At Wednesday night, seven Israeli military jeeps pulled over at Abdullah Abu Rahmah's residence in the city of Ramallah. Soldiers raided the house and arrested Abu Rahmah from his bed in the presence of his wife and children. Abu Rahmah is a high school teacher in the Latin Patriarchate School in Birzeit near Ramallah and is the coordinator of the Bil'in Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements. Following the arrest – a solidarity demonstration was held in Tel-Aviv Thursday evening. Some 150 demonstrators gathered in the smug center of Tel-Aviv to show their contempt to the Israeli methods of breaking the popular resistance in Palestine in general, and its brutal manifestation with the arrest of the prominent leader. Following the call "End political repression – long live the popular struggle" the demonstrators stood for hours and chanted various slogans against the Israeli apartheid, the wall, the occupation and Abu Rahmah's arrest.

Solidarity Demonstration with Abdullah Abu-Rahmah

The following morning, a total of about 25 Israelis and internationals joined the Palestinians of Bil'in for a relatively small demonstration against the wall. The focus of the protest was the arrest of Abdullah Abu Rahmah, whose prominent presence in demonstrations and attempts to curb the use of stones and gas canisters made him such a dangerous person, that the Israeli army had to break into Ramallah in the middle of the night to abduct and arrest him. The new border police soldiers were very eager to spend gas canisters, and the wind made it difficult to maintain steady presence near the gate, which was nevertheless opened by the demonstrators. Many suffered from gas inhalations, some were bruised, and some went on to the demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah. 

In Ni’lin, a few dozen protesters participated in the weekly protest against the wall. The demonstrators marched from the village to the route of the wall. The army dispersed the demonstration with tear gas. After an hour & a half of confrontations, the soldiers invaded the village fields. For another hour, the village youth confronted the soldiers in the fields, until the soldiers returned behind the wall. There still, the soldiers met demonstrators' resistance. One protester was lightly injured by a 0.22 caliber bullet in his leg.

Demonstration in Ni'ilin - December 11 2009

In the meantime, around 200 men and youths from Shuqba village (a neighbor village to Ni'ilin), fortified with activists from nearby Budrus and Ni’lin, and five Israeli activists, marched through the hilly countryside from the village centre to the site of the enormous quarry built by Israel on its land. About two dozen youths entered the quarry, and manifested their discontent with the theft of the village's resources for the benefit of the Israel’s settlement project.

Demonstration in a quarry near Shuqba - December 11 2009A small number of soldiers fired a few teargas canisters at the protesters, and called reinforcements. Approximately 10 minutes later, several army and border police jeeps arrived and the soldiers proceeded to clear the protesters off of the quarry site, and remove the flag hung by protesters on the heavy equipment in the site. A small number of the village youths, who withdrew to the hillside overlooking the quarry threw some stones at the jeeps. Soldiers fired more tear gas at the protesters, including at least one “extended range” canister, of the type that killed a demonstrator and severely injured others. The demonstration ended with no injuries recorded.

Demonstration in a quarry near Shuqba - December 11 2009

The weekly demonstration in Ma'asara chose the title "We are all Abdullah Abu Rahmah". At 12:00 the villagers of Ma'asara gathered in a protest along with Israeli and international activists. In their weekly demonstration in solidarity with the coordinator of the popular committee in Bil'in village Abdullah  Abu Rahmah that was arrested two nights before in his house in Ramallah.
The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners in solidarity with Abdullah  Abu Rahamah. The protest also commemorated the 42nd anniversary of the Palestinian organization DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine).
The demonstrators chanted against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and called for a national unity among the Palestinians. When the protest reached the fences the army had put on the main road of the village, the protesters tried to remove it and the soldiers violently dealt with the protesters.
In his speech, Mohammed Banat, a member of the popular committee against the wall in the village, talked about the Israeli behavior against the Palestinians, and its sharp contrast to the values celebrated today - the international day of human rights.

Some of the demonstrators in Bil'in & Ma'asara joined other to the Friday march from Western Jerusalem center to Sheikh Jarrah. More then 150 people marched to show support and solidarity with the families who has been evicted from their houses, and those facing evictions. Upon arriving at the neighborhood, the protesters continued to the Al-Kurd’s home where settlers have taken over parts of the house, making the Al-Kurd lives a living hell.
The marchers chanted and spoke against the settlers and the protection they receive from the Israeli Courts in their attempt to remove all Palestinians from East Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, the police and Israeli soldiers protected the settlers and expressed their banal and blunt opposition to the protesters in words (“why are we suppose to be around those who are against Jews?”) and later in actions.

Demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah - December 11 2009After an Israeli flag which represents colonialism and more then 60 year of apartheid and ethnic cleansing was removed from the stolen settler house window, the police charged the protesters, beating and arresting 23 people, three of them internationals. Requests by some arrestees for medical attention after being pepper - sprayed and beaten were ignored by the police. While one arrested demonstrator was lying on the ground and calling for help while expressing deep pain in the police station, the cops were watching videos taken at the protest, and talking casually between themselves. After an hour the police officers finally agreed to call an ambulance, but refused to allow medical personal to evacuate the wounded person (although a medics insistence on it). He was allowed to be taken to a hospital only after the intervention of lawyers.
All the protesters were eventually taken to the main police station in Jerusalem, where they were left to stand outside in the cold night for hours. Six protesters were signaled out by the cops, deeming them to be the “leaders” and the instigators of the demonstration. Many requests to see lawyers were ignored and silenced and all of the arrested protesters were charged of attacking police personal, rioting, and refusing to disperse.

Demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah - December 11 2009
The five women who were arrested were taken to the general population in a women prison and requests by one of them for medical attention were also ignored. The eighteen men were taken to the police detention center in Jerusalem and brought to the Jerusalem court Saturday evening. Although it is illegal to arrest a person for more then 24 hours without a judge decision, the arrestees were held for more then  36 hours before seeing a judge (and more then 12 hours without being fed).

In front of the court, around 200 demonstrators gathered Saturday evening to show their support to the arrested, and protest against the brutal Israeli methods of expulsion of the Palestinians in Eastern Jerusalem. For more than 8 hours, stood the demonstrators in the cold night in front of the court, chanting & drumming. The outnumbered policemen on the scene had little to do but threat the demonstrators with arrests.

Demonstration in front of the Jerusalem court - December 12 2009

The demonstrators confronted the Immigration officers that arrived to the court and abducted the three international arrestees. After the Immigration van did manage to leave with the arrestees with the support of the policemen, the last disappeared. That, in order to allow a group of a dozen drunken right-wing youth to provoke the demonstrators. That they did, with sporadic punches and pushes. After realizing their little game didn't yield the outburst of violence that would allow the arrest of the demonstrators, the police ordered the provocateurs to leave the area. The energetic chanting & drumming carried on till the last arrestee was released from court. Fortunately enough, the 3 international activists were later released from the Immigration Police facilities, following a threat of appeal to the Supreme Court against the illegal arrest.

Demonstration in front of the Jerusalem court - December 12 2009