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Bay Area QUIT Activist Held in West Bank

by Palestine Solidarity
People from the village of Budrus, joined by peace activists demonstrated against the construction of the separation Wall on Palestinian land. Israel arrested several people, including Kate Raphael, an International Women's Peace Service activist from the Bay Area.
Date: Thursday Jan. 1, 2004 3:10 pm
Subject: Media Alerts – Deportation orders issued against 4 peace activists, including Swedish MP

Israeli interior ministry issued a deportation order against 4 peace activists. The two Swedes, members of ISM, MP Gustav Fridolin and Freidrek are currently held in Ariel settlement police station. IWPS activists Kate and Kim are held in an interior ministry detention center in Khadera.

Back ground information:
villagers from Budrus, and their Israeli and International supporters, made a peaceful march onto Budrus lands that are set to be destroyed for the construction of the IsraeliApartheid Wall. Protesters were met by the Israeli army who physically assaulted the men, women and children present and opened fire on the crowd with over 100 rubber bullets aimed at people's heads. Tear gas was also fired. There are many injuries and approximately 10 people have been taken to the hospital. At least 4 Israelis and 6 internationals have been detained and have been threatened with arrest. Gustav Fridolin, a Swedish member of parliament is among the group of detained protesters. Israeli protester Nimrod Kerreet has been badly beaten.

Curfew was then imposed on the village, but protesters decided to continue their peace presence on their land and were met with continued violence. If this phase of the Wall construction is allowed to continue, Budrus will be largely surrounded by it and rendered an enclave without the necessary services for survival. The villagers have been peacefully resisting the advance of the wall on their land for over one month and plan to continue their non- violent civil disobedience campaign against it.

Among the protesters were Israelis from the Anarchists Against Walls group that participated in the non-violent demonstration at Masha on December 26. It was during this demonstration that Israeli activist Gil Na'amati (22), was shot with two live bullets in both legs and badly injured. An American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was also injured by a bullet. Internationals present today were from the ISM and International Women's Peace Service (IWPS).

Currently, the village of Budrus is under curfew and the Israeli army has occupied at least one home. Gustav Fridolin along with one other Swedish activist and two American activists are being detained at the Bet Arye police station.

For more information call

Ghassan Andoni 054369975

-----

From: "International Solidarity Movement" <ism- alerts [at] palsolidarity.org>
Date: Thursday Jan. 1, 2004 18:10 pm
Subject: Media Alerts – updates on detained peace activists and the village of Budrus

For the forth day in a row, villagers, joined by international and Israeli peace activists demonstrated against the Construction of the separation Wall on Palestinian land in the village of Budrus. The Army violently interrupted the peaceful demonstration, showering protesters with tear gas and firing at them rounds of rubber coated metal bullets. As a result 15 villagers and two international ISM peace activists were wounded. The wounded international peace activists are Henrick from Sweden and Saga from Iceland.

As the villagers and international and Israeli supporters walked back to the village, Israeli border police followed them and ordered people to go into their homes, firing Sound grenades and rubber bullets.

Soldiers broke through few homes and arrested Abdul-Rahman Awad, 17, Abdul-Rahim Awad, 16, Hamza Omar Awad, 20, and Mustafa Sami Awad, 20. all were arrested from inside the same home.

For more information call
Ghassan Andoni 054369975
For more updates on the Budrus situation call
Gape:055725958
Aied: 067924952

Update on detained peace activists:

Lawyer Gabi Lasky and Yohana Herman managed to set a freeze on the deportation order issued earlier against 3 of the four detained peace activists. The judge rejected the lawyers request to bail the activist until the court hearing, which is expected on Sunday.

Two of the activists, Gustav Fridolin, memeber of the Swedish Parliament, and Frederic Batzler (Sweden) are being held at the Ariel Police Station. The other two American citizens, Katheryn Raphael and Kimberley Anne Gray are being held at the Khadera Police Station.

The judge canceled the deportation order of MP Gustav Fridolin, who is expected to leave the country in two days.

For more info, see
http://www.palsolidarity.org and http://stopthewall.org/
§More about Kate and other detainees
by IWPS via DASW list
Kate worked tirelessly with DASW last spring (part of Queers Undermining Israeli Terror-QUIT) Bay Area peace activist Kate Raphael, and three other internationals were arrested yesterday in the West Bank village of Budrus and are facing imminent deportation. The activists from the International Women's Peace Service and International Solidarity Movement were participating with the Budrus community and Israeli peace activists in a demonstration intended to stop Israel from uprooting trees belonging to the village to clear the land for construction of the Apartheid Wall. Israel has issued deportation orders against the four internationals.

Swedish Member of Parliament Gustav Fridolin was expected to leave Israel/ Palestine voluntarily today. Another Swede, ISM activist Freidrek Batzler, is being held in the Ariel settlement police station, and IWPS activists Kate Raphael and Kimberly Gray are in an interior ministry detention center in Khadera. Kate has pledged to resist deportation by any possible nonviolent means and is counting on international support so that she may continue her valuable work in Palestine.

The Wall is slated to surround Budrus, cutting it off from services necessary for survival. The villagers have been peacefully resisting the advance of the wall on their land for over a month, and December 29 and 30 marches involving villagers, internationals and Israelis succeeding in turning away Israeli soldiers from the site Israel intends to clear. When the villagers and their international and Israeli supporters returned on December 31, the Israeli army opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas and beat demonstrators, resulting in at least ten people being hospitalized. Four Israelis and five Palestinians were also arrested. Israel then slapped a curfew on the village. Despite this and continued IDF violence, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals have continued their peace presence.

Israeli police say they are increasingly concerned at the involvement of foreign nationals in the protests against the Wall. Please call the Ministry of the Interior to demand that the deportation orders for Kate Raphael and Kimberly Gray be rescinded. The activists have not received due process under Israeli law and may be deported as soon as this Sunday. Both have been living in the West Bank, involved in valuable nonviolent solidarity and educational work. Call: At the Ministry of the Interior, Raz Godelnik or his secretary, Dorit: 011 972 2 670 1400. (Note: It is ten hours later in Israel and the Israeli weekend is Friday and Saturday.) To
donate for Kate and Kim's legal fund: International Women's Peace Service 2018 Shattuck Avenue, PMB 122 Berkeley, CA 94704

More about IWPS: http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/
§Budrus
by budrus
budrus-and-the-double-wall2_001.jpg
Map showing entire Apartheid Wall:
http://stopthewall.org/maps/150.shtml
§Budrus
by budrus
_39690019_israel_budrus_map203.gif
Large Poster Map
http://stopthewall.org/maps/150.shtml
§Update
by update
Press Release: Israel seeks to deport Bay Area peace activist

For immediate release, January 2, 2004
Contact:
International Women's Peace Service, Palestine- Karin 011-972-676-21-431
Kate Raphael's attorney in Israel, Gaby Lasky- 011-972-54-418-988

Israel seeks to deport Bay Area peace activist
Kate Raphael's request to continue her education work with Israelis in Palestine to be heard in Tel Aviv court on Monday

A Jewish peace activist who has been bringing Israelis to learn about life in the Occupied Territories is in jail today awaiting a hearing on her request to remain in the West Bank. Kate Raphael was arrested Wednesday along with three other internationals at a demonstration in the West Bank village of Budrus. The International Women's Peace Service and International Solidarity Movement activists were participating with the Budrus community and Israeli peace activists in a peaceful protest march to stop Israel from uprooting trees belonging to the village to clear the land for construction of Israel's 400 mile long Separation Barrier, also known as the Apartheid Wall.

Israel jailed and issued deportation orders against the four internationals, including Ms. Raphael and Swedish Member of Parliament Gustav Fridolin, who left Israel voluntarily on Thursday. Ms. Raphael is being held in an interior ministry detention center in Khadera and intends to resist deportation and to pursue her case to Israel's Supreme Court if necessary. Raphael, a longtime Bay Area social justice organizer and nonviolence trainer, has been living in the West Bank village of Hares as part of the International Women's Peace Service (IWPS) where she initiated a project, Shachen l‚ Shachen (Neighbor to Neighbor), bringing Israelis on reality tours through occupied Palestine and training them to share what they have learned with their communities in Israel. IWPS is an international team of sixteen women which has been documenting human rights abuses and the destruction of Palestinian homes and land by the Israeli military in the West Bank and supporting the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements.

Ms. Raphael and IWPS had been supporting the Budrus community in peacefully resisting the advance of the Wall over their land. The Wall is slated to surround the village, cutting it off from services necessary for survival. December 29 and 30 marches involving villagers, internationals and Israelis succeeding in turning away Israeli soldiers from the site Israel intends to clear. When the villagers and their international and Israeli supporters returned on December 31, the Israeli army opened fire with rubber bullets and beat demonstrators, resulting in at least ten people being hospitalized. Four Israelis and five Palestinians were also arrested. Israel then slapped a curfew on the village. Despite this and continued IDF violence, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals have continued their peace presence in Budrus. Israeli police say they are increasingly concerned at the involvement of foreign nationals in the protests against the Wall. Ms. Raphael maintains she has done nothing wrong and that Israel is seeking to stop her work promoting Israeli-Palestinian understanding and getting out the facts about how the occupation is destroying Palestinian and Israeli society.

http://www.ektaonline.org/~quitpale/kateupdates.html
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Fri, Jan 2, 2004 12:20AM
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