[TOI-Billboard] Ominous day of Gaza pull-out - [TOI-Billboard] Archives at Zinester. Countries

-Today Israeli military forces leave the Gaza Strip after 38 years. But entry to and exit from the strip remains at least another half year under Israeli control, and meanwhile the government - in a sudden change of heart - decided to give the Palestinians a poisoned gift: the settlers' synagogue buildings. Attorney General Menny Mazuz is not pleased. He just succeeded to convince the Supreme Court of the earlier government position, dismantling of the synagogue structures. There are dissenting voices even from religious circles. No other than former Shas leader Aryeh Deri warns that such a decision could produce the spark for an all-out religious war between Jews and Muslims.

-Hundreds of Israelis who had been Friday in Bil'in learned the day after what revenge had been meted out to the Bil'iners with whom they had shared such an intense day of creative and non-violent protest:

"Where were you on Friday?" shouted the border police.
Hasam el Khatib, Ali abu Rahma, and Israh abu Rahma were beaten so badly that they have all ended up in hospital in Ramallah with concussions. [ISM report Sept.11 "Revenge on Bil'in".]

We open this billboard with Gideon Levy who chose this day to point at Hebron. After it Ofer Shelach's Yediot Aharonot editorial about the need to disengage also from the war mentality; a news report about an initiative of KM Ahmed Tibi to release all Gaza prisoners; Meron Rapaport's research of struggle routine, army practice and cover up in Bil'in; Hanan Ashrawi's call upon the international community; ISM alert about 3 internationals arrested today; Adam Keller's report on Bil'in 9.9 with links to photos, and a link to Occupation Magazine's weekly digest.

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The real uprooting is taking place in Hebron

Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz Sept. 11

(...) The focus now is on the tragedy of uprooting people from their homes in Gush Katif? The act of uprooting and expulsion in Hebron is incomparably crueler. The number of people expelled is much larger, and they remain without anything. No one is worrying about their plight.

Those who have not visited the city in recent years would not believe their eyes. In the territory under Israeli control - H2, or Israeli territory, according to the Hebron accord - they will discover a ghost town. Hundreds of abandoned homes, like after a war, dozens of destroyed stores, burned or shuttered, their gates welded closed by the settlers, and an all-pervasive, deadly silence. According to unofficial assessments, no more than 10,000 residents remain in this place. The rest have left their homes and property after no longer being able to bear the harassment from the settlers and their children. This is the largest disengagement in recent years; this is the real expulsion. (...)

MK Tibi submits bill for release of Gazans jailed in Israel

Yoav Stern, Haaretz Sept. 11, 2005

(...) Holding the prisoners after the completion of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip contravenes the fourth Geneva Convention, Tibi argued. When Israel leaves the Strip, he said, it should act like any other country leaving occupied land and release all the prisoners from that territory.

Symbol of struggle

Meron Rapoport Ha'aretz, Sept.9 (on the events in Bil'in of Sept. 2).

(...) A little after 1 P.M., a number of demonstrators phoned MK Zehava Gal-On of Yahad-Meretz and reported to her that there was shooting in the air and heavy firing of tear-gas and rubber bullets inside the village. She called Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim and asked him to look into the matter. When Boim got back to her, 45 minutes after the shooting had begun in the village, he told her that he had been told by the IDF that there was no firing of live ammunition in Bil'in or even shooting of the kind used to disperse riots. At approximately the same time, the IDF Spokesperson's Office issued its first formal statement, in which it explained explicitly about the use of riot-control means. In the response the office gave Haaretz on Saturday night, it said: "A senior IDF officer at the site had been forced to shoot warning shots in the air."

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=meron+rapaport&itemNo=622829

The International community has a role

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council calls
on the international community to prevent Israeli Premiere from seizing
Palestinian land in the West Bank and Jerusalem for colonial purposes.

http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=3971

Last news from ISM-Hebron

Sept. 11, 2005 - Three internationals have been arrested by Israeli police this morning
as they tried to escort teachers to their school in Tel Rumeida in Hebron.

full press release http://www.geocities.com/toi_billboard/ISM_Hebron.htm

Surrealism in Bil'in

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