Israel military court convicts anti-wall protester

JERUSALEM: A military court has convicted the Palestinian organizer of regular protests against Israel’s West Bank wall, prompting the European Union to express concern on Wednesday.
The court at Ofer prison, near Ramallah, on Tuesday convicted Abdullah Abu Rahma, 39, for "participating (in), organizing and inciting" protests in the West Bank village of Bilin, said the Committee against The Wall which he heads.
EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton expressed deep concern "that the possible imprisonment of Mr. Abu Rahma is intended to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest against the existence of the separation barriers in a non-violent manner," her office said.
"The EU considers the route of the barrier where it is built on Palestinian land to be illegal," it quoted her as saying in a statement.
A brother of the activist, Ratib Abu Rahma, stressed that the conviction "will not discourage people from protesting against the Apartheid Wall."
Regular demonstrations by Palestinian activists and foreign supporters staged for the past several years in Bilin and nearby Nilin, both close to the city of Ramallah, are billed as non-violent.
But they frequently turn into clashes between rock-throwing Palestinian youths and Israeli troops firing tear-gas and rubber bullets.
Israel says the barrier — a network of walls, fences and closed military roads — is designed to prevent attacks against the Jewish state and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
The Palestinians view it as an "apartheid wall" that carves off key parts of their promised future state.
Israel has so far completed 413 kilometers (256 miles) of the planned 709-kilometre (435-mile) barrier, according to UN figures.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will have been built inside the West Bank, taking land from Palestinian villages like Bilin and Nilin.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a non-binding resolution calling for those parts of the barrier that are inside the West Bank to be torn down and for further construction in the territory to cease.
Israel has ignored the ICJ ruling.