27 arrested, 3 wounded during Sheikh Jarrah protest

Twenty-six Israeli Jewish anarchists and one international solidarity activist were arrested and three Palestinian children wounded during a nonviolent demonstration against the Israeli settlement project in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Friday.

Over 300 people, most of them members of the left-wing Israeli Jewish organizations Anarchists Against the Wall and Rabbis for Human Rights, attended the weekly vigil. Last week 24 people were arrested during a similar protest that was also violently dispersed by Israeli Occupation Forces.

The apartheid state security forces blocked the roads leading into Sheikh Jarrah in an attempt to prevent protesters from reaching the Palestinian neighborhood, but the demonstrators successfully broke through police lines by splitting into feeder marches and descending on Sheikh Jarrah from the side streets, back alley-ways, and rugged landscape behind the neighborhood.

When the demonstrators reformed their line and stood face-to-face with the police, protesters sat-down, linked arms, and sang anti-occupation chants in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. Police then moved in and began arresting the linked anarchists one by one. Most of the protesters suffered minor bumps and bruises while being dislodged from the human chain by the police snatch-squads.

“This event represents a legitimate and nonviolent protest of Palestinian, international and Israeli activists, against the ongoing campaign of evicting Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah," said protest organizer Assaf Sharon. "The police have been brutally dispersing these peaceful protests for the second week, while the Palestinian families live in constant fear of violent settler attacks.”

One Israeli Jewish anarchist who refused to give her name or city of origin grabbed a bullhorn and said:

"We are here today and every Friday to demand an end to the occupation of Sheikh Jarrah by the Israeli government and Jewish settlers. We call on the Israeli government to dismantle all settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. We are not using any violence. The only violence here today is the violence the police are using on us."

Towards the end of the protest a group of nearly 100 settlers entered the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and began throwing rocks at the house of a nearby Palestinian family. One 12 year old Palestinian boy was also chased into the street and beaten by settlers. Three Palestinian children were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

I asked a member of Anarchists Against the Wall why her organization came to the protest today. She also refused to give her name but said she was from Tel Aviv and that the anarchist organization counts more than 200 people as members.

"Well you will probably get a different answer from every one of us," she said in broken English. "But for the most part we talk about things like apartheid, occupation, and the racist nature of the Zion state."

A photo album of today's demonstration can be viewed at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2429735&id=14812438&l=e9db91a9dc

I'll post videos of both today's and yesterday's demonstrations as soon as I can.