15 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
In the afternoon of Tuesday, 11 September 2012, settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar burned farmers’ land containing almond trees in the Palestinian village of Burin.
Around 10 settlers came down from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar and started to burn the trees; when Palestinian shepherds came to investigate the fires they returned quickly to the settlement. They were guarded by security officers as they watched from above.. The firemen arrived within several minutes and were successful in their efforts to control the fires. After one hour the Israeli army, Israeli Disctrict Coordination Offices (DCO) and border police arrived.
Land belonging to villagers from Burin burns as firefighters struggle to put it out.
This small village of approximately 3,000 people deal with a constant threat of settler attacks and Israeli army harassment. Two illegal settlements and one illegal outpost surround Burin: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givt Arousa. The residents of these illegal colonies 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, to shooting home made rockets at the village. In 2011, approximately 4000 trees were destroyed, burned and uprooted, by the settlers’ violence.
An almond tree burns
Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
14 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Sunday evening, settlers entered Nabi Saleh village. In clashes that followed Israeli soldiers shot Omar al-Tamini, 25, with live ammunition in the abdomen, and then arrested him and Eyas from inside the ambulance which was taking Omar to Ramallah hospital. On Monday, September 11 at 2:30 a.m., Israeli forces forced entry to homes in Nabi Saleh and arrested Mohammed, and Zeyad, younger brother of martyr, Mustafa Tamini.
Most of the local residents were at home on Monday as a result of the Palestinian general strike. Settlers entered the village in an attempted attack which was reported on PSCC. Residents of Nabi Saleh resisted the intrusion, and then clashes broke out between local youth and the military. Omar al-Tamimi was shot with live ammo during clashes which continued in to the night.
Later that night around 2.30 a.m, Israeli military invaded again (see video here.) They raided the family home of martyr, Mustafa Tamini, who suffered a fatal injury on December 9, 2011, after being shot in the face with a tear gas grenade from a distance of less than 10 meters (see photo here and video here.) Heavily armed soldiers once again, stood in the hall of their home, this time demanding another family member to be taken away to an Israeli jail.
“i feel so so angry that they had the nerve to go into that house once again, that they dared to harrass this family once more. its not even been a month since they released loai (20) from ofer military prison – and already when they had arrested him, in the middle of the night, from inside their home, barely two months after they had shot dead mustafa in cold blood in their own village, i (like so many others) could almost not believe it, felt so so enraged that they would enter their home again with their guns. it still makes me furious that they actually imprisoned loai – FROM INSIDE THEIR HOME – only two months after he saw his eldest brother bleed into the street in their village, before friends carried him into a car and away from him forever. (watch this video: loai, wearing a grey/black checkered jacket, can be first seen at 0:22). I still feel a mixture of rage and pain and i struggle to grasp that they not only murdered mustafa in the way they did, but that they did storm the house of the bereft family so shortly after and violently arrested the brother who actually saw mustafa dying, when they had only released his twin odai from military jail the day of mustafa’s funeral – AFTER the funeral. i still can’t grasp that odai heard in jail that someone in his village was severely injured, heard in jail that the injured young man was his eldest brother, heard in jail that it was a serious injury and that he might lose his eye, heard in jail that he might be fine after all, and heard in jail the next day that his brother was martyred. and that he was denied the right to spend that terrible day with his family and friends, with his twin brother.”
The legal office of Gabi Lasky said yesterday that Zayed and Mohammed were being detained at Ofer prison but was still unaware where Omar and his friend were being held.
For background information about the struggle and further information in Nabi Saleh see blog here
Paddy Clark is an activist and writer living in the West Bank (name has been changed).
September 14, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
In 2008, the Israeli army annexed a spring that belonged to the Palestinian village of Yatma, providing fresh water to the village for free. This theft has severely limited the village’s access to water, as the majority of the output of the spring is now diverted to the illegal Israeli settlement of Rechelim, immediately adjacent to Yatma. This settlement is over 25 kilometres into the Palestinian territories and is condemned by International law according to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
A Palestinian owned field in Yatma, that has been flooded with water and destroyed.
The Yatma village council stated that for two to three days a week, the 3000 residents now have no access to water. The villagers are now forced to buy back the water, as well as electricity, from Rechelim. Whilst the Israeli government subsidises the cost of living, including water and utilities in illegal West Bank settlements (in order to encourage so-called ‘economic settlers’ to Palestinian areas), the Palestinians are charged at much higher rates, which place a heavy burden on villages in these agricultural areas . The cost of water for Yatma for one month is 8000 NIS (around 2000 USD).
A natural source of water on Yatma village land has also been polluted by settlers, damaging olive trees and attracting insect pests. The villagers also reported problems with settlers driving animals, including dangerous wild pigs, onto their land, destroying crops and property. Farmerssaid they experience regular attacks by settlers from Rechelim, especially during the olive harvest, and the Israeli army is present in the village most nights, intimidating villagers and conducting night raids on Palestinian houses. 40 residents of Yatma have been arrested since January 2012, half of whom are under 18.
Limiting access to water is one of the strategies that is used in the Occupied Terrotories to force Palestinians from their land.
Ellie is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
September 13, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement
See photos from demonstration here and get up to date information from Nabi Saleh Solidarity here
Weekly Demonstration
On Friday, September 7, Israeli forces sealed off the village early in the morning and at least 4 people were detained hiking over the hill and two cars of Israeli activists were also detained while on route in to Nabi Saleh. All were released in the evening.
Israeli forces broke up the demonstration with tear gas. Clashes broke out with local youth throwing stones, with Israeli forces firing rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas.
On Friday evening after the weekly demonstration, Israeli forces drove through the village playing loud noises through speakers. Clashes broke out and Israeli military fired tear gas and at least one live round in the air. This week was relatively quiet with no serious injuries sustained.
Locals also reported that soldiers used an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or surveillance drone during the protest. Israel’s practice of testing weapons or security industry products on Palestinians is well documented.
A military grade surveillance scout drone, manufactured by DATRON being tested in Washington D.C. (Photo courtesy of Popsci).
Palestine as a weapons industry laboratory and BDS
“The Israeli Export Institute estimates that Israel has 350 corporations dedicated to selling homeland security products, and 30 new ones entered the market in 2007. From a corporate perspective, this development has made Israel a model to be emulated in the post-9/11 market. From a social and political perspective, however, Israel should serve as something else—a stark warning. The fact that Israel continues to enjoy booming prosperity, even as it wages war against its neighbors and escalates the brutality in the occupied territories, demonstrates just how perilous it is to build an economy based on the premise of continual war and deepening disasters.”
Israeli economist Shir Hever wrote an essay in 2011 which made the point that Israeli arms companies such as; Elbit, Magal and Nice increasingly rely on Palestinians to test their weapons, and then advertise their products in arms trade showrooms as ‘battle tested’ in the field.
Private companies operating in ‘conflict’ zones are often not subject to the same laws and treaties governing states making it even more difficult to hold perpetrators of crimes responsible, and move away from impunity.
Ibrihim Shikaki, economics teacher at al-Quds University commented:
“In places of armed conflict where International humanitarian law applies, the obligation to respect and ensure respect is for “high contracting parties” i.e states. Even though there have been several attempts to start regulating the work of Private Military and Security companies (PMSC) such as the Montreux Document, and some efforts on self regulating such as the International code of conduct for private security service providers, things are only in the first steps.”
The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement (see handbook here) is increasing pressure against weapons companies who are profiting from the occupation. In August, 2011, members of Palestinian youth movement, Hirak Shababi, symbolically delivered a Palestinian call for military embargo on Israel to the United Nations office in Ramallah.
Youth activist Aghasan said: “We face Israeli repression and violence on a daily basis. Our generation has grown up under occupation and seeing friends and relatives killed, injured or imprisoned. We demand that the international community stops funding and profiting from the military and security apparatus that sustains the colonial Israeli apartheid regime. All trade and cooperation must stop. Young Palestinians demand a comprehensive military embargo now.”
International solidarity and anti-arms trade BDS
The Smash EDOcampaign in Brighton, UK, is a great example of local resistance to illegal arms trade at the point of production in Europe. In an article recently published in Electronic Intifada, Jessica Nero, BDS and anti-arms trade activist and researcher, wrote about some of the groups’ tactics; using direct action at a community level as a means to legally challenge an international weapons manufacturer, exposing corporate complicity in war crimes in the process. Jessica spoke about one of their biggest successes saying:
“The biggest success so far came in 2010, when nine defendants were found not guilty of criminal damage after breaking into EDO and smashing it up “to the best of their abilities” as a response to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza during winter 2008-09. After hearing all of the evidence, a jury acquitted the activists on the basis that they had acted with the intention of preventing war crimes against Palestinians.”
Paddy Clark is an activist and writer living in the West Bank (name has been changed).
September 12, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the morning of September 10 in south west Hebron, at Checkpoint 56, a Palestinian man was shot with live ammunition by the Israeli military. Residents and army officials reported that Molotov cocktails were thrown at the checkpoint, and in response the soldiers fired with live bullets. Kamal al-Batsh, aged 31, was shot in the leg and was eventually transported to a hospital in Jerusalem, although Palestinian ambulances were prevented from arriving at the scene.
Soldiers move through the old city of Hebron
With ongoing strikes and protests taking place across Hebron, the army was deployed heavily throughout the city and schools were declared closed. A group of six soldiers were seen patrolling the market in the old city, brandishing their semi automatic rifles around corners and through the windows and doors of Palestinian houses. At 10 A.M. the situation at Checkpoint 56 became increasingly volatile, with soldiers shooting teargas, affecting innocent children and passers by. Checkpoint 56 divides the Palestinian city of Hebron in two areas H1 and H2. Special area H2 is a shared area, where over 500 settlers live, and Palestinian movement is heavily restricted.
Soldiers fire tear gas from the roof of a building in the Palestinian city of Hebron
Those throwing stones from the street faced the Israeli military wearing full combat gear and armed with semi automatic weapons and tear gas. At least 14 soldiers were seen on the rooftops surrounding Checkpoint 56, where later in the afternoon multiple rounds of tear gas were shot into the streets. In the old city, eyewitnesses reported that a fire was set by the Israeli military.
Palestinian camerawoman suffers after being shot in the stomach with a tear gas canister
In the afternoon the situation around the Checkpoint 56 area became progressively more violent. Despite several internationals and media activists being present on the streets documenting the scene, rounds of tear gas continued to be fired directly at protesters. Dozens suffered injury and asphyxiation from the teargas, including a Palestinian camerawoman who was hit in the stomach with one of the five-inch metal canisters. A second tear gas round fired immediately afterward barely missed her foot. She had been standing in an isolated group with several international activists, all of whom were filming and photographing the soldiers peacefully. As there was no one else in the vicinity, international activists suspected that it was a targeted attack by the military.
The woman was taken away by an ambulance after sustaining the injury. Witnesses also saw many protesters affected by inhalation of tear gas, including children who were walking alone in the area. It was during this time that several checkpoints were closed, trapping individuals in the midst of the violence.
The events described at Checkpoint 56 were separate to the widely reported protests against the Palestinian Authority (PA), which occurred in a different area of the city. The demonstration witnessed by international volunteers appeared to be sparked by the shooting of Kamal al-Batsh the night before and targeted Israeli occupation rather than the PA.
Anna Conroy is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
