more on bil'in

check out these journalist photos and updates from ISM:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=bil%27in&c=news_photos

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/22/legal-palestinian-%e2%80%9coutpost%e2%80%9d-removed-immediately-hundreds-of-illegal-israeli-settlements-remai/

last week was pretty amazing! bil'in villagers set up a "caravan" (or trailer) on the land that legally belongs to them, but is illegally being expanded into more apartments for israeli settlers. it lasted, palestinian flag flying, with palestinians, internationals, and israeli activists spending time in the caravan, for two days. the army came in the dark at 7pm to arrest the people inside and lift the metal caravan away... no reason was given as to why the caravan or people there had to go.

voices

"They say to the people 'there is democracy here,' but no.... we're brothers, but this occupation is a problem. The soldiers are here to kill your soul. They want us to get used to this and to say to our children, 'it's a good occupation.' They are playing with our future."

Osamah, waiting to pass from Ramallah to East Jerusalem at Qalandia Checkpoint

art on walls

Stencil art on the wall next to Qalandia, the now-checkpoint, soon-to-be "border crossing" between the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Home

Hares, the village where IWPS (www.iwps.info) is based, is located close to the largest israeli settlement in the west bank (ariel) and some of the more right-wing extremist settlements as well. Here at the crossroads near our village entrace, the largest watchtower ever was just built by the army 3 days ago! you can see the bus stop awning below it for a size scale.

just the other day, 3 jeeps came into the village. after driving around a bit, soldiers jumped out with rifles pointed at various locations and videotaped the school, shops, and roads. they said it was for "intelligence gathering." army incursions into the village happens almost every other day. it definitely succeeds in frightening people on a regular basis.

Aboud

some awesome girls demonstrating against the wall in the village of aboud. the army created a razor-wire fence and prevented the people from crossing.

CPT in Iraq

here in the city of ramallah in the west bank, we stood with about 100 international activists and palestinians at a vigil for the Christian Peacemaker Team workers who are being held hostage in iraq. for more information about the CPTers, check out: http://www.cpt.org/

Bi'lin

some happy pictures to not bombard you with sadness! some of my friends in bi'lin, a village near ramallah. the villagers here have been demonstrating against the wall EVERY week on a regular basis.

also here are some photos of the demonstration at bi'lin. the israeli settlement nearby is illegally expanding, contstructing more homes and roads into the olive groves of bi'lin, without permission. here, villagers hold signs in hebrew, arabic and english reading "this land belongs to (name of a person in the village)." the peaceful demo was met with violence from the military anyway (see below as a man from bi'lin was beaten and arrested.

This photo is from last year, but I wanted to include it anyway. It's from a demonstration in the village of Saffa where the giant cement "security" wall was being built directly on Saffa's land. Here, an older man breaks down in tears as he watches his own olive trees being torn out of the ground to make way for a wall being built to "protect Israel".