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
