by aspiringnomad, November 22nd
Five buildings were destroyed and three Palestinians were hospitalized by the Israeli military in al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya today. The Israeli army arrived at 5.30 this morning, allowing the occupants of homes just minutes to collect valuables and evacuate before their homes were demolished. The Israeli army claimed that the three homes and two agricultural structures were constructed without permits, despite ongoing court cases.
“I saw women convulsing and grown men weep…it was truly horrific witnessing the devastation of whole families’ lives”, said Alice from the International Women’s Peace Service.
Over a dozen Palestinians and international human rights workers climbed onto the roof of the third house in a show of peaceful non-violent resistance but were forcefully removed by soldiers who used excessive force, sound bombs and rubber bullets in an attempt to remove them. Seven people were shot with rubber bullets and three Palestinians were hospitalized.
International photographer Eric Bjarnaison said, “I was physically assaulted by soldiers who attempted to smash my camera”.
The Israeli military uprooted groves of olive trees, as well as breaking into other homes in search of “wanted” Palestinians. Material losses are estimated by municipal crews to run to over a million shekels. This area of Qalqilya lies close to Israel’s illegal annexation wall and the illegal colony of Qedumim, deep inside the West Bank.
Last week one person was killed and 30 injured during an Israeli house demolition near Qalqilya. Since 1967 Israel has demolished some 12,000 Palestinian homes, leaving over 70,000 without shelter.
The systematic demolition of Palestinian homes is an attack on an entire people, and an attempt to reduce Palestinians to a fragmented set of ghettos — under Israeli control.
Not only in densely populated urban areas where it is possible for some form of resistance to be mobilised, but even in small isolated West Bank villages: Palestinians continue to resist the Israeli occupation non-violently.
For more information contact:
ISM Nablus 059 907 6568
ISM Media Office: 02 297 18 24
Mob: 059 994 3157