On Friday November 11th 2005, the residence of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, along with international and Israeli activists, rallied at the center of the village to prepare for their weekly act of civil disobedience and non-violent protest. Bil’in was once a small peaceful village located high on the hills of Palestine, inside the West Bank and north of Jerusalem. For thirty-eight years, a brutal Israeli military occupation has subjected the village of Bil’in, along with the entire West Bank, to unrelenting violence, seizures, curfews, and land appropriations that have violated the Palestinian peoples’ basic civil and human rights. The wall has now reached the village of Bil’in, threatening to cut the villagers off from two thirds of their land. Read more about VIDEO: Protests in Bil'in
The Israeli Ministry of Justice proposes a law that will allow non-residents of Israel who are suspected of having committed security offenses to be held almost completely incommunicado for fifty days. The bill, which is proposed as a temporary order that will remain in effect for one year, passed its first reading in the Knesset plenum on October 31. It will now be examined in Committee before returning to the plenum for the second and third readings necessary to enact into law. If enacted, the law will severely breach the fundamental rights of suspects in criminal proceedings, and increase the risk of maltreatment during interrogation. Read more about Bill enabling prolonged incommunicado detention passed its first reading in the Knesset plenum
In the Palestinian village of Bil’in the construction by the Israeli army of the wall through the West Bank has disastrous consequences. It will cut the villagers off from two thirds of their land, the main source of their livelihood. For the past year the villagers have been holding peaceful demonstrations each week to protest against the wall. They have been joined by Israeli and international activists. The weekly Palestinian-Israeli demonstrations and other activities in Bil’in have come to symbolize non-violent protest and solidarity between the two communities. The Israeli army has responded with unwarranted force. Soldiers fire tear gas, stun grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets, and often beat and arrest demonstrators. Read more about Solidarity in the Occupied Territories
Changing the map of the Middle East is difficult even in a literal sense. Last month the Electronic Intifada informed its readers of the blatantly inaccurate map of Israel which currently appears on MapQuest.com. As a result of our call to action, MapQuest received hundreds of e-mail messages from concerned readers. Initially responding with a boiler plate letter promising undefined future action, MapQuest ultimately refered writers to the Dutch vendor that provides their maps. Correspondence with the Dutch company has not resulted in any clear response commiting to update the maps, two weeks after they received our letter. Read more about MapQuest sidesteps requests to correct blatantly inaccurate map of Israel
From October 14 � November 15, 2005, Palestinian Ayed Morrar and Israeli Jonathan Pollak will be touring the United States speaking about Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine. The tour will visit New York, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Olympia Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida and Philadelphia. Ayed and Jonathan are friends and among the major figures in the Palestinian-led nonviolent struggle against Israel�s military occupation. Read more about Oct 14-Nov 15: ISM USA Speaking Tour on the Palestinian/Israeli Nonviolent Movement
During the first week of January 2004, Israeli minister of Justice Yosef Lapid warned his country about an international boycott. He told Israeli radio: “There is a very serious risk the World Court (International Court of Justice in the Hague) will rule against us …. and this is liable to prompt the General Assembly into imposing all sorts of sanctions against us”. Despite this, Israel has continued its occupation, including the construction of the Wall and expansion of the settlements in Occupied Palestinian territories. Lapid was right, the voice for economic pressure on Israel is becoming louder, especially from the churches. Read more about Churches speak out on economic pressure as a tool for peace
Anti-poverty campaign group War on Want today expressed shock and £2.2 million investment from the construction firm Caterpillar. The Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) has been examining whether its investments in Caterpillar are consistent with the Church’s ethical investment policy, which prohibits investment in arms companies. The EIAG has now rejected calls for divestment, even though Caterpillar has refused to rule out future sales of its products to the Israeli army. Read more about Church of England fails to rise to Caterpillar challenge
Recently, I was quite surprised to find that the map of Israel on the popular Internet site MapQuest presents the area of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights (Syrian Heights) as undifferentiated from Israel proper. In other words, as opposed to depicting Israel delineated by its internationally recognized borders, MapQuest displays the “Greater Israel,” which is the dream of many in the Israeli right wing. The realization of this “Greater Israel,” of course, precludes any possibility of the Palestinian people realizing their national aspirations. Read more about MapQuest.com obscures status of occupied territories
A robust and rigorous review of the Church of England’s shareholding in Caterpillar Inc – the US-based manufacturer of construction and mining equipment - has resulted in a decision by the Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) not to recommend disinvestment at this time. In May of this year, the EIAG committed itself to a period of consultation and engagement following representations made to it about the Church’s investment in Caterpillar. The Group was informed in its decision by the fact that there have been no sales for some years now, and this, together with possibilities in the present delicate political negotiations, made it the wrong time to recommend disinvestment. However, the EIAG was clear that, were sales to resume, the matter would have to be revisited. Read more about Church of England: "No current grounds for disinvestment" from Caterpillar
The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) would like to stress the fact that Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of the Northern West Bank, although welcome and long overdue in terms of the implementation of international law, does not constitute an end to Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian land. After implementation of the disengagement plan, Israel remains in charge, partially or completely, of border crossings and thereby continues to control the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza. PNGO would like to emphasize its belief that the unilateral Israeli disengagement, in and of itself, will not create an opportunity for peace between Palestinians and Israelis but rather preclude the attainment of a fair and durable regional peace for the foreseeable future. Read more about Israel's "Disengagement": The Day After
