Year: 2012

Khan Al Luban: Settlers invade again

By Alex Marley

18 August | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Saturday August 11, 2012 the same events of three days earlier repeated themselves in Khan Al Luban. A group of 4 illegal Israeli settlers, from Ma’ale Levona, armed with guns and wooden sticks, came into Khan al Luban at 10:30 p.m. The settlers yet again broke into the house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah where international activists and the 2 sons of Khalid were staying.

When the settlers arrived, Khalid’s sons and the international activists asked them to leave the property, but they refused and instead sat down near the spring on the Daraghmah land. After about half an hour, 2 Israeli police cars arrived along with 2 military jeeps after having received a call from the settlers. A few minutes later, 2 more military jeeps arrived at the scene. By then, the Daraghmah land was full of Israeli police, soldiers, and security guards from the illegal settlement. The soldiers entered the house searching for weapons, but as usual they did not find anything.

Click for more pictures. Photo by Marcus Fitzgerald.

Around midnight, the soldiers, police, security personnel, and settlers left the area while Jamal, the oldest son of Khalid, and the international activists remained in the house. Throughout the night settlers stayed on patrol in the street near the Daraghmah house, shouting and honking the horns of their cars.

At 7:30 a.m. the following morning, a border police car stopped near the Daraghmah house on the road leading up to the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona. The border policemen then proceeded to break into the house, aggressively asking for passports and other documents. Like the night before, the house was searched and no bag, cigarette package, or piece of clothing went unturned.

Jamal was brutally pushed into one of the rooms by the police officers where he received several blows to the face before he was handcuffed and taken away. Jamal was taken to the Israeli police station of Binyamin, wrongly accused of having hit a soldier. He was released on bail the day after.

The continued pressure of the Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers remain a a constant threat during both days and nights in Khan al Luban.

Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Israeli military beats and arrests journalists, suppresses Kufr Qaddoum demonstration

By Marshall Pinkerton and Alma Reventos

18 August | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Friday, August 17, 5 were injured and 8 arrested during the weekly protest in Kufr Qaddoum. Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas canisters, rubber-coated steel bullets, and beat protesters with wooden sticks. The village experienced an unprecedented amount of violence during the peaceful demonstration as the village was surounded and invaded by over 100 Israeli occupation forces, leading to several broken arms, the arrests of participants, including 6 journalists, and the asphyxiation of a 60 year-old bystander.

Journalist beaten and arrested by Israeli soldier

Those arriving from outside Kufr Qaddoum were forced to travel around flying checkpoints, posted along the main roads used to reach the village, which would prevent them from their right to participate in the democratic protest.

“Something felt strange about this morning,” Morad Shtayi, Popular Struggle Coordination Committee representative for Kufr Qaddoum said.

Before the demonstration at 11:30 a.m., Shtayi and several other men heard that 14 soldiers had entered houses under construction from the east, where the protest was due to take place.

“We began shouting at the soldiers until they left,” he says.

The demonstration began per usual at 1:15 p.m., with protesters marching down the road leading to Nablus. An Israeli bulldozer was present on the road, with over 30 border police, police, and soldiers standing on the hill to the North. After 15 minutes, Israeli forces descended on the village from the North, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Soldiers also began climbing up the valley from the south, followed by several military jeeps and the bulldozer.

“Protesters fled into the village to seek safety, as they faced tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets shot from distances of less than 10 meters,” solidarity activist Alma Reventos recounts.

Shtayi said witnesses reported soldiers firing live ammunition in the air as they entered the village in search of protesters.

The bulldozer pushed into the village, causing protestors to run head over heels.

Two Palestinians were arrested by border police, Qassam Aahi, 17, and Abdallah Awni. Israeli forces also arrested 6 Palestinian journalists for reporting on the demonstration; Jaafar Shtayi (Associated Free Press), Nidal Shtayi (Chinese Press), Faris Faris (Palestine Today), Bakir Abd al-Haq (TV Nablus), Odai Qudoomi (B’tselem), and Noah Qudoomi (Alfajir Tulkarem). Among the 6 journalists arrested, 2 were beaten, with Jaafar Shtayi suffering a broken arm. The journalists were released several hours later under the condition that they face imprisonment if they attempt to document the demonstrations in Kufr Qaddoum again.

In addition to the arrests, 2 Palestinians were beaten and a 60-year-old woman fell unconscious after border police repeatedly fired tear-gas inside the village. Rani Suliman Ali, 30, had his arm broken and was kept for a period from seeking medical treatment by Israeli checkpoints outside of the village. Mohannad Shtaiw, was beaten on the back with wooden sticks, and taken to Qalqiliya hospital. Israeli forces finally left the village at 3:30 p.m. with those arrested.

The purpose of the weekly demonstration in Kufr Qaddoum focuses on the closure of the main road that connects the village with Nablus. The road, which passes alongside the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim, was closed to Palestinian access. As a result, the journey to Nablus has increased from 15 minutes to 40 minutes. This has resulted in hardships because many residents travel daily to Nablus for work, studies, or health care. Kufr Qaddoum has also lost 4000 dunums of land to the 5 illegal Israeli settlements that surround the village. Farmers seeking to reach their lands face threats, attacks, and arrests. Some of the Palestinian-owned agricultural lands have been declared ‘closed military zones’, and Israeli settlers regularly burn them. This demonstration follows 2 weeks in which several young men were arrested from Kufr Qaddoum during night raids by Israeli forces.

Marshall Pinkerton and Alma Reventos are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).
Video and pictures taken from www.facebook.com/AlMasira.KufurKaddom

Call to action: Olive Harvest 2012

18 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

At a time of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2012 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.

The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by Israeli settlers and the military – (over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000) – harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.

The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual, and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest.

The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. Photo by Jonas Weber, ISM.

Palestinian and ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities each year to harvest olives, in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land. Your presence can make a big difference. It has been proven in the past to deter the number and severity of attacks and harassment. The presence of activists can reduce the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers and the Israeli army and supports Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihoods and be present on their lands. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation and this practical support enables many families to pick their olives. In addition, The Olive Harvest Campaign also provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Palestinian families in their olive groves and homes.

The campaign will begin on the 8th of October and run until the 15th of November.  We request a minimum 2 week commitment from volunteers but stress that long-termers are needed as well.  We ask that volunteers start arriving in the first week of October, so that we will be prepared when the harvest begins.

Training

The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions which will run weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.

Ongoing campaigns

In addition to the olive harvest, there will also be other opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.

ISM maintains a constant presence in Hebron, where settler harassment and violence is a regular occurrence. Lately, Israeli army violence has escalated for Palestinians living in proximity to the illegal inner-city settlement. Israeli forces have used the Palestinian neighborhoods for military training and two videos surfaced lately of soldiers brutally assaulting a young man and a child. The annual demonstration for the opening of Shuhada street has also been brutally oppressed by Israeli military forces. Weekly, illegal Israeli settlers are brought on a tour of the Palestinian old city in Hebron, supported by the Israeli army. Every week, the Palestinians are put under curfew and shops are forced to close so that settlers can take a stroll. ISM maintains a presence on these tours for purposes of prevention and documentation, as Palestinians are often assaulted by the radical settlers.

ISM also has an apartment in Nablus from where we work on a number of projects including resisting demolitions in various villages, and supporting Palestinians resisting settler theft of their lands.  In addition to these activities, we participate in the weekly demonstration in Kafr Qaddum, where protesters face excessive force by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

ISM activists have also been attending weekly demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall, the annexation of Palestinian land and the construction of illegal settlements in Al Ma’sara, Ni’lin, An Nabi Saleh.

Come! Bear witness to the suffering, courage and generosity of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.

Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.

In Solidarity,

ISM Palestine

In suspected Jerusalem lynch, dozens of Jewish youths attack 3 Palestinians

By Nir Hasson

17 August 2012 | Haaretz

One of the Palestinians was seriously wounded and hospitalized in intensive care; eyewitness: Today I saw a lynch with my own eyes.

Jerusalem’s Zion Square. Photo by Emil Salman

Dozens of Jewish youths attacked three young Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Zion Square early on Friday morning, in what one witness described as “a lynch” on Facebook.

One of the Palestinians was seriously wounded and hospitalized in intensive care in Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem. Acting Jerusalem police chief, General Menachem Yitzhaki, gas set up a special team to investigate the incident and detain the suspects.

The three were allegedly attacked by youths shouting “Death to the Arabs” at them, as well as other racial slurs. One of them fell on the floor, and his attackers continued to beat him until he lost consciousness. They subsequently fled from the scene.

Within a short period of time rescue volunteers and Magen David Adom rescue services arrived on the scene, and found the victim with no pulse and not breathing. After a lengthy resuscitation attempt, he was transferred to hospital.

Writing on her Facebook page, one eye witness decribed the attack as a lynch: “Its late at night, and I can’t sleep. My eyes are full of tears for a good few hours now and my stomach is turning inside out with the question of the loss of humanity, the image of God in mankind, a loss that I am not willing to accept.”

“But today I saw a lynch with my own eyes, in Zion Square, the center of the city of Jerusalem ….. and shouts of ‘A Jew is a soul and Arab is a son of a –,’ were shouted loudly and dozens (!!) of youths ran and gathered and started to really beat to death three Arab youths who were walking quietly in the Ben Yehuda street,” the witness wrote.

“When one of the Palestinian youths fell to the floor, the youths continued to hit him in the head, he lost consciousness, his eyes rolled, his angled head twitched, and then those who were kicking him fled and the rest gathered in a circle around, with some still shouting with hate in their eyes.”

“When two volunteers [from local charities] went into the circle, they tried to perform CPR the mass of youths standing around started to say resentfully that we are resuscitating an Arab, and when they passed near us and saw that the rest of the volunteers were shocked, they asked why we were so in shock, he is an Arab. When we returned to the area after some time had passed, and the site was marked as a murder scene, and police were there with the cousin of the victim who tried to reenact what happened, two youths stood there who did not understand why we wanted to give a bottle of water to the cousin of the victim who was transferred to hospital in critical condition, he is an Arab, and they need don’t need to walk around in the center of the city, and they deserve it, because this way they will finally be afraid,” she added.

“Children aged 15-18 are killing a child their own age with their own hands. Really with their own hands. Children who’s hearts were unmoved when they beat to death a boy their age who lay writhing on the floor.”

Settlers invade Khan Al Luban

By Alex Marley

17 August 2012  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

At around 10:30 p.m., a group of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona arrived in Khan Al Luban, a Palestinian hamlet located in the vicinity of Al Luban village. Armed with guns and wooden sticks, the settlers broke into a house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah.

Israeli settlers armed with guns and sticks on the land of Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah.

The owner Khalid Daraghmah was alerted by his dogs when the 6 armed settlers arrived by car. Khalid went out and asked the intruders to leave his property. The settlers refused claiming that, “this is not  private property, but property of the state of Israel.” The settlers forcefully entered his house, going into every room, shouting and kicking household objects.

The settlers then headed towards the water spring that is next to the house. International activists that Khalid called for support also tried to stop the settlers and explain that they are intruding on private property, but again the settlers refused to leave. On this occasion they argued that it is their right to be there, because “the prophet Abraham was here 2000 years ago. “

About half an hour after the settlers’ arrival, a white jeep arrived at full speed. Two Israeli soldiers ran out of the car and headed aggressively towards Khalid. The soldiers grabbed Khalid, shouting, and pushed him violently into a room of the house. The international activists tried to enter the room but were prevented by the soldiers.

Some 20 minutes later, another car arrived carrying 4 soldiers as well as 2 Israeli police cars carrying 4 policemen. The soldiers interrogated Khalid and the police spoke to the settlers who claimed to have been attacked by Khalid.

The soldiers scoured the house, ‘looking for weapons’. They entered all the rooms of Khalid’s house which have been emptied since a previous settler attack. After finding nothing at about 1:00 a.m., the police, soldiers, and settlers left.

Khalid says, “they are gone now but unfortunately, they will be back.”

Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).