Israeli forces raid Palestinian NGO’s office in Ramallah

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat May 8, 2012 | Edit

Stop the Wall, a Palestinian grassroots organization, reports that Israeli forces raided the group’s offices, which are located in Palestinian Authority-controlled Area A, early this morning. The move points to Israel’s total intolerance of Palestinian resistance to the occupation.

Stop the Wall, a 10-year-old organization that advocates for non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation, reports:

At 1.30am this morning ten armoured jeeps of the Israeli occupation forces and intelligence surrounded and raided the offices of Stop the Wall in Ramallah. Israeli military stole 2 laptops, 3 hard drives and 10 memory cards containing files and photos as well as archive material relating to the work that the organisation does in opposition to Israel’s apartheid wall and the attack on Palestinian human rights that the wall and the settlement represent. This is a renewed attack upon Palestinian civil society and their struggle against the physical and psychological oppression, land confiscation and ethnic cleansing policies of the Israel.

It is no coincidence that the Israeli authorities have chosen this moment to escalate their repression against the Stop the Wall grassroots network of civil resistance against the Wall and the settlements, choosing to act on the same day that the Israeli High Court rejected the appeals of Palestinian hunger strikers Bilal Diab and Tha’’ir Halahleh, imprisoned without charge and without trial, effectively condemning them to death. Israel is fearing popular resistance and at the same time prepares for confrontation and more repression, clearly showing that it is not ready to relinquish any of the international sanctioned rights the Palestinian people are struggling for.

Area A is supposed to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority. So, Israeli forces either got permission from the PA to enter the area–another indication that the PA is just a puppet of Israel–or Israeli forces entered by their own volition. Either way, the raid shows that there is no place where Palestinians are fully in control of their lives. It also reminds that Israel will not tolerate any form of Palestinian resistance, even non-violent resistance.

Addendum: Israeli forces enter Area A frequently. The Israeli army admits to this, stating it conducts about six raids in Area A every night.

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat is a writer and independent journalist based in South Florida after almost a decade in Israel/Palestine. Her book, The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel's New Others (Pluto Press) was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. Her reportage and commentary has been published in The Nation, The NY Times, Haaretz, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian and many other outlets. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Slate, Guernica, the Jewish Quarterly, Narrative, and The Kenyon Review. She is currently working on a memoir.