House Demolitions Escalate

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1. Two Jerusalem House Demolitions

by John, December 11th

Last night human rights workers learned that there were going to be
demolitions of houses in the Jerusalem district today so we travelled
to Al 'Isawiya. When we arrived we found that the house had already
been destroyed and that the bulldozer had come at 5am. The father of
the family was there but the children and mother were all 'sick'
- stressed by the events of the day. This is the second time the
house has been knocked down - they were told if they paid
$10,000-20,000 it may be saved but of course they do not have that
money. They had rebuilt it after the last demolition simply because
they had nowhere else to go.

This family will now move into another house next door which other
members of their extended family live in - the reason they had moved
out is because there were too many to fit in this house - now 6 people
will have to move into a house with a similar number. The space
available to them is pretty small as it was, so this is going to make
the situation even worse. Luckily they had enough time to retrieve
almost all their belongings before the house was knocked down.

HRWs were also present later at a house on the Mount of Olives while
the demolition took place, but police would not let internationals
anywhere near because of 'orders'. When questioned, one of the
soldiers pushed a journalist for no real reason, only a small push, but
still it is unacceptable as he was not trying to pass the soldier at
the time, simply trying to ascertain why he was not allowed past. One
police officer said that before this house, they demolished a Jewish
house and were going onto another Jewish house, in fact a lot of the
houses they knock down are Jewish. Of course she was vague on details
and we replied we had never heard of this - one person in the group has
researched this extensively, but she said see had seen different
research. They then said we can take pictures from where we were,
although the house could not be seen from this position.

Eventually some got onto the roofs of other properties but most of it
was over. The soldiers and police who were there were all patting each
other on the back and shaking hands - job done. The children were there
and some of the grown men had tears in their eyes.

Other houses in this area have been bulldozed recently as well, and
some residents seem worried that still more houses might be next. This
month has seen a large number of properties bulldozed in the West Bank,
and with many other properties threatened, more are likely in the near
future. Since the start of 2004 234, and so far this year 36
Palestinian houses have been demolished in Jerusalem alone.

A family home in Walaja, west of Bethlehem, was destroyed for the third
time today.

For photos visit:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/12/12/two-house-demolitions/

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2. Destroyed Homes in Walaja: "It's always the same picture for
us..."

In the space of two weeks, the Israeli occupying army has come to the
village of Walaja at least three times. The first time was to demolish
an outbuilding that housed animal feed. The second, last week, was to
arrest a father of five during the night for apparent links to
political party Hamas (he works for a Bethlehem orphanage supported by
the social services part of Hamas). The third was this morning when
they came to demolish the home of Monder Abed Hamad and his family, for
the second time.

The family have the misfortune to live in the Ein Jwzeh neighbourhood
of Walaja, part of the village that was unilaterally taken into the
borders of Israel after the 1967 war. About one year ago their home was
demolished as it did not have an Israel building permit, the fact that
it had a Palestinian permit makes no difference- this part of the
village is now deemed to be "Israel". 20 other homes have so far
been demolished for the same reason, and a further 50 have demolition
orders on them. As the family own this piece of land, and could not
afford the Israeli permits even if the courts would grant them one
(which is highly unlikely) they rebuilt their home with help from the
rest of the village. The rebuild was completed around 5 months ago,
today, in around two hours the home was again reduced to rubble and a
pile of belongings. Today the family will move into rented
accommodation, whether they will once again try to rebuild their home
is unsure: their land lies along the route of the Israeli apartheid
(security) wall that is set to completely surround the village.

None of this is new for Walaja just the latest chapter in a long story
of injustice, as one of the residents of Walaja commented "...it's
always the same picture for us". All of the inhabitants of this
village are classed as refugees: they were forced from their homes
after the 1949 ceasefire between Israel and Jordan. Unfortunately under
this agreement, the village of Al Walaja lay in the area under Israeli
control and they were "encouraged" to leave. All of the inhabitants
left their homes and the village moved just a few hundred metres south,
still on Al Walaja land, into the area now known as "the West
Bank". The Israeli colony of Aminadav and a park was built over the
original village. Not all of the villagers were able to rebuild their
homes at this time, many moved into the refugee camps that surround
Bethlehem, or over the river into Jordan. Those that were able to
rebuild their homes and lives did so on the slopes south of the
original village.

After the 1967 war Israel expanded its borders, taking more Palestinian
land and Al Walaja fell back into the area controlled by the Israelis,
an area now known as "Greater Jerusalem". This doesn't mean that
the villagers got any of the perks of being an Israeli citizen like the
ID cards that allow them to travel around their own country relatively
easily. What it does mean is that one third of the new village's land
was taken and the Gilo colony built there, in the rest of the village
70 houses have demolition orders on them, 20 so far have been
destroyed- they had Palestinian building permits, not Israeli ones. It
also means that the village is now surrounded by the Israeli colonies
that are cutting the city of Jerusalem off from the rest of the West
Bank (i.e. making Jerusalem an entirely Israeli city). As such, they
have lost much of their land, and are destined to lose much more. It
also means that as the villagers are now living in "Israeli Greater
Jerusalem" but have Palestinian ID cards, they are subject to
frequent harassment and arrest by the Israeli army.

As Walaja is surrounded by Israeli colonies the so called
"security-wall" is set to completely surround the village, cutting
it off from Bethlehem and confiscating yet more of the village land.
The land lost by Walaja and neighbouring Battir village will be used to
build the colony of Giv'at Ya'il. This huge colony will house
around 50,000 Israelis and will link the colonies deep in Palestinian
territories with those immediately outside of Jerusalem. Could it be a
coincidence that this land confiscation has allowed the separation of
strategically and spiritually important Jerusalem from Palestine?

So what does the future hold for Walaja? When the wall is finished the
villagers will have to pass through an Israeli controlled gate to get
in or out of the village. To get into the city of Bethlehem where many
of the villagers work, attend school or university and buy supplies,
the villagers will have to pass through two checkpoints. The route of
the wall passes through many economically important olive groves,
already three hundred trees have been destroyed. This in itself is an
infuriating story. The villagers had gone to court to try and prevent
the destruction of their trees. The Israeli court had ruled in their
favour, saying that the trees could not be "up-rooted". In an act
of barbarism and disrespect that typifies the army's response to the
rare court orders granted in favour of Palestinians, they came with
chainsaws and cut down the trees instead of digging them up, thus
complying with the order to not up-root the trees.

And so life here goes on...as the democratic state of Israel, whilst
demanding that groups like Hamas agree to its right to exist, quietly
makes life for Palestinians in what little they have left of their
country, unbearable and next to impossible.

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3. Bil'in village land out of bounds for internationals

by the ISM media team, December 9th

Internationals have been banned by the IOF from visiting the land of
Bil'in village that lies on the other side of the illegal apartheid
wall. In recent days internationals have been told by soldiers
stationed at the checkpoint at the wall cutting through the village,
that orders have been given forbidding access to this land. For the
past year internationals have been able to cross the wall to visit and
stay at the outpost built on village land and to help work the
agricultural land. Settler-colonists from the illegal colony of
Matityahu East have in the past set fire to the outpost, making the
need for a permanent presence at the outpost essential.

In the past year the outpost has served as a meeting place for
villagers and friends, has been a focus for the enjoyment of the World
Cup and internationals helped with the olive harvest on the other side
of the wall. All these displays of friendship and international
solidarity have now been brought to an end in this latest attempt to
ghettoize the village. Half of the village land has been annexed by the
Israeli colony of Matityahu East and now the village is being denied
their right to use the remaining land across the wall as they wish.

In a rare piece of 'good news' for the village, Emad Burnat, the
Reuters cameraman fitted up, assaulted by soldiers, denied medical
treatment and slung in jail for 3 weeks has been released from house
arrest and can now return home to his family in Bil'in.
Press watchdog Reporters without Borders drew attention to Emad's
arrest and the trumped-up charges brought against him for his role in
documenting IOF violence and intimidation in Bil'in.

*************************************

4. Amnesty International Calls For Human Rights Monitors in Palestine

by Amnesty International, December 10th
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE150962006

Open Letter from Amnesty International's Secretary General to
European Union leaders on human rights crisis in Israel and the
Occupied Territories

Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan today called on
European Union Heads of State and Government to urgently address the
downward spiral of human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied
Territories.

In an open letter published on International Human Rights Day and ahead
of next week's meeting of the European Council (15 December), Irene
Khan made a series of concrete recomendations including the deployment
of international human rights monitors to the region.

Irene Khan is currently leading an Amnesty International mission to
Israel and the Occupied Territories during which she has discussed
human rights concerns with government officials and members of civil
society. The letter's recommendations are elaborated on in a briefing
also published today, Israel and the Occupied Territories - Road to
nowhere.

Amnesty International's recommendations include:

* Deployment of an effective international human rights monitoring
mechanism;
* The investigation and and prosecution through the excercise of
universal jurisdiction of those responsible for crimes under
international law;
* Immediate halting of the sale or transfer of weapons to all parties
in the conflict;
* Concrete provisions to ensure the removal of Israeli settlements from
the Occupied Territories, the dismantling of the fence/wall inside the
West Bank, ending the closures and in the long term a fair solution to
the refugee question.

For further information or to arrange an interview with Irene Khan,
please call:
In Israel and the Occupied Territories: Eliane Drakopoulos on mobile
+44 7778 472 109 or mobile: +972 (0)547 781 691 or Judit Arenas on
mobile + 44 7778 472 188
Israeli media representatives please contact: Udi Gilad on mobile +972
54 4660300
In London, James Dyson on + 44 207 413 5831 or mobile + 44 7795 628 367

Further information :
For the latest blogs from the Amnesty International mission, please
see: blogs.amnesty.org/blogs/israelot_dec06

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Click here for AP press coverage:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3ED44417-3E31-423D-A52E-FBD32F493F72.htm
Two weeks ago Amnesty issued an action alert about the risks facing
human rights defenders in Palestine following the assault on Swedish
HRD Tove Johansson in Hebron:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150922006?open&of=ENG-346
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/11/18/hebron-day-06/

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5. Travel Warning - Bethlehem & Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

Campaign for Right of Entry, December 10th
http://www.righttoenter.ps/

This Travel Warning is being issued to update information on the
general security environment in Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and
the Gaza Strip, and to reiterate threats to foreign nationals,
especially American citizens. Although the situation in Israel is
seemingly calm, the fact of the matter remains that Israel continues to
aggressively violate International Humanitarian and Human Rights Laws
daily. A disconcerting development is the Israeli practice of denying
entry of Palestinian Christians and Muslims to the Holy Land; embodying
religious discrimination during the high holy season. As Palestinians,
we have always looked forward to your being with us during Christmas,
Easter and other holiday feasts. In the past, it has been a time to
welcome you into our land, our churches, our mosques, and our homes,
despite the troubled times we have witnessed throughout the decades.

In order to visit any of the Holy sites you must pass through an
Israeli-controlled point of entry (airport or bridge), since Israel
controls all access to the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory,
where Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity and Holy
Sepulcher are located. Since March of this year, an extraordinary
number of foreigners have been denied entry through Israeli ports. Many
of these foreign nationals have been turned away at the airport or
bridges and sent back to their country of residence or to Jordan. The
Israeli authorities seldom give a reason for barring foreign tourists,
so people find themselves spending money to fly into the Israeli
airport or come to the Israeli-controlled border crossings not knowing
that they may be turned away without having the opportunity to visit
the Holy Land or visit their friends and families.

If this Israeli policy is allowed to continue it can literally empty
Palestine of another half a million Palestinians. Given that four
decades of Israeli occupation have already successfully reduced the
Christian population in Bethlehem from 15% to less than 2%, it becomes
clear that Israel's goal is to reduce the entire Palestinian
population to insignificant numbers.

We would like to welcome you to Bethlehem in occupied Palestine this
Christmas season. However, to avoid spending money unnecessarily and
facing a humiliating experience, we recommend that you call the Israeli
Embassy or Consulate nearest you before embarking on your trip this
Christmas season. Please ask the Embassy or Consulate if you will be
able to pass through the airport or via one of the bridges from Jordan
in order to reach Bethlehem, particularly given the fact that thousands
who are trying to reach the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory are
being turned back.

While speaking to the Israeli Embassy officials, confirm that
Palestinians - Muslims and Christians - have not been allowed to
worship in their holy places for many years. In fact, no Palestinians
from the West Bank and Gaza have been allowed to enter Jerusalem
without Israeli military permission since 1993 and very few are granted
permits to enter Jerusalem, whether for worship during Lent, Advent or
Ramadan.

The building of the illegal Israeli Separation Wall (which is mostly
built on Palestinian lands acquired by force 1967) has made it even
more difficult for Palestinians and internationals to travel to
Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Separation Wall has not been built for
security reasons, but rather to separate people from one another, from
their livelihood, from their places of worship, and from their future.
Walls do not create the conditions for peace with justice.
Historically, walls separate and divide and bring widespread despair,
which we are witnessing now.

Although the U.S. State Department's Travel Advisory for this same
area "urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to the West Bank and to
avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip," we would ask that you rather not
despair and actively attempt to join us in Bethlehem and Jerusalem this
Christmas.
If we acknowledge the international community's concurrence to allow
Israel to get away with denying the world's citizens the right to
worship and blatant, daily violations of human rights, then we would
all be accomplices to the war crimes being committed against
Palestinians.

Thus, we hope to see you all this Christmas season. Please contact us
when you are here so we visit and worship with you. You may contact us
either via email at info [at] righttoenter.ps or mobile at 059-817-3953.

If you cannot be with us, then please keep Bethlehem, Jerusalem and
Palestinians in your prayers and actions this holiday season.

Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re- Entry to the Occupied Palestinian
Territory(oPt)

Media Contact:
Mr. Basil Ayish
Coordinator, Media Committee
(c) +970-(0)59-817-3953
(e)i...@righttoenter.ps
(w) http://www.righttoenter.ps

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6. Olive Harvest Reflections

by Jane Smith, December 10th

I have been back in Palestine for a week. Although the violence and
tension is less than in the early years of the Intifada, the oppressive
control of Palestinian life is worse than ever. People are losing hope.

Despite this, I feel so fortunate to be here during the olive harvest
and have been welcomed with incredible generosity and open heartedness.
I have climbed olive trees and experienced the beauty of harvesting;
feeling ripe olives running through my fingers, and hearing them fall
like huge drops of rain on the tarpaulin below. Resting in the shade of
the olive groves I have shared much laughter and amazing picnics with
Palestinian families, who despite hardship, danger and suffering retain
their humanity and infectious sparkle.

The olive harvest is a crucial time of year and is part of the very
fabric of Palestinian society. Many farmers have suffered huge land
loss and with this, mounting poverty. Land has been confiscated to
build the Apartheid Wall, to expand Israeli settlements (whose very
existence is illegal under International Law) and to construct
"settler only" roads. Many farmers have land which is virtually
inaccessible, falling behind the Wall, and have to negotiate a punitive
system of permits and locked agricultural gates. Internationals offer
accompaniment to farmers who are in danger, from both the Israeli Army
and armed Israeli settlers. We stand in solidarity in the struggle to
preserve land and livelihood.

I have been working in the village of Aw Zawiya, in Salfit district,
central West Bank . The Apartheid Wall is already complete on one side
of the village, resulting in massive land loss. Over the coming months
Az Zawiya will be imprisoned on a further two sides. Many Palestinian
villages are being strangled by "Ariel finger" which cuts deep into
the West Bank, forming a "land corridor" between Ariel settlement
and Tel Aviv.

The village of Aw Zawiya will become isolated into an enclave, along
with the villages of Rafat and Deir Ballut, inaccessible to currently
neighbouring villages. The army can easily control the one road into
the village - a tunnel running under a "settler only" road. Anyone
who has any doubts about whether Apartheid is really happening need
only take a look at the segregated road system.

The main problems the farmers from Aw Zawiya face are from Israeli
settlers. Although the settlements in that area are not particularly
radical, the gun is commonplace. Whilst accompanying one family we were
forced to walk for 100 meters through a dark, claustrophobic drain
which ran under the "settler only" road. Shortly after emerging
from the drain we met the army, controlling a small break in the Wall.
An elderly man, alone and trying to reach a hospital appointment, was
turned away. He did not have the "right" ID. In fact he was trying
to save time and money, taking a short cut along a route that would
have been possible before the Wall was built. Internationals negotiated
for 2 hours with the army to be able to join the Palestinian family we
were accompanying, whose land was dangerously close to a settlement.

Another family we accompanied have land which now lies within an
Israeli settlement. They had to pass through the agricultural gate at
Mas'ha village in order to harvest their olives. Permits to reach
this land are only given during limited periods during the year, and
only to older people. The gate is opened and closed once a day, and
does not allow for a full days work. Palestinians have no choice or
control over when they go to their land.

We also harvested with a family from the village of Haris. Their land
was overgrown and the trees had not been pruned, a result of the farmer
being unable to safely access his fields. Revava settlement was built
on their land, and their remaining trees (from the 500 which were cut
down) are very close to the settlement. Revava is becoming increasingly
radicalised, and there are growing numbers of attacks, intimidation and
threats made towards Palestinian farmers. The first morning we were met
by armed settlement "security", who made veiled threats to shoot if
we did not leave. They were joined by the Israeli army. Throughout the
2 days we had many more visits from both the army and "security",
but the harvesting continued. More than in other places we could feel
our international presence making a difference. This, of course, is
only possible because of deep seated racism.

In a village near Nablus, another group of Internationals accompanied a
family to their land which now has an Israeli watchtower built on it.
They had not stepped foot in these groves for 6 years, for fear of
being shot. International accompaniment not only increases the feeling
of safety for the farmers, but can make a concrete difference in
negotiations with the army.

Recently I accompanied a family to their land in the village of Orif,
near Nablus. The day before they had been stoned by settlers; one man
needed medical treatment. In Occupied Palestine the parameters change.
I feel relief that it was rocks and not bullets. There have been many
times when Palestinians have been threatened by armed settlers, and
occasions when this has resulted in serious injury or death.

The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in June this year that
Palestinians have a right to property, and a right to enter and work
their land. The army and police are legally obligated to take action to
protect Palestinian farmers and their property from attack. This ruling
is a victory for the recognition of Palestinian rights. What remains to
be seen is its effects on the ground. There have been several occasions
this year when it has made a difference, when adequate army protection
was given to farmers to protect them from settler attacks. There is
still a long, long way to go before farmers have free and safe access
to their land. In the meantime internationals continue to offer
accompaniment, armed with our international privilege, our cameras, our
phones and a copy of the High Court decision.

Buying Palestinian olive oil is a concrete act of solidarity
http://www.zaytoun.org

To join the olive harvest next autumn go to http://www.iwps-pal.org,
http://www.palsolidarity.org http://www.zaytoun.org, http://www.rhr.israel.net

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7. Postcards from the Edge

by Victoria Macchi, Skin Magazine
http://www.skin-online.com/home.html

Katie Miranda's "postcards" create visual dispatches to the
American people of life, death, and innocence demolished in Palestine

Two young men, backs turned, wrists bound, heads hanging - paired
with anger, a mouth stretched wide open in rage and spewing hate.
"You are disgusting Arabs and you should be beaten like animals and
stay in jail".

You don't look at Katie Miranda's work. You feel it, a punch in the
gut that sucks the wind out, replaces it with incredulity, then knocks
you down again as you struggle to get up. Yet her pieces, reflections
of life in occupied Palestine, are anything but hyperbolic. Both an
artist living
in the West Bank city of Hebron and a volunteer in the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM), Katie Miranda has walked the streets of the
West Bank alongside Palestinians, drank the same water, protected their
children, broken bread with their families - and her paintings
reflect it. Her "Postcards from Palestine" series is an eternal
testimony to a wounded people. The ongoing collection of paintings of
people she has met comes with a message to the American people, exactly
like a postcard - although instead of margaritas, sunsets and
dolphins, the paintings reflect the violence committed against
Palestinians by the IOF and settlers in the territories.

"I wanted to use my artistic ability to tell the story about what's
happening here," says Katie, a 31-year-old San Francisco native.
"I'm an illustrator by trade, so creating pictures that tell a
story is what I was trained in... I just decided to interview people
about their life and paint about individuals and about situations I
witnessed." As a human rights worker in the West Bank, she has a deep
reservoir of stories; most burst with acts of hatred, moments of irony,
wisps of humour. "A good deal of the violence is perpetuated by
children because of an Israeli law that allows them to be free from
arrest and prosecution if they are under the age of 12," explains
Katie.

In one postcard, the innocence of children is portrayed in the hopeless
eyes of a girl holding a stuffed rabbit, her father killed by IOF
soldiers and her house demolished, which are juxtaposed with a carefree
boy playing with a ball, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. It's
difficult to imagine humans so jaded so young. But again, they have
never known an unoccupied Palestine, freedom of movement, or simple
justice for their friends and family slain during four decades of war.

Katie recalls an incident when life and art collided. It was the day
after she arrived in Palestine, back in May. The ISM was called to the
Balata refugee camp because the IOF had invaded and, the reports said,
were killing people randomly. "ISM helps with medical evacuations in
these situations," Katie explains. "Sometimes when a person is shot
or injured, the soldiers refuse to let the ambulance leave, so we try
to negotiate with them to allow the ambulance pass. Right before we got
there these two kids were killed." Best friends Ibrahim Issa and
Mohammad Natoor, both 17, were drinking tea on the roof of their
apartment when they were shot by a sniper. Katie documented their
funeral in one of her postcards, and in her message to the American
people noted what they loved and how they smiled - and just how young
they were. She transcribed the words of Ibrahim's brother:

"Anywhere you see him, you will see Mohammad Natoor with him and
anywhere you see Ibrahim and Mohammad, you will see them smile at you
and say 'hello, how can we help you?'" Mohammad was killed by
Israeli forces on his 17th birthday.

The pair are immortalised on one of Katie's postcards. "It was such
an emotional experience because they were just kids, you know, they
hadn't done anything wrong," says the artist. "And no one will be
held responsible. It was a meaningless death. I couldn't get the
image of those kids' faces out of my head for weeks. So I dealt with
that and the trauma of being in a place under siege by painting the
picture of Ibrahim during his funeral procession that wouldn't leave
my head." She later painted a picture of him from a photo studio
portrait. "When I gave it to the family it was really emotional. I
could tell they were really touched and really liked it - but of
course it also reminded them that their son or brother was dead. It was
hard for me to look at his brother's face when I gave him the
portrait."

In another postcard, a fairly innocuous image, a young boy is shown
with his mouth gaping open and a few teeth missing. But it is rendered
appalling by the explanation - a settler woman had filled his mouth
with rocks and slammed his jaw shut, shattering his teeth. Another
postcard elevates a Palestinian man, now paraplegic after a shot to the
neck by an Israeli sniper in 2000, by painting him at a sharp angle,
facing upwards, with the colours of the Palestinian flag bursting
behind his head. Katie hopes this empowers the wheelchair-bound former
karate champion.

The "Postcards", though, are only her latest artistic project in
Palestine. Katie, who estimates she has been attacked by settlers and
soldiers around 50 times since arriving to Hebron in May, originally
wanted to paint over the settlers' anti-Arab graffiti. In one case,
she covered up the words "Die Arab sand-niggers" with a mural of
children playing in the sun. "When I first saw that graffiti it
really disgusted me," she says. "I wanted to get rid of it and I
thought a nice cheerful mural of kids playing would be a good solution.
It's the idea of fighting hate with love." "The mural is still
there, but it has been defaced by the settlers, which I knew would
happen. But it doesn't really bother me because I was expecting it
and it's just another example of how hateful these people are." She
also wanted to obscure another spray-painted slogan, spread over two
metal doors, that read "Gas the Arabs." The Palestinian residents
opposed the idea, explaining that the racist graffiti should stay
precisely because it is so shocking. "When tourists, journalists and
NGOs come into the area they are so shocked and horrified that they
write and talk about it," says Katie. "It's also a great
opportunity to see visual evidence of the disgusting nature of these
people who live [in the settlements]."

While in Palestine, Katie also painted on what is becoming the largest
canvas in the world - the West Bank wall. Her politically relevant
reinterpretation of Michelangelo's Pieta remains on the grey concrete
near the Qalandia checkpoint. Eyes shut, palm upturned - in
resignation, desperation - a woman holds a dead
husband/brother/father/son who is slumped on her lap. "When I got the
idea [in 2004], I knew that it had to be painted on the apartheid
wall," she says. "But I never imagined I'd actually be able to
get it together to go to Palestine and do it." She also painted a
Soviet-esque angular figure of a man in black and white swinging a
sledge-hammer into the wall - denting it but not yet breaking it
down. "I hope [the murals] are destroyed when the wall comes down,
inshallah," says Katie. Her creativity enhances her non-violent
resistance to the Israeli occupation. Along with an ISM colleague,
Katie performed "fire circuses" in Hebron. "No one had ever seen
anything like it before and it was a big hit, especially the kids...
We'd start performing when we'd see soldiers detaining and
harassing Palestinians. It's just such an absurd situation to see a
bunch of teenage punks with guns start acting disrespectfully and
physically aggressive towards women and old men for no reason at all.
We dealt with that absurdity by adding to it... it had the effect of
drawing the soldier's attention away from the Palestinians and also
entertaining the Palestinians while they were being detained."

One of the greatest challenges of living in Palestine, says Katie, is
having to accepting that my tax dollars as an American go towards
funding the Occupation and the violence. "Americans grow up learning
the values that everyone is equal and everyone, in theory, has the same
rights. "To see that this is neither true in theory nor in practice
in Palestine turned my world upside down - it's like all of a
sudden someone tells you 1 + 1 = 3 and you just have to accept it."
As Katie asks in her blog, also entitled Postcards from Palestine "Is
this apartheid yet?"

More of Katie's artwork can be seen on her website:
http://www.theopticnerve.com
She also maintains a blog at: moomin13.livejournal.com

Occupation Hazards

Katie shares with Skin her top altercations with the IDF:

1. Water supplies being poisoned by Israeli soldiers

Our water is kept in tanks on the roof of our apartment building. The
IDF soldiers occasionally use our roof as one of their outposts. One
day we discovered some creepy-crawly things in the water coming out of
the kitchen sink faucet. We went up on the roof to investigate and
discovered that our water tanks had been turned into an IDF garbage
dump. The garbage included forks, spoons, knives, army netting,
unexploded bullets, paper, plastic, glass, bricks, broken pipes,
pudding containers, an extremely outdated, unopened yoghurt package,
and plastic trays on which soldiers' meals are served. The water on
the bottom of the tank was completely black but the water on the top
was clear. When I smelled it I felt like I was going to throw up. Since
we get the water on the top of the tank first, we didn't notice a
problem until we noticed wriggly things in our water. After we made the
discovery I went to the doctor who found that I had some kind of gnarly
amoebas living in my stomach. One volunteer was diagnosed with
tapeworm.

2. Being trampled by a police horse

There were some Israeli mounted police who were allowing the horses to
s**t all over this area in Jerusalem where Palestinians frequently
pray... I went up to one of them, asked them if they had any intention
of cleaning up after their horses and the cop jerked the reins of the
horse so the horse's head knocked my head and then the cop ran the
horse into me, causing me to fall over. I wound up under the horse that
then trampled on my foot. When my friend came to my assistance and
started screaming at the cops, he was beaten. We were really lucky in
that neither of us were hurt badly.

3. False accusations of assault on a settler

I was taken to the Israeli Hebron police station on suspicion of
assault after a settler accused me of scratching her as I escorted a
woman past a group of settlers who had been taunting, harassing and
throwing rocks at Palestinians. The Israeli police present did nothing
to rein in the settlers and did not see me assault anyone because of
course I didn't. But nevertheless I was taken into custody and
interrogated.

For images visit:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/12/13/postcards-from-edge/

*************************************

8. "Welcome to Israel" - a trip down the Jordan Valley

by John, December 14th

Today we had a trip down the Jordan valley which didn't start too
auspiciously for our Palestinian contact - he had just been delayed for
two hours at a checkpoint. A soldier on the way through a checkpoint
had drawn a star of david in the dust of the car. When they returned
the soldier wanted to know who had wiped it off and held them for two
hours demanding to know.

We started at a farm near the Bisan checkpoint in the north where
Palestinians now find it very difficult to take their produce through
to the markets they once used, and therefore now have to go to markets
elsewhere. However with problems at checkpoints this is often
problematic and adds huge costs to their journey making their products
less competitive as Israeli trucks are allowed to use settler-only
roads and bypass the checkpoints.

Despite the fact that this is the Jordan valley the Israelis do have
farms out here, which occupy almost all the agricultural land, and many
Palestinians are angry at the amount of land that they have taken off
them. Israeli settler-colonists who want to move here are given 70
dunnums of land, a house and long term loan of 70,000 USD.

Companies providing electricity, telephone and water services are
obliged to give them discounts of up to 75% . This obviously makes
their lives much easier out here despite the fact that this is well
into the West Bank. Many soldiers seem to ignore this little fact -
when checking our passports one soldier said "Welcome to Israel - I
hope you enjoy it here".

However it is not the case that although these settlers pay 75% less
than the Palestinians, in fact the Palestinians pay nothing for these
utilities. Why? Because they are not available to them - we passed a
large number of houses often next to huge water tanks and electricity
wires that they are not allowed to connect up to. Many Palestinians
only build plastic houses or corrugated metal houses as otherwise the
Israelis knock them down.

In fact even these can be knocked down. Last year 22 houses were
demolished in one day while around half the land in the Jordan valley
is no longer available to Palestinians - it is close to Israeli
colonies, environmental reserves and military training areas. Now, as
an environmentalist I would normally applaud the opening of
environmental reserves but actually these people live very sustainable
lives and there is no reason why these areas should be, in particular,
protected. This has led to the population to drop from 300,000 pre
-1967 to 52,000 last year, including the Jericho urban area.

Planning permission for new houses for Palestinians is impossible to
get, a new school built in Al Jiftlik village is threatened with
demolition, attempts to generate power are stopped.

Bardala has been waiting years for permission for a water tank but the
nearby Israeli colony, built without planning permission, has services
described in the paragraph above. A clinic in a tent has also been
deemed illegal in the past and knocked down - despite electricity lines
going right by it and some more 'permament' buildings they are not
electrified.

But it isn't in just these respects that the Israelis control the
local area, they even try and control the sun, one Palestinian joked. A
community project with NGO support enabled a few households to purchase
solar panels to generate electricity. One man was arrested and put in
prison for three days for 'stealing' this off the Israelis, despite
the fact he had documentation to demonstrate how he had come to acquire
it. He was fined 300 NIS and put in prison for three days without even
being able to call relatives to help out while he was away. Israeli
colonists then came and looked around the house while he was still in
prison.

When visiting another farmer we saw the electrified fence, where the
English reads, danger electric fence, but the Arabic says warning:
potential death. The farmer's daughter touched it and received a
shock.

The land that is fenced off was once his but was taken in around 1970.
The Israelis steal this by saying that land not used in three years can
be taken and redistributed, the fact that many of these people were
unable to return home or were prevented from accessing their land is
not important. He finds it difficult to get water all year around as
the Israeli settlers get the water from the Valley, in fact he has to
drink bottled water.

Again the message I got was all these people want is their rights to be
respected his family had lived in this area since 1920. The farmer
accepted that the Jewish must live here (in Israel) but they did not
have the right to take his land. He can't see an end to this
situation as both peaceful and non-peaceful means have both failed. The
more time I spend here the less likely I think there is going to be
peace anytime soon. Certainly if any peace deal does not remove the
Israelis from most of this land and if the wall is at least not
rerouted out of the West Bank then it certainly won't be possible.

At checkpoints where we were stopped we often just handed our passports
to them and they handed them back a few minutes later without checking
them. Often however Palestinians are forced to wait much longer than we
are.

For photos visit:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/12/15/jordan-valley-trip/

*****************************

9. Anti-Wall Protesters Sit their Ground in Bil'in

by the ISM Media team, December 15th

Today's demonstration in Bil'in was relatively peaceful, with less
violence from the soldiers than there has been in the past. However,
they still used rubber bullets and tear gas to attack Palestinian youth
who threw stones in defense of their village.

Accompanied by around 15 international supporters and the stalwarts of
the Israeli anti-occupation movement, the villagers of Bil'in, led by
the popular committee, marched against the wall. Chanting Arabic
slogans against the wall, and telling the soldiers to go home in
Hebrew, the demonstrators were stopped at the wall by a unit of Israeli
soldiers.

As usual, the gate in the wall was blocked by the Israeli forces, who
had tightly wrapped razor-wire around it to prevent its removal. The
demonstrators intended to pass to the annexed village land.
Palestinians and their international supporters are often allowed to
pass this gate during the week. However, this is changing more recently
as the wall in Bil'in is now all but complete.

On demonstration days (every Friday) no one is allowed to pass,
however. The popular committee decided to try and find another way
through the large coils of razor wire on the near side of the wall.
Some of the demonstrators tried to remove the wire by pulling at this.
These attempts were soon stopped by some soldiers who had followed them
along the route of the wall.

The area between the razor wire and the wall was held by a handful of
the protesters for about 20 minutes.

The soldiers prevented more from joining them. Eventually, the popular
committee decided to wrap up the demonstration and called on the
demonstrators to follow them back into the village as one group.

On the way back, Israeli border police who had taken up aggressive
positions in and near houses on the outskirts of the village began to
attack Bil'in youth who had enough of them and had started to throw
stones at them.

The soldiers shot rubber-coated steel bullets at them, causing some
minor injuries. There was also a failed attempt to use tear gas which
was dispersed by the wind. When the demonstration had made it back to
the village, the distinct sound of live fire was heard from the
direction of the soldiers.

For photos visit:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/12/15/bilin-dec-15/

**********************************

10. Letter from Raed Sharif

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Early this morning, I received the sad news that my mother (54 years
old) passed away after serious health complications last night.

I am sending this message to you and many other people around the world
because I promised my mother before she died to let everybody know that
it wasn't cancer that killed her, it was the occupation.

Yes, the Israeli occupation killed my mother, but this time not using
missiles and tank rockets, this time using collective punishment and
humiliation. Most of cancer (and other serious diseases) patients from
Gaza go to Egypt for treatment because we don't have the health
infrastructure and latest technologies to do so in Gaza which is a
result of the continues siege and control imposed by the Israelis over
the Palestinian cities, especially Gaza . My mother was one of those
patients who was diagnosed, at very early stages, with bone cancer and
was supposed to go to Egypt for treatment early June 2006.

Because of the collective punishment policies that Israel uses, nobody
from Gaza was able to travel (in or out) to any place in the world for
three months, because the Israelis control the borders. It was until
August 25th that my mother was able to make it to Egypt. During these
three months, I and many other people inside and outside Palestine
tried to talk to International and Human Rights Organizations and ask
them to intervene and help in this humanitarian situation,
unfortunately, all our and their appeals failed to change the situation
or to make any special arrangements. All these requests were rejected
by the occupiers. By the time my mother made it to Egypt , it was
unfortunately a bit late because the cancer was rapidly growing in her
body and at that stage; doctors didn't have much to do but to try the
chemotherapy and to see if it can help. Unfortunately, this didn't
help much and she peacefully passed away last night. My mother is not
the only case, she is just one the cases that someone could talk about.
In addition to the tens of people being killed by the Israelis everyday
using traditional weapons, tens, if not hundreds, others die everyday
because of lack of access to health services, because of movement
restrictions imposed by the Israelis and the restrictions on entering
medicine and health equipment to Gaza and other Palestinian cities.

Siege and movement restrictions don't only separate patients from
health services and facilities (even form local hospitals. Many women
gave birth on the checkpoints and many others died before making it to
the nearest hospital); they also separate students from schools and
universities, believers and worshipers from mosques and churches, and
families from seeing each others for many years. There are currently
more than 500 checkpoints in the West Bank in an area that is probably
smaller than most of the cities in the U.S., its size is around 2000 sq
miles and this area is currently surrounded by the new apartheid wall.
These checkpoints separate villages, cities, refugee camps and
sometimes neighborhoods in the same city. These are the same
restrictions that made me unable to see my family in Gaza (when I was
living in the West Bank) for more than 5 years, and even when I was
here in the U.S. and wanted to go back and see my mother during the
last 2 months, I also wasn't able to go because the borders were
still closed (Rafah border with Egypt, which is the only gate for
Gazans to the world, was open only 6 days during the last 6 months).

What really breaks my heart is not the fact that she died because
it's something that everybody will experience one day and I really
have great faith in God that this may be better for her, what really
makes me feel very sad is that, again, because of the occupation, I
haven't seen her for more than six years and that I wasn't even
able to see her for the last time and say goodbye. It also makes me
feel very sad because one of the main motives for me to do the Ph.D.
was my great mother. When I was six years old my cousin got his Ph.D.
and when we were coming back from visiting him my mother asked me this
question (probably she was joking at that time especially that I was
very little and probably wouldn't even know what the Ph.D. is, but I
know she meant it), she asked me "would you do it for me one day and
get your Ph.D.?" I kept this in my mind and heart all the time and I
was always encouraged by her and her high spirit to succeed and to make
it to Syracuse University to get my Ph.D. Unfortunately, she will not
be able to see this day and to know that yes, I did it for her.

Goodbye my great mother, you were all the time the source of my
inspiration and you will always be, even in your physical absence. May
God have mercy on you and bless your soul mother.

Friends and colleagues, unfortunately, our world is full of similar sad
and unjustified cases of unfairness and humiliation, BUT always
remember, we can always make a difference if we want. Think of it and
see what you can do to make others live the same way you and your
children live. Even a little change can make a difference.

Please don't reply to this message, if you want to do me and my
mother a favor, just forward it to anybody who wants to make a
difference.

RS

**********************************

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