Recent Activities

Water-cannon used against protesters

Roughly 1,500 protesters gathered in Bil'in today to celebrate the second anniversary to demonstrations against the wall in the village. Neither the large number of attendants nor the bigger than usual participation of Israelis (over 200) deterred the army from using severe violence against the demonstrators. Even the large presence of journalists, who were attacked themselves, did not sway the army to moderation.

Click here for a video of the demonstration, for a preliminary report by The Guardian or for coverage of the demonstration by The Guardian , Haaretz Daily and Ynet .

After reading the following statement, Jonathan Pollak was sentenced to 3 months in prison, that will be activated if he is convicted at a similar charge again.

Some of the defendants with att. Gaby Lasky

The trial of 11 activists belonging to the group Anarchists Against The Wall reached its end today after about three years. Seven of the defendants had their convictions for illegal assembly and destruction of public property set aside in exchange for 80 hours of community service. The verdict for three other defendants was postpone to the 18th of March because of a demand for combining these indictments with previous indictments for political activity. JonathanPollak received a three month suspended sentence.

In a packed courtroom, full of supporters the verdict was read in the first trial of the Anarchist Against The Wall group . The charges stemmed from arrests at a demonstration in front of the army headquarters on February 3 2004. That day marked the beginning of the proceedings in the international court of justice at the Hague about the legality of the apartheid wall. Earlier in the day the activists were prevented from reaching a demonstration near Tul Karem and in response they blocked Kaplan street, in front of the army headquarters and graffiti-ed its walls. .

Click here for coverage of the sentencing in Haaretz

Kobi Snitz's wounds being treated

Eleven people were injured today, after the army attacked the demonstration with a volley of teargas, concussion grenades and rubber coated steel bullets. An Israeli anarchist, Kobi Snitz, was repeatedly hit in the head with metal concussion grenades, used as brass knuckles. The scene took place as Snitz tried, together with others, to prevent a provocative arrest of a Palestinian demonstrator. He was later evacuated to Tel Hashomer hospital and had three of his wounds stitched.

A Palestinian activist digging to uncover evidence

On February 11th 2007, the Civil Administration's Planning Board published an ad in Ha'aretz to notify the public that it decided to approve the new scheme for the Matityahu East neighborhood in the settlement Modi'in Illit, on the lands of Bil'in west of the wall. Under the Planning Law affective in the West Bank, the scheme will be valid 15 days after the publication of the ad.

On that very day, a group of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationalists decided to provide a solid proof that the Planning Board approved a scheme although the conditions that very board stipulated were not met yet. And such a proof was indeed provided.

Soldiers pushing off a Palestinian demonstrator

Except for the nice weather which brought out larger than usual number of young people from the village, things progressed as the have usually done in the last few weeks. Of course, for the west bank, a typical demonstration includes the shedding of demonstrators' blood. This has become just as ordinary as speeches being made at a demonstration in other parts of the world. Several light injuries were inflicted by clubs and concussion grenades.

Click here to watch a video from the demonstration