|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|||||
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 International Solidarity Movement - Montreal MONTREAL JEWISH RESIDENT ASSAULTED BY ISRAELI ARMY IN PALESTINE Currently, Montreal resident, Aaron Lakoff is in occupied Palestine. Yesterday, Lakoff, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and several Palestinians were beaten for protesting construction of an Israeli settlement road through Palestinian territory near Hebron. If built, the new road will connect the two illegal Israeli settlements of Kiryat Arba and Hagai. In the Hebron district alone there are more than 120 km of bypass roads connecting the Israeli settlements and with Israel. These roads carve up the Palestinian areas into isolated ghettos. While attention is focused on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian violence, Israeli forces continue to invade, occupy, expand Israeli-only roads and settlements, kill, and capture Palestinians, and demolish their homes. This unsupportable collective punishment doesn't make news, but illustrates the unequal everyday reality of the violent conflict. "The road was being built to connect the Israeli settlements already received much opposition from local Palestinians," stated Lakoff. "We managed to force the demolition vehicles to retreat a few hundred meters, and everyone was cheering madly. All of the sudden, the army decided it was time for everyone to leave, and our non-violence tactics were wearing them thin. Three of us ISM activists were caught. I was grabbed, and immediately they started hauling me away. After about a minute, I had bad cuts all over my back, torn clothes, and a broken pair of glasses. See photo When the soldiers finally had me behind their jeep and away from the demonstration, one proceeded to hit me in the head with the butt of his riffle while another punched me in the face." Distracted by witnesses taking their picture, the soldiers released Lakoff. A Canadian and British ISM activist were detained, along with five Israelis from Anarchists Against the Wall. Two Palestinian men were injured, and one had to be hospitalized. Lakoff's photos of the demonstration: http://gallery.cmaq.net/album31 |