Suleiman Mansour is one of Palestine’s most renowned painters. Active in the Palestinian artist community since the 1970s, he has contributed greatly to art education and promotion in the West Bank. He is a co-founder of the Wasiti Art Center in Jerusalem, and is also a member of the “New Vision” artist group, which focuses on the use of local material in artwork.
On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba in 2008, Suleiman Mansour was interviewed at the Palestinian International Academy of Art in Ramallah about the struggles of Palestinian cultural producers over the decades, and what the significance of art is in the face of this historic milestone.
Adeeb Abu Rahmah was arrested on 10 July this year, and is still held in custody for taking part in organizing the village’s demonstrations. Demonstrators wore masks of his face and called for his release.
Two injured and several demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation from canisters thrown at them by the Israeli occupation soldiers in their attempt to suppress the weekly protest of Bil’in citizens and solidarity groups.
In September 2009, the Goldstone Mission published a 575 page report based on the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (download report). The fact finding mission was established by the UN in April 2009, following the 23 day war in Gaza which killed over 1,400 hundred Palestinians, including 353 children. Eighteen Israelis were also killed during the conflict.
The Report not only deals with the direct impact of the war but also considers the broader effects, including the effect on Palestinian children from the West Bank detained by Israel during, and immediately after, the offensive.
Photo: Freda Gutman Former Palestinian political prisoner Linan Yosif Abo Gholbi.
On Monday, October 5, 2009, a group of ISM’ers visited Linan Yosif Abo Gholbi in her extended family’s home near Nablus, at the invitation of Tanweer, a grass roots organization based in Nablus. She is one of the 20 women prisoners who were recently released from Isreali prisons in exchange for a video from Hamas proving that Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006, was still alive.
Generations of Linan’s family have been fighters and PFLP activists in the Palestian struggle for justice. Many have died, many have been imprisoned. Her parents have spent years visiting their children in various prisons and at the moment one of her brothers is in jail.
Sometime in 1846, Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail because he refused to pay his taxes. This was his way of opposing the Mexican-American War as well as the institution of slavery. A few years later he published the essay “Civil Disobedience,” which has since been read by millions of people, including many Israelis and Palestinians.
Kobi Snitz read the book. He is an Israeli anarchist who is currently serving a 20 day sentence for refusing to pay a 2,000 shekel fine.
Photo: Dan Owen. Israeli military forces repressing demonstrations in Bil’in, Palestine.
On 23 September 2009, Defence for Children International (DCI), along with 14 other European and international humanitarian, development, human rights and peace organisations, sent a letter to EU ministers of foreign affairs attaching a briefing paper highlighting nine key inconsistencies in the EU’s approach to the Middle East Peace Process. The briefing paper also includes recommendations as to how the EU can rectify these inconsistencies.
September 29, 2009, DCI-Palestine submits to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Photo: Palestinian children walk along the Israeli apartheid wall in Palestine.
On 29 September 2009, DCI-Palestine submitted 11 cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. The cases arise out of three incidents where the Israeli army entered Palestinian villages in the middle of the night and rounded up children en masse, accusing them of throwing stones at the Wall and settler by-pass roads in the West Bank.
The first incident occurred in the village of Tura al Gharbiya, near Jenin, in the early hours of 19 January 2009. Units from the Israeli army took children as young as 12 years old from their homes and interrogated them in the village youth centre before transferring them to an interrogation and detention centre. The children report being beaten and threatened into providing confessions stating that they threw stones at the Wall.
