we don’t hear about at

Isabelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06126807606845092244noreply@blogger.com1