Press and independent media
743 resources in this category
Why Israel imprisoned my best friend
02/09/2010
[Electronic Intifada] When I was a boy I was still allowed to travel in Israel. I went to the beach and swam in the sea, something that most Palestinian children living in the West Bank today can only dream of. Israel has been restricting movement more and more over the years. We Palestinians were banned from traveling to Israel, the land where many of our parents were born. And now I find I cannot leave the West Bank. I was stopped from leaving the country on 4 August when I tried to cross the Allenby Bridge and reach Jordan in order to fly to Europe.
And just as Israel has gradually increased restrictions of where we can go, the boundaries of what is permissible to do as a Palestinian have narrowed markedly. We have reached a point where peaceful protest is unacceptable to the Israeli state and military legislation has been constructed to criminalize and throw in jail anyone who dares to publicly voice dissent.
Archbishop Tutu 'concerned' with Bil'in protester's conviction
28/08/2010
[Palestine Note] Rights groups and international officials, including EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, have decried this week the conviction of West Bank nonviolent protest leader Abdallah Abu Rahmah, and statesman Archbishop Desmond Tutu has released a statement expressing his concern over the conviction as well.
Palestinian Anti-Wall protester convicted by Israeli military court
27/08/2010
[Amnesty International] Amnesty International has condemned the conviction by an Israeli military court of a Palestinian non-violent political activist who has been detained since last December because of his involvement in protesting against the fence/wall which the Israeli authorities have been building largely on Palestinian land.
Facing jail, the unarmed activist who dared to take on Israel
26/08/2010
[The Independent] Though acquitted on two charges – including one of stone-throwing – Mr Abu Rahma, 39, a leader of the anti-barrier protests which have taken place every Friday for five years in the West Bank village of Bil’in, was convicted on Monday on another two: "incitement" and "organising and participating in an illegal demonstration".
He is in jail, awaiting sentencing next month. He was detained last December by troops who arrived at his Ramallah home at 2am in seven jeeps as part of what anti-barrier activists say has been an escalating wave of arrests of protesters in West Bank villages, angry about the barrier and settlements encroaching on Palestinian land.
EU rebukes Israel over conviction of West Bank separation barrier protester
25/08/2010
[The Guardian] Lady Ashton, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, today took the unusual step of publicly criticising the conviction in an Israeli military court of a Palestinian man in connection with protests against the West Bank separation barrier.
Ashton said she was "deeply concerned" the man may be imprisoned as a deterrent to others. The intervention, a week before the start of the first direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians for more than 18 months, is likely to irritate Israeli politicians. A government spokesman described it as "highly improper".
