06.01.2009

SOLIDARITY IN JAFFA

Tuesday saw between three and four hundred of Jaffa's residents come together in yet another protest against the war (third one in Jaffa since the latest military offensive was launched ten days ago). Jews and Palestinians stood as one, voicing a message of resistance and solidarity with chants and placards in both Arabic and Hebrew.

The demonstration - loud, energetic and empowering – was yet another link in the strengthening chain of resistance to Israel's war crimes from within its borders. Protesters dispersed after two hours without incident from the large riot police contingent amassed nearby.

07.01.2009

NI'ILIN MOURNS, PROTESTS, RESISTS

Wednesday morning, Israeli and international activists joined residents of Ni'ilin in a small protest, led by teenagers, against Israel's expropriation of over a third of the village's agricultural land, as well as against the siege and war on Gaza. Since its struggle against the Wall began, Ni'ilin has seen 4 of its young shot dead by Israeli army and police (two of them last week) and countless others injured, curfew and all manner of collective punishments imposed, new weapon tested, night raids and arrests carried out, etc. – but its residents are determined as ever to resist Israeli land-grab and military occupation.

Protesters carrying Palestinian flags attempted to march on their own lands, but soon after they reached the village's hilly olive tree plantations the entire demonstration was attacked by Israeli troops. Soldiers, standing so close as to be unable to shoot their teargas canisters in the required, arched trajectory, shot them directly at demonstrators' bodies instead, who had to duck for cover behind trees and rock levees.

The demonstration was then transformed into a pitched battle between troops firing teargas canisters from two different positions in a pincer-movement, and Ni'ilin's youth responding with slingshots as well as the occasional firecracker. One boy received minor injuries to his leg from a teargas canister hit.

07.01.2009

TEL AVIV: SILENCE EQUALS COMPLICITY

On Wednesday evening over 50 demonstrators gathered in central Tel Aviv to make sure the general public gets to hear the other side of the story, the side downplayed or ignored altogether by the media's "fog of war" policy: the impoverishment and hunger caused in Gaza by years of siege, and the hundreds of dead, the terror and devastation wrought by Israel's attack.

As rain trickled down sporadically, activists representing various groups held their banners high and shouted at the top of their lungs for an end to the killing. The cry "citizens are being lied to – missiles do not bring security!" was heard by all cars and pedestrians passing through the busy intersection of King George St. and Ben-Tzion Boulevard.