Month: November 2011

In Photos: Burin withstands settler violence

by Amal

9 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In the past three years Burin has faced increased settler violence. This small village of approximately 3,000 people deal with a constant threat of settler attacks or Israeli army harassment.  Three settlements surround Burin: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givt Arousa.  The residents of these illegal settlements make it clear that they will do whatever it takes to force the Palestinians out of their homes.  Their criminal acts range from burning olive trees, stoning farmers, and shooting live ammunition at Palestinians.

Burin surviving the olive harvest – Click here for more information

The Burin people have already lost over 2,000 olive trees since April by settler fires. In order to ensure that the trees are ruined the settlers alter their attack by the time of day to make their violent crimes less visible. The burning of trees is usually done during the day, while the cutting down of trees is usually done at night. During the warmer months, the settlers mostly burn down trees because they know the fire will spread quickly due to the heat. The people of Burin are always watching and waiting for the next inevitable hate crime to occur.

There has not been a single settler attack on Burin in over a month, which is really unusual. The last period without any attacks lasted for 60 days. This “peaceful” period was broken with a day full of settler violence. The people are anticipating the next attack. They do not know when, but that it will happen. In addition to waiting on the next attack, they are still waiting on the Israeli court ruling of whether a mosque in Burin should be demolished for disturbing the peace in the settlements during the call for prayer. The air in Burin is filled with anxiety for what is to come in the near future.

Burin today is still standing tall and strong despite the many obstacles that suffocate daily life in the village.

Amal is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name changed).

Global week of action against Israel’s wall in the West Bank

by Nora Barrows-Friedman

9 November 2011 | The Electronic Intifada

Since the beginning stages of Israel’s implementation and continued construction of its illegal wall in the occupied West Bank nearly ten years ago — and compounded with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling in 2004 that the wall is in violation of several international laws — activists on the ground in Palestine and in numerous countries around the world have engaged in sustained and creative protest.

The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign/Stop the Wall (STW) has organized a global week of action against Israel’s wall and its policies of apartheid and settler-colonialism in Palestine, which begins today and runs through 16 November.

Activist groups, boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) committees, student coalitions and grassroots organizations from 18 countries on five continents have signed on to officially participate in the global week of action.

In Palestine, STW has organized three separate demonstrations in addition to the regular, weekly Friday actions against the wall in different villages.

From their website:

13 November: Demonstration in the southern West Bank village of Tarqumiya — The demonstration takes place to commemorate the massacre of the people of al Sammou, south of Hebron. Exactly 45 years ago, on November 13 1966 Israeli forces raided this village, destroyed 125 houses, the village clinic and school as well as 15 houses in a neighboring village. 18 people were killed and 54 wounded.

15 November: Demonstration in Qalandiya — Qalandiya has become the flashpoint of confrontation, a symbol of the Palestinian determination not to accept the isolation of Jerusalem and the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian capital.

20 November: Demonstration in northern West Bank city of Tulkarem — Tulkarem, its refugee camps and surrounding villages are heavily impacted by the Wall and its checkpoints. People from the northern parts of the northern part of the West Bank will gather to demonstrate their determination to continue resistance against the Apartheid Wall and the Israeli project of enclosing them in enclaves and Bantustans.

Global solidarity events

A sampling of international events — culled from the official list on the STW website — include:

– Belgium, 10 November: In Brussels, Intal [a Belgian global solidarity group] will organize a conference and debate in support of the Palestinian call for a comprehensive and mandatory military embargo on Israel by highlighting the fact that Belgium sells weapons to Israel. This conference will have as a goal to inform our members and their friends about the weapons business between Belgium and Israel

– Netherlands: Activities are planned in Utrecht and Amsterdam … Signatures will be collected for a so-called citizens initiative asking for a debate in parliament on the ICJ ruling. From the needed 40,000 signatures the last 3,000 will be collected that week plus the following weeks of the year

– Spain/Basque country, 10 November: A conference in Bilbao about Israel’s wall

– England, 12 November: Wall around the Monument in Newcastle City Centre. A human wall where each person represents a fact about the apartheid wall. Distribution of fact sheets on the wall, Israeli apartheid, human rights abuses, and BDS nearby. BDS pledge cards will be distributed to the public.

– Argentina, 16 November: The FEARAB youth group in Buenos Aires have launched a call for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel in Argentina, and the signatures of the persons who support the initiative will be announced publicly as the week of global action closes

– Canada, 10 November: An evening with writer and photo journalist Jon Elmer, coordinated by Students Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto

– United States: Huge awareness-raising campaign tool kits for various action ideas by US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

– South Korea, 12 November: A performance to educate the public on the wall and its effects on Palestinians

Radio Intifada

Several organizations throughout Latin America, including Argentina and Mexico, are participating in the week of action. Radio Intifada, a Spanish-language radio project of STW, has also produced three 30-minute segments that are available for free download and syndication on local independent radio stations interested in broadcasting news and analysis on Israeli policies and the grassroots actions to challenge them.

Father of 5 run over and killed by settler

by Thom Andrews

9 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

This afternoon, 45 year old Abdullah Mutaled Al-Mashni, father of 5, was run over and killed by an illegal settler.

Whilst returning from collecting his olives, Abdullah was last seen riding his donkey back towards his village of Deir Istia – 7km northwest of Salfit.

Soon after the killing, Israeli Occupation Forces arrived to shield the scene from photographers and journalists gathered to report on the crime.

It is believed the settler was a resident in the nearby illegal colony of Revava – established on occupied Palestinian land in 1991.

This attack comes just as a relatively peaceful olive harvest draws to an end.  Tomorrow there will be a funeral for the martyr in Deir Istia.

 

Thom Andrews is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Prisoner release: Palestinian narratives

Fadi Kawasmi

9 November 2011 | PASSIA

Below is an abridged transcript of a talk given at PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs ) Round table on ‘Prisoner Release – Palestinian Narratives’ on 31 October 2011 by Fadi Kawasmi, a lawyer who specializes in working with Palestinian prisoners.

“In order to understand the prisoners issue we have to talk about the problem from the beginning.  Why are prisoners very important to Palestinian people?  They are seen as freedom fighters, people that have sacrificed themselves for the sake of liberty.  But I think there is also another reason – it is the suffering that they go through from the moment that they are arrested and even after they are released.

 “It is estimated that almost 750,000 Palestinians were arrested by Israel from 1967 to today.  Now, after the prisoner release, there are 9 women in jail, almost 300 children in jail and the whole number of prisoners is estimated be around 5000 – 500 of whom are sentenced to life.  More than 100 prisoners have already spent 20 years or more in prison.  202 prisoners have died in detention.

“When we talk about suffering we have to talk about it from the beginning.  How do the arrests take place?  Usually – for ‘security reasons’ – they take place at night.  Large forces burst into homes and arrest someone.  And someone might think – how dangerous might this be?  But actually it’s very dangerous.  The police, the army – when they enter houses they are so alert because they think that the people they are going to arrest are dangerous and they might harm them.

“For example, a 16 year old kid who – influenced by the media – thought that he could kidnap a settler and exchange him for his relatives who are imprisoned by Israel.  Apparently he didn’t have the means, so his attempt didn’t succeed.  The Israelis knew about him and they went to his house at 3am in order to arrest him.  He was not there but his parents were and after entering into his house the Israelis killed his mother by mistake, his father was left paralysed and they demolished part of the house.  On the second day he turned himself in.  He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

‘Three or four months ago, the army was about to arrest someone, who they said was not that dangerous, but they entered the wrong house and there was a 65 year old man sleeping in his bed and he was killed in his bed.  The Israeli version of the story is that he made a ‘suspicious move’ and he was killed.

 “After the arrest, detainees are usually taken to interrogation facilities.  There are four of them in Israel– the most famous is nearby [in Jerusalem]. It is called the Russian Compound, or as we say in Arabic – ‘Al-Moscovia’.  Detainees are interrogated there by the Israeli intelligence.  Israeli military law allows them to keep detainees for 180 days for the purpose of interrogation.  During this period, several kinds of techniques are used to oblige the detainee to confess – sometimes to confess to something that they didn’t do – torture is one of the means.  Although in 1999, the Israeli high court of justice banned physical torture, several methods of torture are still used by the Israeli intelligence.

“For example, detainees are prevented from sleeping; interrogation sessions sometimes take 20 hours; people are exposed to extreme temperatures.  Sometimes they just play loud music.  They keep detainees seated and handcuffed for hours and hours. They isolate them and they prevent lawyers from seeing them.  Israeli military law allows the Israeli intelligence to prevent the detainee from seeing his lawyer for 30 days and this can be extended by court order.  Another method of abuse is arresting a member of the family; Israeli military law allows the army to arrest someone for 8 days without a court order.  So sometimes they just arrest them and take them to the interrogation facility in order to exert pressure on their beloved ones in order to make them confess.

“After interrogation, most detainees are usually then put on trial.  There is a difference between people from Jerusalem and people from the West Bank and Gaza.  People from theWest Bankare put on trial in military court.  Jerusalemites on the other hand are put on trial in Israeli civil courts, while people from Gaza are put on trial in Israeli civil courts in Be’er Sheva.  One might think that Jerusalemites are in a better situation as they put on  trial in civil courts and they have more rights – but the situation is actually different because Israeli civil courts, when it comes to security offences, are known to be strict.  So usually when someone is arrested and two people that committed the same crime, and one is put on trial in an Israeli military court and the other in civil court, the one who is put on trial in civil court will definitely get a higher sentence.

“What happens in trials – especially in military courts – is really very bad.  There is no right to a fair trial.  Court sessions take place in Hebrew and usually prisoners don’t speak Hebrew.  The court provides translation but this is not usually professional translation.  Most lawyers are Palestinians and they don’t speak Hebrew and the knowledge they have in Israeli military is often really poor.  This is a very big problem for many years and I don’t think it is going to change.

“The most important thing for a prisoner when he is put on trial is not the trial itself, whether he will be found guilty or not, or what sentence will be put on him, it is a completely different thing.  It is when the prisoner is transferred from his place of detention to the court and back again.  I had so many case where prisoners told me – “please, I am ready to spend two more years in prison but please spare me this.  I don’t want this [transfer].  Do everything you can to end this, I can’t take this anymore.”  Why?  It’s because a simple journey – for example from Ktzi’ot prison, Negev to Ofer Prison [near Ramallah] which should take 3 hours, takes 5 or 6 days because of the way the Israeli prison authorities work.  Detainees sometimes stay in buses for 18 hours, travelling in roads without food, water or even access to bathrooms.  Anyone who needs to go to the bathroom will be given a bottle. So there is no right to a fair trial, especially in Israeli military court.”

Remembrance in Beit Hanoun

by Nathan Stuckey

9 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

It is Tuesday, the third day of Eid, the Eid of the Sacrifice.  We, the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative and the International Solidarity Movement, have gathered near the bombed remains of the Beit Hanoun Agricultural College like we do every Tuesday in preparation for our march into the no go zone.  This Tuesday is different though, we are not gathered on the road that leads into the no go zone, but behind the bombed buildings of the College.  Like much of Palestine, history is densely packed, every place has a story, today, we would learn the story of this small area.   Today marks the five year anniversary of the Beit Hanoun massacre.  Before us, lie the graves of its victims.

On November 8, 2006 at six in the morning the Israeli army began shelling Beit Hanoun.  The shells landed on the houses of the A’athamnah and the Kafarnah families.  Not just one shell, the shelling continued for fifteen minutes.  Round after round fell on their houses.  Nineteen people were killed, nine children, four women and six men.  The youngest was only a baby of a couple of months, the oldest a 73 year old woman.  Forty more people were injured.  They were all civilians, not even the Israeli army bothers to claim that they were armed; they were sleeping in their beds.

The graves are just off the road, just behind the Agricultural College.  They are large; each of them contains several bodies, large gray slabs of concrete with names and prayers inscribed on them.  Abu Issa, from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative speaks; he prays for the dead and asks us to remember the past.  This massacre is barely the past though; it is almost the present, even if forgotten in so much of the world.  His words end, as they must, on the present, “we did not ask for the occupation, we have always lived here, it came to us, but we cannot accept it, we must continue the struggle until the occupation ends.”   We hang a wreath next to the first grave.

We walk slowly down the row of graves; Abu Issa reads us the names of the dead.  We reach the grave of Maisa, age six.  I cannot help but look away, for I have my own Maisa, who was also six in 2006.  She isn’t my daughter, she is my English student.  He name is Maisa Samouni.  Twenty nine members of her extended family were murdered in much the same way by the Israeli army, herded into a house by soldiers, and then the house was shelled by the IDF.  I wonder what this Miaisa would look like today, would she be as smart and kind and beautiful as my Maisa?  As we reach the end of the graves we come to the graves that have been destroyed, destroyed by Israeli bulldozers in subsequent invasions of Gaza.

We turn away from the graves and look toward the border.  At the concrete towers which line it, full of snipers and computer controlled guns which kill at will.  Abu Issa begins to tell us about the area that we see in front of us.  It was here that the men of Beit Hanoun were imprisoned during the first week of November 2006.  Israeli forces had invaded Beit Hanoun; all males between the ages of 14 and 60 were rounded up and brought here.  For six days the slept in the open, in the cold, while the Israeli army took them for questioning.  Fifty three people were killed and over 200 injured during the invasion.  The day after Israeli forces withdrew; they fired the shells which would kill nineteen more, including Maisa.

After the memorial service we piled into the van and went to the east of Beit Hanoun to visit the Al Jareema family.  The Al Jareema’s are Bedouin family that lives right next to the no go zone.  They have not always lived there, the used to live in 1948, but they were expelled by the Zionists during the Nakba, them and 750,000 other Palestinians.  They settled in Gaza.  They lived right next to the border, their houses used to be 50 meters from the border.  Then, the Israeli’s decided to impose the buffer zone on Gaza, the family received a notice that they must move.  There was no appeal.  Israeli bulldozers came and destroyed their houses.  They destroyed the pens for the animals.  They destroyed the groves of trees that used to thrive in the no go zone.

Now, the family lives in a collection of tents and shacks about 500 meters from the border.  As you look toward the border you see a particularly large gray tower, it is from this tower that the Israeli army shoots at them.  They have nowhere to go, so they stay living here, surviving as best they can on the land that Israel has not seized.  We bring them sweets to celebrate Eid, they serve us tea and freshly made bread.  They ask us to stay for lunch, but we must go, there is a wedding going on in Beit Hanoun.  Life continues.  I pray that the children of the new couple grow up in a more just world, in a free Palestine.  This is what we struggle for.