WEST BANK: Israeli military court sentences Palestinian nonviolence activist to prison

An Israeli military court Monday sentenced Palestinian nonviolence activist Abdullah Abu Rahmeh to one year in prison and a $1,400 fine after it found him guilty of “incitement” and “organizing illegal demonstrations.”

Abu Rahmeh’s arrest had provoked strong international reaction, with some describing it as an attempt to silence freedom of expression.

The court gave the military prosecutor one month to appeal the decision and ask for a harsher sentence. The prosecutor had sought a sentence of more than two years to make an example of Abu Rahmeh.

Barring an appeal, Abu Rahmeh should be released in a couple of months because he has already served 10 months.

Abu Rahmeh is the coordinator of the Bilin Popular Resistance Committee against the Wall and Settlements, established in early 2005 to nonviolently resist Israeli annexation of Palestinian village land.

Bilin, a village northwest of Ramallah, is close to the “green line,” the 1967 de facto border between the West Bank and Israel. In the 1980s and '90s, Israel built settlements on land seized from the village and in 2004 seized more to build the separation barrier. Eventually, Bilin lost more than 60% of its farmland.

Abu Rahmeh and villagers, along with Israeli and international activists, began holding weekly protests in the village. Participants march to the area where Israeli bulldozers are working on the barrier, and as they get close, Israeli soldiers, on the other side of the barrier, shower them with tear gas.

Some of the protests have turned violent, and in some cases people have been killed. Palestinian teens throw stones at soldiers during the protests, and the Israeli military claimed that some of them said that Abu Rahmeh had told them to do so. Their testimony was used to convict Abu Rahmeh, who denied the accusation.

Before his arrest, Abu Rahmeh rejected Israeli claims that the protest organizers incited violence.

“We do not tell people to throw stones at soldiers,” he said. “Our protest is peaceful and nonviolent, and when kids throw stones, we tell them to stop, but we are not always successful.”

Several human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have condemned the arrest of Abu Rahmeh as an assault on the right of freedom of expression.

Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who visited Bilin to see the protests firsthand, called on Israel to release Abu Rahmeh. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a recent statement that the arrest of Abu Rahmeh intended “to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest.”

-- Maher Abukhater in Ramallah, West Bank

Photo: Abdullah Abu Rahmeh at the Israeli military court near Ramallah. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Popular Resistance Committee

Comments

[geo88a]

I don't know, until how long the U.S. is gonna finance this treacherous rouge state of Israel.
This is almost comical if it were not so serious!
Israel, my fellow Americans is not an ally. It's more like a welfare state.

[Dean Blake]

@ Joe - The Arab enclaves are the only titled lands these peoples legally own. The balance were state lands of the old Ottoman Empire allocataed to the Jews under UNR181. Their 'backs' border against Arab Jordan and Gaza while Israeli's back is up against the sea. If there were peace, the discontiguous border wouldn't be a problem any more than it is for Belgium and Netherlands.
The Barrier Wall makes Israel an enormous Jewish not Arab ghetto; Arabs can do business and cross borders at Jordan or Egypt. Arabs covet what is Israel's, but they can't even do anyting with what they have now. Arab economic and political failures aren't Israel's fault, its their own fault.
EXAMPLES: Turkey is holding traditionally Armenian as well as Kurdish national lands as is Iraq and Iran;
The Muslims have invaded and overwhelmed the Lebanese christians when Lebanon was first carved out of Syria to create a Christian haven for the descendants of the indigenous Phonecians who converted from paganism to be Marronite Christians;
Han Chinese are invading Tibet for its natural resources.
White Arabs keep pushing the proposed 'border' south into Black African Christian territory whenever oil is found further sourth occupying, raping and pilliaging the people and lands;
Canada carved out a 'park' where coincidently a diamond mine was found in western Canada seizing the lands from the indigenous Inuit peoples giving them nothing;
East Timor was created under the leadershp of a priest for Catholic Portugese descendants 'bagging' offshore deep oil rights killing off the local indigenous Muslim Indonesians for oil;
Sira Lanca - industrious Indian immigrants are subjugated and heareded into concentration camps by the native Cylonese;
Russia still occupies the Tartar Crimea and northern most Japanese Islands.

[Sensi]

Israel's so-called "liberal democracy" in all its splendor. What a parody of a banana republic justice, israeli military -again so-called- justice has a 99% (!) guilty rate for Palestinians "trials" (generally expedited in a matter of minutes, Stalin would be proud), it is a plain disgrace and is worthy of the worst totalitarian regimes. But hey it has the USA's blessing and backing! Congrats for enabling that.

http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20101010.asp

[Joe]

Dean, all the examples you mentioned are unjust internal problem of their respective countries, but only a few states are occupying (according to UN) a foreign land and holding their indigenous people in a reservations/ghettos without freedom of movement, trade and sovereignty!
Check out this present Israelis settlers map in West Bank to see these Palestinian ghettos and their boundaries and show us any other situation with a same similarity in any place on the globe!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11422065

[Dean Blake]

@ John Mohammad - The Israeli Court's ruling was in favor of the Palestinians! What they wanted they didn't ask for and the Court didn't give them as they wanted the Barrier moved in such a manner as to cut off the Israeli resettler village down the higway. The Court didn't rule that. Of course the Arabs coudn't ask directly for that outcome, but that was the motivation. Otherwise, the current complaint is that the villiage has to use the surface roads, the frontage roads to the highway to get to their lands as there is no freeway crossing because of the protective Barrier to stop them from sniper firing on passing cars with Israeli plates.

Contrary to your malign wishful thinking, Israel is gaining respect for administering the law. No one cares more about the palestinian Arabs than israel becasue they have to live with them one way or another. Certainly the Arab nations don't care except to use them as cannon fodder. The West dosn't care except as a useful distraction while we extract our oil out from underneath Saudia Arabia. The West doesn't care about people in Tibet being over run by Han seizing natural resources for China, the Darfur oil ploy of Arabs agasint Blacks, Ba'Haia and Christians in Iran, etc to act. What makes you dream of vicarious revenge?

No one cares about the Palestinians, including the Palestinians in Jordan who erected the world's largest mine field between them and their brothers to keep them out. They don't care enough about themselves to do something for their own benefit when under Jordanian rule; no colleges, no electricty, no water, no hospital - Israel built that for the Palestinians. Arab welfare queens on UNRA relief $.

[Jim]

All he does is spread hate and violence

BOYCOTT, DIVEST and SANCTION
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

[MissMarple]

It is too bad that the demonstration was NOT non-violent. If there were no violence, Israel would have no excuse to react, and arrests and detentions would be for short periods of time. After all, how can you justify holding someone for laying down on the street?

The Green Line: That is the 1948 cease fire line at the end of the war for Independence. It was not altered until 1967. It was never a border. None of Israel's neighbors would negotiate with Israel to have a border. Israel tried to give the West Bank back to Jordan, which first occupied in 1948, and then annexed. Jordan refused. When Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt, Egypt would only do it if they didn't have to take Gaza back. Gaza had been nothing but a problem for them since they occupied it in 1948.

None of this would have been a problem if Egypt and Jordan had done the right thing, and created Palestine with Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem as its capitol before June in 1967. They just didn't care about the Palestinians. Now, everyone is up in arms because Israel hasn't done what they want Israel to do, right now! Nobody complained before.

[John Mohammad]

Justice for Palestinians in an Israeli court? I'm thinking Jews in German courts in the 40's had about as much chance of getting a fair shake. Israel is turning itself into an international pariah more and more each day that passes. One day Tel Aviv's chickens will come home to roost- and take it from America: blow back for your national misdeeds can be painful.

[Dean Blake]

@ JOE: Arab governments need help from international oommunity to impose justice on their behalf since their fanatics, have paralized the palestinian Authority, she's one of the many impositions of Islam on indigenous peoples left to be rehabilitated since the end of WWII; mosques built on top of Hindo holy places in India, Cathedrals seized in Turkey (Sophia) and the tomb of John the Baptist in Aleppo converted to a mosque, mosques built on top of Jewish Holy Temple site; displaced all Jews from Arab lands and seized their synagogues taken as private property in 42 Muslim nations, Displace and seize assets of Ba'haia peoples throughout Iran. Palestinians denied entry to Jordan, the designated Palestinian homeland. White Arabs seize oil assets of Black peoples in southern Sudan displacing and murdering them in Darfur, etc. These Arab nations need to be brought to the World Court and sued for all those stolen assets and made to return holy sites to their respective owners. Yes, Joe, lets square up all the wrongs.

[Joe]

Jim by your definition there were no Thai peoples were living in Siam before 1939 too, Canaanites (wiped out by first Israelite settlers) were Semite as were Sumerians and Assyrians and Babylonians and ..., Arab is just modern generic name for all ancient Semitic people except Jews of course!

[Joe]

Israelis need help from international community to impose justice on her behalf since their fanatics mainly from E. Europe have paralyzed Israel government, she's one of few colonial outpost left to be rehabilitated after the end of cold war because of influx of such immigrants! Racist S. Africa and Balkan States, and S. American military junta's among others all have already been rehabilitated!

[Dean Blake]

This town of 1,800 is not entirely agricultural, its a bedroom community of Fatah employees working for the PA; hence the activitism. These Barrier matters at this location have been in and out of Court since 2004 and the barrier moved to accomodate the Plaintiffs complaints by Israeli Court order. There is also the issue of protecting the roadway and egress to Israeli villiages; Plaintiff's won, but not enough to satisfy them.

Every accomodation has been made per Wikipedia: "On March 15, 2010, Israeli soldiers entered Bil'in to post notices declaring a closed military zone consisting of the areas between the separation wall and the town. The order enforces the closure on Fridays between 0800 and 2000 during which the protests occur. While the closure does not apply to Palestinian residents of Bil'in, Israeli citizens and internationals are forbidden from entering the zone".

So, criminal Defendant incited protests above and beyond the permissable because Israelis Resettler protesters were forbidden to enter the area so he had no targets!! So he had the stone throwers target the Army to create a confrontation and was convicted. It really helps if people bother to do some fact checking.

Changes the whole story. There is no indication of obstruction of right of free speech or to protest, just the opposite, every accomodation was made and he escalated the confrontation with the authorities becasue his leaderhsip and protests were rendered ineffective.

[S Toren]

Support anti-semitism on the web!! Support BDS - BIAS, DEMONIZE, SLANDER.

The demonstrations in Biliin always end with stone throwing. Non-violent for the demonstrators means no firearms: for them stone throwing is a peaceful pursuit.

[Jim]

Israeli occupiers? Really? Jerusalem and Khevron were Jewish cities before the first Arab ever set foot outside the Arabian peninsula. How can Israel possibly "occupy" her own cities?

[Tim]

Israel is nothing but another former South Afrcia.Palestinians,being moslems or Christians, are treated like subhumans. Their houses are being demolished,their children are being jailed or killed on daily basis,their little farms are being bulldozed.Any Jew from all over the world is entitled for Israeli citizenship upon his arrival at Ben Gorion Airport, while the orginal land owners are not permitted even to visit the houses they were kicked from in Israel.The whole world should be ashamed of tolerating such an apartheid regime to cintinue in the 21st century. Israel as a pure Jewish state should not be permitted to continue anymore. Israel does have the right to exist but within its legal borders under UN resolution 181 and as a secular state for all its citizens regardless of their religion.Palestinian refugees must be given the right to return to their stolen homes and belongings in Israel.The only solution for this chronic dilemma is establishing one secular state on all the land of Historical Palestine for Jews,Moslems and Christians with equal rights and responsibilities and without any kind of descrimination.

[atrayu]

Why is this news? Israel is barely 22000 sq. km, or about three times the size of New York and one of the smallest countries in the world!

[Geoff Trapp]

Thank you, LA Times, for publishing the story. I only wish the editors chose to give it more prominence on the site.

Americans have been brainwashed by 62 years of Israeli propaganda to believe that Palestinians are the violent aggressors, and Israelis are the peaceful victims. The exact opposite is true.

Editors, you need to do a better job of re-educating LA Times readers on the facts of what is really going on by placing articles like this where more people will see them on the web site.

BOYCOTT, DIVEST and SANCTION

http://www.JewishVoiceForPeace.org

[David_G.]

Zionist apologists are always asking where is the Palestinian Gandhi, as if all that has been missing for these sixty years is someone to whom they could return the land they have stolen.

Now they know. Like Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, he's in an Israeli prison, along with the 10,000 other Palestinians rotting there. There are few Palestinian families without a husband, father, brother, or relative who has been imprisoned by Israel.

[Palestine Review]

...and this happened in the "only democracy in the Middle East."

Yeah, right.

Editor
The Palestine Review
http://palestinereview.com