Reports from Freedom Summer Palestine
Friends,
We have been having minor internet problems and have not been able to send out timely reports of the many actions taking
place throughout the West Bank as part of Palestine’s Freedom Summer 2004 Campaign. Please accept our apologies and
refer to the digest below for reports and photos from the last 3 days of popular organizing and resistance to the
Israeli occupation.
There is still time to join us in Palestine for Freedom Summer activities and our Freedom Walk! Please see:
www.palsolidarity.org for more information.
In solidarity & struggle, ISM
1) Another martyr in Balata 2) Confrontation Between Villagers and Army in Az-Zawiya Ends Peacefully 3) Community
Gathers to Remove Debilitating Military Roadblock in Kafr Labad
4) Another Roadblock Cleared
5) Palestinians Advocate for Prisoners’ Rights
6) Protesters March on Salem Military Base
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1) Another martyr in Balata By: Josefin
July 4, 2004 Nablus
Mahmud Saleh Lahueni was killed by the Israeli military forces in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus yesterday. He was
killed by two shots, one to his chest and one to his neck. He was 20 years old.
Mahmud was killed on the same spot as his little brother was, only 20 days ago. Salah Saleh Lahueni was also shot on the
street by the Israeli army during an Israeli military incursion into the camp.
Yesterday, 3rd of July, four military jeeps came into Balata at around 5 pm. The soldiers provoked the children to throw
stones but no military operations or arrests were made.
Apart from the killing of Mahmud, three young boys were injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers; one is now
in the hospital severely injured.
This was the third time this week that the Israeli military came into Balata and the people of Balata expect more to
come.
Josefin
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2) Confrontation Between Villagers and Army in Az Zawiya Ends Peacefully
By: IWPS
July 4, 2004 Salfit
More than 200 residents of Az Zawiya village, joined by 10 international supporters, confronted a phalanx of army jeeps
and hummers today, as they tried to reach the land near the village school where the Apartheid Wall is being built.
Construction on the Wall resumed today, despite last Wednesday's court ruling halting work on the wall in other areas.
Under a separate injunction from the High Court, work in Az Zawiya is allowed to continue in areas where olive trees
have already been uprooted.
Led by elders of the village, the peaceful marchers sat in front of vehicles and refused to return to the village as
they were commanded to do. Though they gave several warnings to the crowd to move back or be dispersed, the army did not
fire tear gas or live ammunition as they have done many times over the last three weeks. Protesters remained on the
site, about 50 meters from where the bulldozers were working, for almost two hours.
At one point, one of the soldiers seized a megaphone and said, "Listen up for a minute. Your war is not with us. It is
with the courts." The assembled men shouted at him, "No, this is different. The court said you have to stop working
here."
Az Zawiya is one of three villages in the Salfit region that will be completely enclosed by the Apartheid Wall. When the
wall is completed the villagers will lose 90% of their land. They will not be able to access their olive trees, which
are now the main source of income for the area.
For more Information contact: The International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS) Office: 09-2516-644 Hannah Mobile: 052 360
241 (English)
Anan Mobile – 064-485-027 (English/Arabic)
IWPS@palnet.com www.womenspeacepalestine.org
END =====================
3) Community Gathers to Remove Debilitating Military Roadblock in Kafr Labad ISM Tulkarem July 2, 2004 Tulkarem
[Kafr Labad] Today 300 plus villagers from the hilltop village of Kafr Al Labad, near Anabta, achieved a small victory
for Freedom, marching out and clearing multiple roadblocks on two of the major routes into the village.
In the mosque beforehand the Sheik preached the non-violent intent of the day: simply, the roadblocks that disrupt their
daily life were to be removed. Joined by nearly 50 international peace activists, including Israelis, whose intention it
was to provide protection by their presence, the villagers advanced in buoyant spirits toward the first roadblock. This
large obstacle comprised of huge boulders prevents road access to 3,000 neighbors in the village of Dhinnaba, and
crucially the well that provides the drinking water for the village.
A bulldozer was expected to make the task more feasible, but had not arrived when the party arrived at the first
roadblock. However, the men of the village did not hesitate to begin the task by hand, rolling several sizeable rocks
away, despite the oppressive heat. Women from the village also participated in the removal, while children collected
grapes and gave water to the internationals. Despite fears, Israeli military forces did not materialize, and the timely,
jubilant arrival of the bulldozer led to the final and rapid dispatch of the roadblock, with boulders and rubble cast
easily aside.
With this success the whole group was encouraged, and proceeded to another principal road, which leads south to Shufa.
This highway was more thoroughly blocked, with a succession of three mounds featuring the same large boulders, but by
coach, truck, and donkey, the group arrived and began the work again. These several obstacles had been erected in a
battle of wills between the village and the Israeli forces, wherein a roadblock would be erected, removed, then replaced
two-fold. The JCB devoured these with equal pace, however, as the afternoon wore on.
A wariness that the Israeli military might still intervene remained. In the past soldiers have responded to an attempted
removal in the village with tear gas, and on a day such as this the fumes would have been particularly potent. However,
there was no sign of the military until a late stage when a single Humvee was spotted, but it disappeared as quickly.
With the good fortune of this lack of lack of military molestation, and the successful clearance of all the roadblocks,
spirits were very high despite heavy fatigue. The villagers went down their reopened road clapping and cheering. “ISM,
ISM,” they chanted, and the internationals responded by opening a round of “free, free Palestine!”
Anim…. Said he was “glad and proud” and the outcome, and when asked what they would do if the soldiers replaced the
roadblocks the next day, he said “we will gather together again, and with (the internationals), try to open them.”
To read another personal account of roadblock removal in Kafr Labad, please see: http://www.palsolidarity.org/reports/writings/2Jul04_05_34_41TulkaremGail.htm
For photos, please see: http://www.palsolidarity.org/pictures/PHOTOS_2Jul04_05_28_43TulkaremISMTulkarem.htm
4) Another Roadblock Cleared ISM Tulkarem July 3, 2004 Tulkarem
Today a very formidable roadblock was peacefully removed 4 km outside the village of Nazla Ash Sharqiya. Roughly seventy
villagers, with an accompaniment of thirty international and Israeli activists, moved toward the obstacle that severs
the route to nearby Baqa al Sharqiya, as well as to the major highway. The much-used road was about to be laid with
asphalt when the roadblock was erected more than a year ago, not long after an earlier one had been removed. The
previous block had been removed with the aid of a tractor, but this time a privately owned bulldozer would join the
dismantling action.
On the road the party was intercepted by a small contingent from the Israeli in a jeep and a Humvee. The Palestinian
driver of the bulldozer, who spoke Hebrew, entered into a dialogue with the soldiers, explaining that their purpose was
peaceful. The soldier asked if the intention was to clear the roadblock, and hearing that it was, contacted his
commanding officer to ascertain if the Israeli military would permit this. Presently a positive answer was delivered and
the party progressed to the roadblock to begin work.
The bulldozer began work while the soldiers monitored the action from fifty yards away. The roadblock was composed of
some very large boulders- as large as small cars, as well as a great deal of rubble. The bulldozer cleared some of the
smaller objects, but was unable to dislodge the principal megaliths. The soldiers in the mean time expressed interest in
knowing about the Israelis in the group, but did not speak to any.
Just when it looked as if the party might have to withdraw unsuccessful, a second bulldozer, a more powerful JCB,
arrived from the opposite direction and began work. This vehicle was able to break up the larger boulders into
manageable pieces, which it began instantly to do. Over the next three hours both bulldozers worked steadily while the
soldiers looked on as if they were the bodyguards for the action, and not the original architects of the barrier. The
roadblock was completely cleared and the party retired in peaceful satisfaction, with happy activists and Palestinians
riding the dozers.
Given the uncharacteristically passive attitude of the Israeli forces, it seems this roadblock may remain open
indefinitely, but this is speculation only.
================
5) Palestinians Advocate for Prisoners’ Rights By: Max July 4, 2004 Tulkarem
As part of Palestine’s Freedom Summer Campaign, a large number of Palestinians gathered this morning to remember their
family members and friends who have been locked away in Israeli prisons. They brought pictures of their fathers,
brothers, sons, and also their daughters. And while many of the people expressed pain and sorrow for their disappeared
loved ones, they also made clear their outrage at the Israeli judicial system.
The demonstrators advocated for basic prisoners rights, including the right to proper health care and the right to
communicate with their families. Many families had not heard from their brothers, sons, fathers, and husbands since
their arrest, and are prohibited from visiting them to this day.
For photos, please see: http://www.palsolidarity.org/pictures/PHOTOS_4Jul04_06_03_37TulkaremMax.htm
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6) Protesters March on Salem Military Base
By: Catherine, ISM Jenin
July 4, 2004 Jenin
Today around 100 demonstrators, a relatively even mix of Palestinian families and international and Israeli activists,
held a peaceful demonstration at Salem military base to demand the release of political prisoners. The base at Salem is
associated with a detention center for the occupying forces that imprisons hundreds of Palestinian males, some as young
as 14 years old. The demonstrators held signs that said "Free Palestinian Political Prisoners" and "Fighting the
Occupation Is Not A Crime." Women held large photographs of their sons and husbands, while children in the demonstration
showed photos of their fathers, uncles and brothers.
At the military base, the demonstrators were met with five Border Police jeeps whose armed occupants had set up a coil
of razor wire across the road to the base. The demonstrators remained behind the line and continued to chant and hold up
their signs and photographs. Some of the marchers, including a father whose fourteen-year-old son has been held for two
and a half months, gave speeches about the prison and the occupation. When the demonstration ended many of the marchers
left their signs and banners in the razor wire. Although the occupation cuts off any contact between Palestinian
families and their imprisoned loved ones, the relatives of the Salem prisoners continue to express their support for
their family members and their resistance to the occupation.
For photos, please see: http://www.palsolidarity.org/pictures/PHOTOS_4Jul04_06_16_24JeninISMJenin.htm