International Solidarity Movement Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.
By Missy and Giuseppe
At approximately 1:00 PM on August 17th, settler boys were throwing rocks at Palestinian people descending the Qurtaba School stairs. One international human rights worker approached the area quickly, but was told by the soldier to get away. The soldier then came yelling out of his post, and threw his chair at the settler boys nearby. He then grabbed one of the boys and yelled at him, in Hebrew. The Palestinians who were coming down the stairs continued on their way, but were very frightened of the situation, and left quickly down Shuhada Street.
At around 1:30, while three internationals were talking on Shuhada Street, one female settler teenager and two younger boys walked past. The settlers stared and suddenly threw a large glass bottle at the human rights workers, which landed at their feet. The settlers took off running towards the checkpoint, where the soldier at the post began yelling and running after them. One of the settlers attempted to hit the soldier and took off running. One international attempted to talk to the soldier, but he said to her, “Go away! This isn’t for you, it’s for myself!” Palestinians were walking down the road at this point, and had seen the settler kids throw the glass bottle at the internationals. One Palestinian man was very concerned and called the police, telling them what happened; the police never came.
About five minutes later, an human rights worker stationed at the checkpoint, came to Shuhada Street to report that settler kids had thrown a glass bottle at her. It was verified that they were the same settlers who had just thrown the bottle at other human rights workers.
