Earlier
today the team participated in a nonviolent direct action coordinated by the
Palestinian led Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC). A group of
eighty internationals, Israelis, and Palestinians also took part in the action.
The group entered an Israeli owned Rami Levi supermarket south of Ramallah and
proceeded to chant slogans and carry banners reading "Boycott the
Occupation and its Products." Upon leaving the supermarket, demonstrators
were forcibly denied access to the nearby highway by approximately forty
Israeli soldiers, police, and border police. The peaceful protest was met with
violence as Israeli authorities fired sound grenades into the crowd and
aggressively attempted to arrest demonstrators. Two Palestinian activists and
two internationals were detained and arrested, including one MPT team member*.
Two Palestinians were injured and evacuated from the scene by ambulance. Of the
two injuries, one resulted from a man losing consciousness following the
detonation of a sound bomb in his vicinity. The other occurred after an elderly
Palestinian man was robbed of his walking stick and physically assaulted by
security personnel.
*More details about team members arrest cannot be released at this time for security reasons.
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Rami Levi supermarket, near Israeli settlement, where activists demonstrated to “Boycott the Occupation and its Products.”
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Protestors march away from Rami Levi supermarket toward the
wall of forty Israeli soldiers.
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Soldiers force a physically-challenged elderly Palestinian
man to the ground, while taking away his cane.
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Israeli soldiers disgracefully shove elderly Palestinian man
to the pavement.
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International protestors scramble to pull a Palestinian activist
away from potential arrest
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Palestinian activist handcuffed and taken to secure area for
detainment and later arrest.
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Israeli soldier confronts a non-violent Palestinian activist
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Protestor is made unconscious by sound grenade thrown at his
feet, fellow activists work to revive him.
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By John & Sam
2 comments:
Time for Israel to "disappear"...like the USSR and other thug countries. Every day Ashkenazis are acting more and more like Nazis. Big, brave IDF goons abuse unarmed, peaceful citizens. So tell us again why the world is supposed to care what happened to the Jews in Germany. Before 1942, Aryans just did what Israelis do: abuse "the other" by restricting movements and rights and so on. It makes blood boil to see Israelis, given endless support from America, devolving into a blight unto the nations. Shooting civilians, breaking Arab kids' teeth, using violence against the non-violent. Enough. Israel's had 64 years to get its act together and has failed. The Nazis were gone in 12 years, Soviets in 69. Israel has 5 years then: kaput. It will either join the human race for be shunned as an arrogant, racist, colonial, militaristic, apartheid theocracy. And to think millions once believed Leon Uris' lies....
I am heartened by the actions of the Michigan Peace Team [MPT] team in supporting Palestinians, Israelis and other internationals in their nonviolent protests against the selling of Israeli products in Palestinian territory. The world must support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] against Israel. MPT comes as a peace nonviolent presence into scenes of violence to witness and support efforts for peace and justice. It works to reduce the violence. Great work team.
I am saddened, yet understand the anger, by the comment of Trevor [above]. MPT is a nonviolent organization which includes nonviolence in the way one writes and speaks. One does not write with hatred toward any people.
In reality what is good for Palestine is good for Israel. Israel has to change, but it will not change with hateful words, but by nonviolent protests, the truth of the injustice of occupation being told in every country of the world, particularly in the USA and strong international pressure including pressure by the USA. Nonviolence can work.
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