Thursday, May 29, 2008

Peace and human-rights volunteers needed in Palestine

IWPS calls for new volunteers
Peace and human-rights volunteers needed in Palestine


- Are you a woman who is interested in working for international justice?
- Do you want to support Palestinian non-violent resistance?
- Are you willing to accompany farmers while they harvest their olives
in the fall?
- Are you able to spend two weeks to three months in the rural West Bank?


The International Women's Peace Service (IWPS) is a team of
international women based in Haris, a village in the Salfit
governorate of the West Bank. IWPS provides accompaniment to
Palestinian civilians, documents and non-violently intervenes in human
rights abuses, supports acts of non-violent resistance to end the
military occupation of the Palestinian Territories – particularly
Palestinian women's resistance – and opposes the Wall.

Our project is run entirely by long-term and short-term volunteers. We
are currently seeking new volunteers, who ideally have experience in
Palestine and/or with non-violent direct action and political activism
in their home countries.Computer skills, technical skills and some
knowledge of Arabic are also useful. Volunteers are welcome to apply
from their home countries or from within Palestine.

The role of IWPS volunteers includes:

• Living and working in a village alongside the Palestinian people;
• Observing and providing written and photographic documentation of
human-rights abuses, both for use of the project and for use in your
home country;
• Accompanying farmers to their fields, especially during the olive harvest;
• Responding to emergency calls requiring mediation, intervention or
care, in coordination with the house team;
• Providing non-violent intervention in human-rights abuses;
• Engaging in acts of non-violent civil resistance alongside Palestinians;
• Assisting in the development of village profiles in Salfit in order
to document the long-term effects of the military occupation;
• Communicating with independent media and international press.

Want to find out more?

You can find out more about IWPS and what we do by viewing our website
at www.iwps.info , where you may also download our volunteer
information kit. You can contact us at our house in Haris, Salfit,
Palestine at iwps@palnet.com .

7 comments:

Unknown said...

'Olive Harvest' Activists Caught Destroying Jewish Vineyards

Jewish-owned vineyards in Samaria were once again destroyed by leftist “humanitarian groups” Friday. This time some were caught in the act and arrested.

Shortly after residents of the Shomron community of Dolev discovered Friday that a local synagogue had been burned to the ground overnight, they noticed that 3,000 plants in nearby vineyards had also been destroyed – the third case of major agricultural vandalism in the region in recent months.

Once again, vines had been torn from the ground and expensive irrigation equipment was damaged. They saw a group of foreign activists and Arabs heading toward an additional Jewish agricultural plot and alerted the police and IDF. The group fled, but three female activists from the United Kingdom were slower and were caught by police.

Destruction Under Guise of Humanitarian Assistance

Residents say the vandalism occurred under cover of the much-publicized PA Arab olive harvest. Local Arabs, joined by leftists – many foreign nationals – focus their harvest activities on trees abutting Jewish communities. This year, the IDF has been tasked with ensuring that Jewish residents do not leave their communities while the harvest activities are going on, citing fears of clashes. At least two administrative orders have even distanced to Jewish residents from all of Judea and Samaria for the duration of the harvest.

Adi Mintz, an area resident and member of the Yesha Council who is running for mayor of the region, said that the area residents have now received “clear a warning sign. Today it is synagogues and vineyards that are destroyed - tomorrow it will be the lives of human beings. The army must send in more forces to defend the residents of this area,” he said.

The owner of the destroyed vineyard, Shlomi Cohen, said the attack had caused NIS 60,000 of direct damage and would cost him an additional NIS 120,000 in lost produce. The damage was particularly severe because the attack took place during the shemittah (sabbatical) year, when Jews are forbidden to work the land.

British ‘Peace Activists’ Responsible

The three British women who were apprehended by police are accused of responsibility for the destruction Friday. Police also have evidence, however, that the women were part of the group that destroyed farm equipment in the nearby town of Neria in an earlier incident as well.

The women are activists with the International Solidarity Movement, a militantly anti-Zionist group that seeks to enable provocative actions against the IDF and Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, under the assumption that their foreign citizenship will raise the threshold on the response of security forces. The lines between ISM and local terrorist groups are quite blurry. In the past, British terrorists even carried out a suicide bombing after being embedded in an IDF cell.

Most of the vandals also take part in clashes with the IDF near the Arab village of Bilin. The activists were recently handed a victory by the Supreme Court, which ordered the IDF to move the security fence in the area of the weekly protests.

Unknown said...

12 Arabs Arrested For Damaging Jewish Vineyards

Police and IDF soldiers have arrested 12 Arabs for damaging Jewish vineyards at the Jewish community of Neria in Samaria. The arrests are a rare action in Judea and Samaria, where left wing activists often instigate violence and damage and then complain to police that Jews were responsible.

Police have made no arrests in previous uprootings of vineyards by Arabs near Efrat in Gush Etzion and in the southern Hevron Hills despite eyewitness testimony.

Suspects in Vineyard Destruction Admit to Crime

12 Arabs who were arrested on Monday for allegedly uprooting 3,000 vines from a Jewish vineyard near Neria last week have confessed to the crime, police said Monday night. Police did not say what evidence led them to arrest the Arabs.

Three British women were arrested over the weekend for participating in the same crime. The women were volunteers with the militantly anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement, a group that brings foreign leftists to Arab cities in Judea and Samaria in hopes that the leftists’ foreign citizenship will allow them to assist local Arab anti-Israel groups with impunity.

Unknown said...

Arabs Vandalize Jewish Olive Trees and Vineyards

Arabs in Samaria again have damaged olive trees and grapevines at fields belonging Jews in the community of Dolev, authorities said. The fields cover more than 12 acres, and rabbinic permission recently was given to plant after Arabs previously pulled out saplings. Planting normally is forbidden during the Shemittah (Sabbatical) year, but rabbis made an exception because of the threat to security by allowing the damage to remain unrepaired.

Security officials arrested a dozen Arabs two weeks ago, who admitted to having uprooted the plants. They still are in custody, and the latest destruction was carried out by another Arab gang.

Unknown said...

Leftists Join Intifada, 400 Saplings Uprooted

Leftists from outside Israel and local Arabs have joined forces to attack hilltop communities throughout Judea and Samaria, the Mabat news program reported on Channel One television. The latest attack occurred in the southern Hevron Hills community of Sde Calev, where 400 saplings were uprooted. Residents said that in the past several weeks an electric cable has been cut and a projector and locks were stolen.

The wave of attacks has included several intrusions at Dolev, in Samaria, where Arabs have repeatedly uprooted saplings. A similar incident occurred near Susia, and other attacks include the arson of a temporary synagogue at Yad Yair in Samaria.

Unknown said...

Arabs and Leftists Overrun Jewish Farm

Arabs in the southern Hebron Hills and leftists from the Christian Peace Task Force overran the agricultural area of the Maon Farm Friday morning, uprooted 50 olive trees and began to plow the fields until the army interfered.

The soldiers arrived within an hour after Jewish residents in the area saw the invasion, and several Arabs and leftists were being interrogated. The incident is the latest in a series of attempts to claim Arab possession of the area, although the Maon Farm has been farming the fields for 10 years.

Kim said...

Yishai, your back! I missed you so much. Thanks for your hilarious posts about the ISM and the CPT... I will pass it onto a few of them that I know, the colourful lies and plain absurdity of your posts will keep them laughing for days. And who said you didn't have a sense of humour!

Unknown said...

That's the thing: For you and other terror-supporters, terror is funny.

That's why Rachel Corrie became a pancake.

May there be many more.