Bethlehem Ghetto

Bethlehem Ghetto

justicewheels — April 25, 2010 — The Ghetto of Bethlehem is shrinking, the people are resisting but feel abandoned by the self-appointed leadership. Many people complain that the Prime Minister who was not elected or confirmed by the parliament comes to give his blessings to projects or to plant a tree for the cameras. In fact he symbolically planted a tree in Mitris front yard after the army bulldozed his trees. Internationals and locals replaced the childrens swings and slide only to see them pulled out again a few days later. We now have the video of the dragging of nonviolent protesters from the garden of Mitri and tape of the destruction of his childrens playground http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1iWdi...

Saturday night we had an educational protest to hundreds of Italian tourists who were brought by the catholic church on pilgrimage. We were distressed to find that they had coordinated their visit with the Palestinian ministry of tourism AND with the Israeli ministry of tourism. We objected to the way it was presented and dealt with. The wall is not after all a border between states to march to for peace and play games on the other side. The wall is an illegal apartheid structure built on occupied territories separating Palestinians in the shrinking Bethlehem Ghetto from their land and from other Palestinians and from their holy sites in Jerusalem. As the Italians were crossing the apartheid wall, the Israeli army was extending the wall around Al-Walaja village of Bethlehem and destroying more of Mitris land. But Al-Walaja people were heroic on Sunday. They delayed the uprooting of their trees at a cost to themselves: over 30 were injured and several detained. Internationals and Israelis were there. I will try to get you the link to a video of the actual action. It is hard for us to be at many places of destruction at one time and we lack resources to get video cameras in the hands of qualified people to document the atrocities so this initial video (photographed by another person) has little of the more rough and tumble action.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Ras Atiya Checkpoint

Ras Atiya Checkpoint:

"The checkpoint of Ras Atiya separates the villages in the seam line enclave of Ras A-Tira from the rest of the West Bank. At 6:30 AM a truck with a permit to transport building materials arrives at the checkpoint. The truck is loaded with building stones. The soldiers detain the truck for long hours and eventually force the truck owner to unload the truck at the checkpoint. The truck owner then has to pay for reloading the truck."



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Israelis deny Palestinian farmers entry into their land

Israelis deny Palestinian farmers entry into their land
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:22:03
Sari Al-Khalili , Press TV, Ramallah

Click here to see this Press TV video - Requires Windows Media

Harvest in the Buffer Zone

Harvest in the Buffer Zone:

"Many farmers in the Gaza Strip are being denied access to their land by Israeli occupation forces. An arbitrary 'buffer zone' is being imposed hundreds of metres deep along the Green Line. Agricultural land has been destroyed in these areas and massive numbers of olive and fruit trees have been bulldozed, devastating the livelihoods of entire farming communities. According to the PCHR, approximately 31.503 dunums/31.5 million square metres of land in the Gaza Strip, most of it agricultural, has been razed by the Israelis. This represents at least 10% of the total arable land base of the Gaza Strip. This statistic was published in 2005 but much more destruction has been carried out since. The Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights quoted 31,845,815 square metres of agricultural land levelled by the end of 2007. This does not include lands confiscated more than once; the area confiscated being nearly 10 million square metres.

Gazan farmers have also been impacted by the illegal Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. Fuel shortages have hampered their ability to power their irrigation systems and closures have made crop exports impossible. As food supplies are severely restricted, it is more urgent than ever for Gaza to be as self-sufficient as possible in food production. The Israeli attacks on farmers and their property are yet a further escalation of the collective punishment suffered"

Israel seals off West Bank for second day

Israel seals off West Bank for second day
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:33:55
Shireen Yassin, Press TV, Al-Quds

Click here to see this Press TV Video

Israel imposes strict closure on Palestinians during Eid Al-Fitr

Israel closes off Palestinian territories
Source Ma'an News Sep 29, 2008

"A total closure of Palestinian-Israeli borders has been put in place by the Israeli army for the duration of the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah.

The closure means absolutely no Palestinians are permitted to leave the Israeli controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip, except in 'humanitarian cases,' who have to contact the Israeli Civil Affairs Department.

The measures were announced by Radio Israel on Monday morning, and will remain in effect until Wednesday."

Click below to see PressTV video
Israel imposes strict closure on Palestinians during Al-Fitr
Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:24:19
Sari Al-Khalili, Press TV, Qalandia Checkpoint

Settler Violence Continues in Hebron 2-3 August 2003

Settler Violence Continues in Hebron 2-3 August 2003:

"Settler violence in Hebron continued over the weekend. The following footage shows minors throwing stones at Palestinian homes and at a car driven by international TIPH observers, as well as soldiers barring B'Tselem worker, Issa 'Amro, from filming settlers who were assaulting a group of wedding guests. When a settler attacked 'Amro and broke his camera, the soldiers stood by and did nothing.
a B´Tselem Video
http://www.btselem.org"

About Gaza - Israel/Palestine

About Gaza - Israel/Palestine:

"Aug 2003
Hassan Abu-Sitta left his well-paid job as a surgeon in England to return to his homeland of Palestine and care for victims of the occupation."



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog