1- Non-Violent Demonstration Against the Wall in Ar-Aram Attacked by Israeli Military
2- The double standards of the Israeli Army.
3- Shabbat+ new soldiers + new settlers .
4- Report on Razor Wire closing entrance to the track leading to the Al Azzeh homes.
5- UK Training for Freedom Summer.
6- Warmongers EDO Corp. Surrender in British High Court.
7- Settlers Torch Cars, Beat Residents.
8- Harassing students in Jenin.
9- Settlers Assault Humans Rights Workers in Hebron – Soldiers Refuse to Intervene.
Non-violent Demonstration Against the Wall in Ar-Aram Attacked by Israeli Military
May 14, 2006
by ISM Media Office volunteers
Saturday 13th May: Around 800 Palestinian and 200 Israeli and international demonstrators, representing a broad coalition of people, united in a march to call for the dismantling of the Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian town of Ar-Ram, just north of Jerusalem. With the participation of schoolchildren, teachers, neighbourhood residents and representatives of all the different Palestinian political parties, it was carefully prepared as a non-violent protest. It was well disciplined, with a line of organizers at the front of the march preventing any impatient youth from provoking a confrontation with the soldiers.
The large, peaceful march was headed by a children’s marching band. Despite this, it was violently attacked when Israeli Border Police shot round after round of tear gas at the demonstrators as it approached a checkpoint, forcing demonstrators to flee for cover in nearby homes. Chief Muslim Cleric, Sheikh Taiseer Tamimmi, Palestine Chief Justice, was among the injured, IMEMC reported. A few children in the crowd then responded with rocks to the tear gas attack. As is their standard practice, the Border Police afterwards lied to the press, saying that they were attacked by the demonstrators, and it seems that all the press (including al-Jazeera) took their lies at face value. We have photos and video footage proving that the demonstration was peaceful and was attacked by the Israeli soldiers.
The Border Police continued to shoot tear gas preventing protesters from regrouping. They also denied the entry to many Israeli activists through Ar-Ram checkpoint from Jerusalem, forcing some to crawl through the fence and others to hold a solidarity protest on the other side of the fence.
In conjunction with the regular Israeli police, the Border Police arrested 11 people – 7 Palestinians and 4 Israelis, including one man who it seemed was arrested for carrying the Palestinian flag. They also confiscated the protestor’s signs saying they wanted them “for evidence”. The three Israelis were all released that afternoon, but all the Palestinians were accused of stone throwing (supposedly “endangering people’s lives”) and participating in an “illegal protest”. They were taken to the Russian Compound jail in West Jerusalem and held overnight. All seven were released today (the 14th) on condition that they will have to return to court if the state decides that they will be proceed with prosecution.
The Wall divides the main street of Ar-Ram in two. Contrary to the myth popular in the Israeli and international press, the main effect of the Wall is to divide Palestinians from each other, because it is built within Palestinian territory, and not on the internationally recognized 1949 armistice border, or “Green Line”. It has critically damaged the life of the residents of Ar-Ram. It has divided families, stopped workers from reaching their workplace and cut off teachers and students from their schools; in fact, three schools have already been forced to close.
The mayor, Sarhan Al-Salaimeh, stated after the demonstration that Palestinians will continue their joint activities with Israelis and internationals against the occupation and the wall and for a peace that is just for both peoples.
This was a continuation of demonstrations organized by a broad coalition of forces in the Jerusalem area including: the Ar-Ram Council, the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall in the Jerusalem district (which represents districts and villages surrounding Jerusalem on both sides of the wall), the Concord for Jerusalem, the Islamic and National Parties in the Jerusalem area, the Palestinian National Initiative (former Presidential candidate and Palestinian MP Mustafa Bhargouti’s party), The Stop the Wall campaign, the International Solidarity Movement, Anarchists Against the Wall, Gush Shalom, Ta’ayush, and other Israeli peace organizations.
For pictures: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/14/non-violent-demonstration-against-the-wall-in-ar-ram-attacked-by-israeli-military/
Gush Shalom site: http://www.gush-shalom.org
The Double Standards of the Israeli Army
May 14th, 2006
“I Am Not a Good Jew”: Israeli Soldier Brutality and Incompetence
An editorial by a human rights worker in Hebron
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/14/the-double-standards-of-the-israeli-army/
Israeli settler children throw rocks while soldier does nothing
Yesterday I went to the demonstration in Bil’in which started out fun and happy, with people singing songs and generally having a good time as we usually do at these demonstrations.
Upon confronting the soldiers there was some pushing and shoving, some sound bombs were tossed into the crowd by soldiers, and soon the soldiers started firing rubber coated metal bullets without provocation. Two ISM activists were hit in the head with rubber bullets, one seriously. He suffered a brain haemorrhage but doctors say he is going to be okay. The other ISM activist required stitches.
So, this is what happens at demonstrations. This is how the soldiers react. Are you ready to learn about what happens when soldiers are put in a situation where they are supposed to control violent Israeli settlers? Ok here we go!
Today in Tel Rumeida, a fellow ISM volunteer and I were walking a Palestinian child home. In order to reach his home, he has to pass by the Tel Rumeida settlement where settler children and teenagers were standing around, waiting for him to pass so they could throw rocks at him. This happens on a daily basis, so we are prepared.
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/14/the-double-standards-of-the-israeli-army/
We accompanied him so that, hopefully, the rocks would hit us and not the child. I had a video camera ready to record the rock throwing. We walked up the hill and, predictably the kids started throwing rocks. There were three soldiers standing around who — instead of controlling the children — came after me.
They asked me to stop filming, I said no. They demanded that I give them the camera, I refused. Then, as the settler children were throwing rocks and me, my fellow ISMer and the Palestinian child, the three soldiers tried to take the camera from me. They were unsuccessful because they were fat and they have not studied Kung Fu.
While my fellow ISMer was trying to get the soldiers to control the kids, a teenaged settler girl said “Jews do not throw rocks, Arabs throw rocks,” and she was standing in front a bunch of settler children who were throwing rocks at us!
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/14/the-double-standards-of-the-israeli-army/
At this point more soldiers arrived. I asked them to control the settler children so the Palestinian child could go home. They told me they couldn’t control the children. I told them, “All it would take to control these kids is some tear gas or a sound bomb, or, you know, how about some rubber bullets or live ammunition like you shoot at Palestinian kids who throw rocks?”
They kept covering the lens of my camera with their hand and I kept avoiding them. At one point three soldiers and a bunch of kids cornered me. The soldiers tried to take my camera, and the kids hit and kicked me. When I used my arms to block their attacks, the settler girls who were attacking screamed at me “don’t touch me, you fucking pedophile, you’re just filming so you can go home and masturbate to your porno.” and “The Arabs will kill you if you don’t watch out, just like they kill the Jews.” I said “I am a Jew and they don’t kill me.” A teenaged settler girl yelled back “You are not a good Jew!”
Eventually, I decided it would be better off if I went up to the apartment to film. That way I would not get attacked. A soldier saw me retreating, and tried to take my camera again. He was unsuccessful. I began filming from the second floor balcony of the apartment building. I caught the soldiers and settlers attacking members of TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron). As soon as the settlers saw me filming, they started throwing rocks at me again and yelling they hope the Arabs kill us.
In my opinion, if these people want to get good at throwing rocks, they ought to take lessons from the Palestinians, because they couldn’t hit a fucking elephant if it was standing in front of them. Eventually I went into the apartment to film from the window so I would not have to dodge rocks. The police finally arrived and the situation died down.
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/14/the-double-standards-of-the-israeli-army/
So, this is the irony of the situation. Palestinians and internationals peacefully demonstrate and get shot with rubber bullets. Israeli settler children throw rocks and hit and kick people and the soldiers refuse to stop them and instead attack the internationals.
Later in the day I was down on Shuhada street with another ISMer and settler children began throwing rocks at us again. The soldiers made a halfhearted attempt to control them but gave up. I called the police. The children kept throwing rocks and tried to prevent a Palestinian family from passing. I went over to where the family was and attempted to escort them past. The kids kept throwing rocks and the soldiers kept doing nothing. After I made a second call to the police, they finally showed up and got the children under control. I asked the police officer to remain there to control the children. He told me I should leave if I didn’t want to be attacked. Fortunately though, he stayed and got the children under control. After about 20 minutes, he left and the children began throwing rocks again.
So, this is Tel Rumeida during Shabbat, the Jewish holy day, and the Jews here act like fucking animals. I wonder, what would Moses do if a Palestinian child was walking past him. Would he throw rocks? Are Jews obligated under Jewish law to throw rocks at Palestinians? I feel like I am obligated under human law to protect anyone from attacks from these fucking religious extremists.
Oh, and by the way, while I’m still pissed off, I should write about the fact that Palestinians here are suffering severely from the funding cuts. People are so poor. A friend of mine who works for the Palestinian Authority hasn’t been to work in 20 days because they can’t pay him and he has $30 to his name.
The international community is punishing Palestinians because they voted for Hamas and it’s turning into a tragedy. One man told me today that economically, the past 3 months has been the worst it has ever been. So please, people in the United States, if you have not written to your congressperson to vote against the so-called Palestinian “anti-terrorism act,” HR 4681 You can do this by email here.
Shabbat+new soldiers+settlers=ouch!
May 13th, 2006
By Mary, a 75 year-old ISM volunteer in Tel Rumeida
Shabbat, new soldiers and violent settlers make a very unpleasant day.
At 11am, I was at the Tel Rumeida crossing waiting for children to come from the Qurduba school. The Palestinian Abu Aeshah girls, who live in the Israeli Tel Rumeida settlement came. I accompanied them towards the settlement. The soldier outside the settlement told me to stop and go back. I said that I would go back if he would watch the girls to their house. There were Israeli settler children outside. They often attack the Palestinian children. The soldier seemed more interested in watching me than the children and did not help.
At 11.15am the Al Azzeh children arrived. They walk along a track next to the settlement. There were settler children at the entrance to the settlement, so an EAPPI human rights worker walked up to the track with them. The settler children started to throw stones at the Palestinian children so other EAPPI human rights workers and I went up too to stand between the Palestinians and the stones. The soldiers tried to push the children back to the crossing for safety instead of controlling about 8 settler children, who were throwing stones. I came between the soldier and 14 year old Janette. It is not right that an eighteen year old soldier should be standing with his body so close to a young girl, who is already under attack. More soldiers came but the stone throwing continued further along the track and the Palestinian children were not able to pass. Three TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) workers arrived to observe the incident. Finally the police were called and came quickly. They were able to control the situation and the children were able to reach their homes.
I told the police and soldiers that there would be other children needing to pass from 12.30 to 1.30pm. The police said that the soldiers would look after this and that they would be patrolling. TIPH agreed to stay until all the children were home.
At 12.35pm, one of the Abu Aeshah boys arrived. I walked with him up towards the settlement. There were now two soldiers on duty outside the Tel Rumeida settlement.
They would not let me pass and were watching me instead of the Palestinian boy. I finally convinced one of them to look the other way. The boy got home safely but Israeli settler children were beginning to come to the entrance of the settlement and waiting.
At 1.00pm, Samir Abu Aeshah arrived. I walked with him towards the settlement followed by another international with a camera. Israeli settler children came out of the settlement. Girls came right up to us abusing and yelling at us. Twenty young settler boys threw stones at us. I was hit several times. There were eight soldiers pushed us back towards the crossing. They did not stop the stone throwing and tried to stop any filming. Samir Abu Aeshah ran to hide in his uncle’s house. Another six soldiers arrived and attacked our person who was filming. They also attacked a woman from TIPH, who was taking photos. Israel recognizes TIPH and they are allowed film anywhere. I was being hit by stones. As a soldier was telling me to go back, settler boys were coming round behind me and throwing large rocks at my back. I was then it on the head with a rock. Settler children were now nearly to the crossing and still attacking and I was outside my house.
I called the DCO, saying that I had been hit with 12 stones and rocks and had been hit on the head. She agreed with me that this should not happen. Another army jeep arrived. There were now twenty soldiers, about twenty violent young settler boys, ten abusive settler girls and many settler adults including Sara Marzel (wife of Baruch). Some of the soldiers started grabbing the boys who resisted and kept throwing stones. The girls kept coming right up to me and abusing me. The settler adults watched and did nothing to help or control their children. I called the police. When they came they were able to control the situation but there was still no way to get Samir Abu Aeshah home.
Some of the Israeli settler children and adults walked to the Jewish cemetery followed by and army jeep. I went in the Israeli police jeep to make a complaint. Sometime later, Samir came out of hiding and walked home by himself, with no support from the soldiers.
Report on Razor Wire closing entrance to the track leading to the Al Azzeh homes
May 13th, 2006
By Mary Baxter May 11th 2006
When razor wire was placed across the entrance to the track leading to the Al Azzeh homes in December 2005, it was done at the instigation of Israeli settlers from Tel Rumeida settlement.
The children of the Al Azzeh family need to pass it in order to get to school every day.
The razor wire has been placed in a way that an adult and some teenagers could open it. An elderly person can not open it nor could the younger children. The wire was coiled, with coils of larger than 1 metre diameter and opened like a very wobbly gate. Younger children were dependent upon an Israeli soldier being helpful.
When the family appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, the court issued an order that they should be allowed to access their home freely. But the soldiers were not briefed as to the court order that the family could pass and the Tel Rumeida settlement women would come out and tell the soldiers that the children were not allowed to pass. This often causes problems when children came home from school.
In February, someone (settler or soldier) placed a heavy sandbag on the wire near the opening. This made the wire too heavy for Janette or even a soldier to open up. So, a soldier helped tread down the wire and the children were helped across it. This was very difficult for the younger children.
On one occasion, a seven year old girl was by herself and had trouble crossing the wire. The soldier on duty would not help so a seventy-five year old ISM volunteer tried to help. The volunteers clothing got caught on the wire and she fell over, luckily not on to the wire. The soldier present did nothing. On some occasions, a helpful soldier held down the wire with his foot while the children passed.
In March, someone (soldier or settler) adjusted the razor wire so that the coils were of full height. This meant that the children had to go round the top of the wire on a narrow steep path which was difficult for the older girls with schoolbags on their backs. The younger children always needed help. Then, towards the end of Passover, a soldier pushed the wire so that the narrow path becam
e extremely narrow. The older girls needed help and the younger children could only pass if an adult met them on the other side of the wire.
Last week, a helpful soldier managed to help fix the wire so that it could be opened at another place. The older girls were able to open it like a gate again. But then someone (settler or soldier) put a sandbag at that place, making the wire too heavy to lift open.
Another soldier tore the sandbag so that the sand fell out and no longer weighed the wire of the opening down.
Today, the older girls were able to open the wire. This was necessary because the soldier outside the settlement told ISM volenteers that he would not help the children. One of the soldiers on duty near the ISM apartment referred to Palestiniansas animals, when he detained them for no reason for 45 minutes.
At times, the soldier on duty refuses to believe that the court order exists. He will point to the wire and say that it would not be there if the children were meant to pass. It is not surprising that he would think this. It is hard to believe that children are expected to pass razor wire.
On one occasion recently, the children were held up by a soldier for an hour until the police came and said that they could pass. The same soldier aged 19 years was standing over a 14 year old girl, very close, trying to force her away.
UK Training for Freedom Summer
May 9th, 2006
London, May 27th/28th
Freedom Summer Campaign: July-August 2006
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/02/19/freedom-summer-2006-building-bridges/
Join us for our pre-travel training in London which compliments the compulsory two day training you will receive in Palestine, and will give important information about your travel to Palestine. See www.ism-london.org for more details. Contact info@ism-london.org to book.
International Solidarity Movement, London
http://www.ism-london.org/
Witness – Learn – Support – Report
Now more than ever – join us in Palestine!
Warmongers EDO Corp. Surrender in British High Court
May 9th, 2006
Final Victory For Peace Protesters Against Arms Company’s High Court Harassment Claim
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7th May 2006
The attempt by arms manufacturers EDO MBM to restrict protest outside their Brighton, UK factory has ended in expensive failure. http://www.smashedo.org.uk/
EDO have consistently denied that they supply Israel with weapons systems, but in December 2005 in a related criminal case, ‘the rooftop 3 case’, former managing director David Jones admitted under oath that the company do supply the Israeli Air Force with parts for the VER-2 system – the main bomb rack used on the Israeli F16, which has been used in documented war crimes in the Palestinian Territories. Their dropping of the injunction case can be in no small part attributed to the fact that they had been caught out lying about this in the high court to avoid legal responsibility under the British International Criminal Court act – complicity in war crimes. Many of the protesters who were named in EDO MBM’s injunction have volunteered with ISM in Palestine and their witness of Israeli war crimes in Palestine would have been material to their defence that they had acted reasonably in circumstances of what they knew about events in Palestine.
EDO MBM’s attempt to secure a no-protest exclusion zone with an injunction under the Protection from Harassment Act has ended in unconditional surrender after a year-long High Court battle. The case is estimated to have cost the company upwards of £1 million and this week US parent company EDO Corp announced 2.7 million dollars losses this year and citing losses from legal actions as a contributing factor. EDO MBM will pay the protesters costs, expected to be tens of thousands of pounds.
Big questions remain over the handling of the case. What has come to light is a behind-the-scenes deal between EDO MBM, their lawyer Timothy Lawson Cruttenden (the solicitor responsible for the injunction restricting protests outside the Oxford Primate Lab), Sussex Police and possibly the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordinating Unit.
Andrew Beckett press spokesman for SMASH EDO said, “We were accused of harassment by EDO, and Sussex Police, who secured an interim injunction on trumped-up evidence, but it must be clear to the world after the collapse of the injunction and the dropping of so many criminal cases that we are ones who have been harassed, and it is they in who have been harassing us”.
EDO brought the injunction claim against 14 protesters and two protest groups in April 2005, and by bringing spurious evidence into the case were able to get an interim injunction against all protesters (i.e any member of the public campaigning outside the factory, regardless of their conduct).
The defendants argued consistently that the use of the Protection from Harassment Act to restrict protest infringed their rights under articles 10 and 11 of the ECHR. This was dramatically illustrated by the imprisonment on remand of two protesters for alleged breaches of the injunction last summer. Both cases were subsequently dropped before reaching court. Protesters were placed under threat of five years imprisonment for any breach of the injunction terms that prohibited simple acts such as standing in the road.
In the year-long High Court case it was that Chief Inspector Kerry Cox of Sussex Police had changed her witness statement to exaggerate her view of the anticipated threat by protesters to company employees after direct pressure from EDO s lawyer Tim Lawson-Cruttenden. The altered statement was instrumental in gaining EDO an interim injunction against protesters that restricted their human rights.
The collapse of the EDO injunction case and also the 23 criminal charges against anti-EDO protesters cast a shadow over all similar injunction cases against animal rights protesters, as it highlights a shady practice by police and court officers in a political operation to suppress freedom of expression, acting in a manner that is clearly an abuse of the powers of the state over political activity, but has been supported by the highest levels of the government.
Notes for Journalists
Brighton & Hove is a UN Peace Messenger City
They and Sussex police also wanted to limit than ten people who had to be silent. Judge Gross refused to impose these conditions at the initial hearing of an interim injunction, which was put in place in the period before the full trial to be heard at the High court in London from November 21st. In his summing up he said, “The right to freedom of expression is jealously guarded in English law” and consequently refused to impose the requested limits on size, timing or noise made at demonstrations. He also said that he doubted that protesters were ’stalking’ employees of EDO MBM.
EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp, which was recently named No. 10 in the Forbes list of 100 fastest growing companies. They supply bomb release mechanisms to the US and UK armed forces amongst others. They supply crucial components for Raytheon’s Paveway guided bomb system, widely used in the “Shock and Awe” campaign in Iraq https://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/plugins/auto_links/klogs/?kw=Iraq&rl=http://electroniciraq.net . EDO also withdrew a threatened libel action against Indymedia over being named as “warmongers”.
Campaign against EDO MBM People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade unionists, academics and students. The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp. It’s avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to remove them from Brighton.
SMASH EDO PRESS RELEASE
Press Contact: Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson
+44 (0) 7875 708873
www.smashedo.org.uk
Settlers Torch Cars, Beat Residents
May 9th, 2006
From http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3248189,00.html
By Ali Waked
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/09/settlers-torch-cars-beat-residents/
Car torched in Tel Rumeida. ‘This is not a life,’ residents say (Photo: ISM)
Residents of Hebron neighborhood claim settlers set fire to three Palestinian vehicles, beat several residents; ‘this was not a one-time incident,’ says Rajab Abeido, whose car was burned
Palestinian residents from the Hebron neighborhood of Tel Rumeida claimed that settlers, who flocked to the city Saturday night ahead of the evacuation of a Hebron house by the IDF, set fire to three of their cars. Earlier, the Palestinians said, the settlers also beat several of the neighborhood’s residents.
According to the residents, the incident was not a one-time harassment, but rather a phenomenon they have been suffering from for a long time now.
Rajab Abeido, the owner of one of the torched cars, told Ynet that he returned to his home at around 9 p.m. Saturday evening after spending the evening with his son. The son, Abeido said, broke his hand while being chased by settlers.
“The settlers rioted in the neighborhood all day. In one of the incidents, a group chased my 8-year-old son Hassan and wanted to hit him. While escaping, he stumbled upon a stone and broke his hand. We spent the entire evening at the hospital and prepared the report which I planned to submit to the police today,” he said.
Soldiers ’settle in’
But according to Abeido, the day’s troubles had only begun. A short while after entering his home and sitting down for dinner, one of his neighbors knocked on the door and told him that “settlers are setting fire to three vehicles in the neighborhood, including my car.”
“We immediately went outside and tried to put out the fire using everything we could get our hands on, but the damage was already done – my car was completely burned, and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t insured.”
Abeido’s neighbor told Ynet, “a group of settlers, standing not far from soldiers securing the site, poured flammable material on cars and set them on fire.”
According to Abeido, the incident was not the first in which settlers harassed him.
“Every few days they come into our home and beat me and my family up. But the bigger problem for me is the soldiers – they come in every few weeks, send the entire family to a room and ‘settle’ in the home. When I ask them ‘what do you want?’ they say ‘we have work to do; (military) duties’,” he charged.
“Each time I try to explain to them that ‘this isn’t (Ariel) Sharon’s home, nor is it (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert’s. Carry out your military duties wherever you want, but not in my home, not near my wife and children; this is not a life’,” he concluded.
Harrasing students in Jenin
May 8th, 2006
by Ash
Early in the morning, I left home with my friends going toward my university (the Arab American University). It’s about 40 minutes from my village. On the way, each one of us told our own story about the other day at Israeli checkpoints.
Last week (other students and I) were heading back home from classes when we were stopped at a checkpoint on a conjunction outside Jenin. While we were waiting in a long line of cars, we ran out of gas, and the driver had no choice but to ask some students to go back to Jenin and bring some gasoline.
The cars were moving very slowly, so we spent almost an hour waiting, then the cars completely stopped moving. Three Israeli soldiers on the other street of the conjunction stopped checking IDs, and instead, the soldiers waved for cars to go back. In our direction, one hummer jeep sat by the side the street with four soldiers in it, also preventing cars from moving.
A few drivers got out and walked towards the soldiers to negotiate and ask why we weren’t allowed to move anymore. One hour later, our driver managed to start the bus again and drove back to Jenin to try anther road.
For the past month, at least in Jenin area, the number of checkpoints had amazingly increased. These checkpoints are not just between two villages to prevent farmers to go to their land or workers to go to their jobs, but are also in front of universities to stop students from getting their education.
Yesterday around 2pm, two military jeeps set up a checkpoint near the gate of my university, preventing all vehicles from moving in both directions. We didn’t have any choice but to walk on foot for 35 minutes to the village of Zababdeh. When I reached the checkpoint, the soldiers were not in fact checking IDs or our bags, which is the usual tactic. So we wondered, “What is this checkpoint for?”
In the last week, many students missed their exams and classes, because they were held for hours at checkpoints or prevented from passing. Last Saturday, I had two exams to do, so I decided to stay with friends in the village of Zababdeh for the weekend (Thursday and Friday) in order to avoid the Israeli checkpoints and not miss any exams.
The Israeli army not only harasses students at checkpoints, but also inside their dormitories. Around 1am, Wednesday night, the Israeli army occupied two student dormitories for more than 8 hours. One of the dorm’s gate was broken using a hammer jeep; apparently no students were there for the weekend.
The Israeli soldiers checked the rooms, while all students from the other dorm were taken outside for questioning. A friend of mine was beaten on the face by one of the Israeli soldiers just because of the area he comes from.
While students were held outside and after checking, a volley of shots heard inside the building destroyed some furniture and left holes in the walls. Before the army let the students back to their dorm, the Israeli soldiers fired randomly at the building, then took off.
Settlers Assult Humans Rights Workers in Hebron – Soldiers Refuse to Intervene
May 7th, 2006
https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/05/07/settler-attack/
Graffiti of the Kach party slogan sprayed on a Palestinian home in Hebron. Kach is a Jewish terrorist organisation banned in Israel and the US. Photo from Jan. 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kach_and_Kahane_Chai
May 6, 2006: At 2:30 PM, six settlers in their 30s, with white kippas (One settler had the Kach symbol, a fist inside of a Star of David, on his kippa.) approached Mary, a 75 year old international HRW (Human Rights Worker) sitting at the top of the Tel Rumeida hill 70 meters from the Tel Rumeida settlement. An Israeli male HRW, age 21, went over immediately and sat next to Mary. They surrounded the HRWs and asked questions aggressively, such as “Where are you from?” “What are you doing here?” “What, you like Arabs?” They were also cursing them.
The oldest settler, approximately 40 years old, got close to their faces and whispered “I like to kill Arabs. I like to kill Arabs.” Then another settler punched the male HRW, who was still sitting down, in the face. At that point, the soldier located 6 meters away approached but did and said nothing.
The oldest settler grabbed Mary’s purse off of her that was strapped to her body, threw it on the ground and kicked it 10 meters away. The Israeli HRW got up and picked up the purse. He began to return, then a settler came and kicked his right leg very hard from the side.
At this point the soldier told the settlers to leave the HRWs alone. The settlers spat on both HRWs repeatedly. The settlers cursed the HRWs in Hebrew. The soldier hugged the settler and said “I understand.”
10 minutes later the HRW called the police and told them of the attack. The police said “come to the police station and file a complaint.” He told them that he had no way to get to the police station as it is inside the settlement. Then they said that a patrol car was on its way and he could speak to them when it arrives. HRWs waited there for 1 and 1/2 hours but no police car came to the area at all. Then he called the police station again to ask why they had not come. The police answered that a patrol car came and saw that everything was ok and left.