[Peace-discuss] re: balata

[rohloff at uiuc.edu]

This is an important and upsetting update from our friends in 
Balata:




The regular nightly raids on Balata continue. People are 
taken out of their 
homes in the dark of night. Some are allowed to return, 
others end up in 
Israeli prisons, not to return for many years. 

Arabic speakers might have noticed that we haven’t posted 
updates to the 
news section of balatacamp.net for a few days. This is 
because one of the 
balatacamp.net workers, Kelly, was arrested by the Israeli 
Occupation Forces 
on Tuesday. She has been interrogated and held in detention 
since, and will 
almost certainly be deported to the USA at some point this 
week. She can be 
reached in prison on ++972 54 6346923. A longer report of 
what happened 
follows below. 

This will provide a significant setback to the balatacamp.net 
projects. The 
long-term international workers in Balata will go down from 
two to one.  We 
will be forced to refocus our workshops and activities. 
Hopefully, we will 
enable the Palestinian-led media groups [eg film collective, 
young 
journalist group] to work autonomously sooner, but this will 
be difficult. 

Any means that people can offer to help, whether financially, 
by offering 
time to help organise/administrate from your country or by 
coming out here 
yourself would be greatly appreciated. 

Please email info at balatacamp.net with questions and 
suggestions.
And continue to see www.balatacamp.net/~balata/website/
balata.htm for 
updates. 


 ----------------------------------------------- 

On Tuesday December 14, the people of Bil'in accompanied by 
international 
and Israeli activists and journalists marched peacefully 
against the 
construction of the illegal Israeli Apartheid Wall. The 
village of Bil'in, 
located west of Ramallah, has been told that three-quarters 
of its land will 
be confiscated and handed over to the neighbouring Israeli 
settlement during 
wall construction. 

The Palestinian demonstrators marched peacefully through 
their land, using 
their presence to obstruct the military surveyors planning 
the precise route 
of the Wall. To repress the nonviolent demonstration, 30-40 
Israeli Border 
Policemen fired tear gas and plastic-coated metal bullets 
into the crowd, 
before baton-charging those remaining. 

Kelly, who was filming throughout the demonstration, 
documented several 
Palestinians being dragged off for individual beatings by 
groups of 
baton-wielding soldiers. When the soldiers realized she was 
filming, Kelly 
was wrestled to the ground and dragged up the hill. Later, a 
second American 
was arrested for filming. 

Kelly said, "I was arrested filming the unprovoked attacks of 
gangs of 
heavily-armed soldiers on women and teenagers who dared to 
say, 'Stop 
stealing our land!' Israel depends on shooting mothers with 
tear gas and 
beating their children with batons to enforce the occupation 
and subjugate 
the people of Palestine. It relies on violence to quell civil 
resistance, 
yet tries to hide this fact from the world. That is why I am 
in prison." 

Since her arrest, Kelly has been stripsearched in an attempt 
to humiliate 
her and interrogated in the Ministry of Interior. She is 
currently being 
held in Hadera Deportation Centre, where a judge issued Kelly 
with a 
deportation order. Kelly has neither been informed of her 
charges nor been 
allowed to represent herself. She has not been told when she 
will be 
deported or informed of her rights. 

She can be reached in the prison by telephone at ++972 54 
6346923 and would 
appreciate messages of support Alternatively, emails sent to 
Kelly at riseup.net will be relayed to her.
Kelly is a journalist and community activist. She is working 
on various 
media production and training projects as part of the 
Balatacamp.net 
collective. See www.balatacamp.net/~balata/website/balata.htm 
for further 
information. Kelly entered the country legally in October and 
has a visa. 
She has never been deported or denied entry. 


_______________________________________

Peter Rohloff, PhD
Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology
Medical Scholars Program
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
217-333-4766