Year: 2012

9 January 2009 – The Abu Oda family

9 January 2012 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

“The Israeli military say they are the most moral army in the world, but they killed my daughter, they didn’t respect her right to live”

I’tidal and Ahmed Abu Oda with a picture of their daughter Nariman Abu Oda (Photo: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights)

On 9 January 2009, the Abu Oda household in the Al Amal neighbourhood of Beit Hanoun came under sustained fire from Israeli positions close to the Gaza-Israeli border 2 kilometres away. Nariman Abu Oda, 16, was hit in the right side of her body by Israeli fire as she was walking from the hallway, where the family were taking cover, to the kitchen. Medics were unable to reach the family and Nariman died before she could receive medical attention.

The pockmarked concrete walls of the Abu Oda household tell a good deal of the story of Nariman’s death. Despite the best efforts of father Ahmed Abdel Kareem Muhammad, 57, and mother, I’tidal Abd al Aziz, 53, to plaster over the patch work of holes and indentations in the walls, ceiling, floors and doors, the house remains riddled with bullet holes. As I’tidal explains “it is clear the shooting was completely indiscriminate.”

Nariman’s mother and father keep returning to the question, why did this happen? For them, it is not an empty rhetorical question, but one that holds a great deal of weight and a great deal of their concern. “Why my daughter? What were their motives? What were their reasons?” asks Ahmed. “The Israeli military say they are the most moral army in the world, but they killed my daughter, they didn’t respect her right to live.”

The Abu Oda family find themselves caught in a deep state of mourning regarding Nariman’s absence, yet at the same time feel her constant presence. Recalling that Nariman used to make him his coffee in the morning, Ahmed says that, he still absentmindedly calls for Nariman when he wants coffee or tea. “Her room is still exactly as she left it three years ago, with everything still in its place.” Despite this, the family are desperately seeking to move; “we do not want to live in the house that Nariman was killed in,” says Ahmed. Adding to the sense of presence Nariman has in the house, I’tidal and Ahmed’s children Shadi, 34, Abdel Kareem, 32, and Sahar, 30, have all since had daughters whom they named Nariman, in the memory of their younger sister.

I’tidal was deeply affected physically and mentally by the loss of her daughter who used to help her a lot with daily household chores. “When I see young girls going to school I imagine her with them, I see her in every room of the house, I will never forget her. After the incident I was admitted to the hospital for ten days due to shock” recalls I’tidal, “since then I have suffered from huge physical problems resulting from stress.” I’tidal has health complications relating to blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

The family did not only lose Nariman during the Israeli offensive, but also their livelihood. The family had a citrus grove and a poultry farm that were totally destroyed during the attack and have another farm that they cannot reach due to its proximity to the Israeli imposed buffer zone. The family have recently planted seedlings in one of the destroyed farms again but are still waiting to harvest them. However, the loss of income from the farms is mentioned merely as an afterthought to the loss of Nariman. “We care nothing for the loss of our land compared to the loss of our daughter” says Ahmed.

Speaking of the future the couple are desperately seeking answers and demand accountability. “I don’t expect the case to be successful, they will change the facts, the only thing I want is to address the soldier who killed my daughter” says Ahmed. “But I hope one day that we can reach peace with the Israeli’s and end the war and the killing.”

PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of the Abu Oda Family on 30 August 2009. To-date, no response has been received.

The series of narratives:

8 January 2009: The Al-Rahel family
7 January 2009 – The Mattar family
6 January 2009: Al-Dayah family
5 January 2009: Amal al-Samouni
4 January 2009: The Abdel Dayem family
3 January 2009: Motee’ and Isma’il as-Selawy
2 January 2009: Eyad al-Astal
1 January 2009: The Nasla family
31 December 2008: The Abu Areeda family
30 December 2008: The Hamdan family
29 December 2008: Balousha family
28 December 2008: The Abu Taima family
27 December 2008: The Al Ashi family

The Occupy movement and Palestine

by Yousef Aljamal

9 January 2012 | Center for Political and Development Studies

The Occupy movement is an international protest movement directed primarily against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to receive wide coverage was Occupy Wall Street in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, which began on September 17, 2011. It was noticed that a majority among the participants in the movement were pro-Palestinians, who took to the streets holding banners that read “Occupy Wall Street Not Palestine.” The movement received support and solidarity from the BDS National Committee and the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign.

The protests should not be interpreted in isolation from the entire context of the issue, in which Americans feel sick of their government’s policies of intervening in other countries’ affairs. A group of activists gathered yesterday to discuss the movement in relation to Palestine at the Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), a Gaza-based think-tank center. Amin Husain, a Palestinian activist living in New York City and one of Occupy Wall Street’s organizers, talked about the main goals of the movement and the context in which it was established.

Those who follow mass media in the United States notice that the movement went unnoticed at the very beginning. “Mass media like CNN and Fox News is controlled by people whose interests are against the goals of the movement, like Robert Murdoch”, said Husain. “They are the 1% who own wealth. We used social media and made visits to churches, mosques and synagogues to get our voices heard,” he added.

Known for its strength and influence in decision-making circles in the US, the Zionist lobby made a major effort to put the movement down. Realizing this, Rawan Yaghi, an 18-year old English Literature student at the Islamic University of Gaza, asked about its role. “The movement was against lobbies altogether,” replied Husain.

Husain invited the participants to make use of the movement to the serve the Palestinian cause, since a great number of its participants feel sick of their country paying apartheid Israel three billion dollars in donations a year as Americans graduate from colleges and universities with no jobs to make their living.

“As Palestinians, we should make use of the momentum it received to serve our issue and expose Israel’s violations of human rights and occupation in the Palestinian Territories. Making use of non-violent means, which were used in the movement to protest occupation, would be useful,” he said.

The Occupy movement, which was partially inspired by the Arab Spring, adopted non-violent methods to get its goals achieved. But many tried to pull it into violence to harm its bright image and serve their own ends.

“It’s important to keep the movement non-violent, for many try to pull it to the circle of violence to defame its image and get it away from its goals,” said Iyad Al-tahrawi, a 22-year old Information Technology student at Al-Azhar University.

This video link is the first in series of links, seminars and lectures held at CPDS to discuss global issues related to Palestine in the presence of Palestinians and internationals to raise Palestinians’ awareness of global issues and movements taking place in the world, with the entire region in flux.

8 January 2009: The Al-Rahel family

8 January 2012 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

“The other children keep talking about Dima and the memories of both incidents. ‘We wish to die like Dima’ is what the children sometimes say to me because of all the stress and our poor living conditions.”

Saeed and Nisreen al-Rahel with their children Dina, Sunia, Ansam, Anas and Ali. (Photo: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights)

On 8 January 2009, at approximately 11:00, four missiles were fired at the house of Juma’a al-Rahel (45) in Beit Lahiya, injuring 3 members of the extended al-Rahel family: Basma (3), Dima (5), and Faten (41). Many of the extended family were inside the house at the time of the attack, as six of the al-Rahel brothers and their wives and children live nearby. Immediately after the attack, the families fled the area and sought refuge in Beit Lahiya’s UNRWA school. On 17 January 2009 the school was targeted with white phosphorus bombs, leaving Dima’s sister, Ansam al-Rahel (13), severely injured. After six weeks of fighting for her life 5-year old Dima eventually died of her wounds in an Egyptian hospital on 1 March 2009.

Saeed al-Rahel (35), the father of Dima and Ansam, remembers the day of the first attack vividly. “I was at home when an explosion took place and all the windows were broken. I got out of the house. I heard people screaming in the house of my brother Juma’a, nextdoor. My daughter Dima was there and I heard people screaming that she was wounded. Several more missiles struck Juma’a’s house and we fled from the area. Dima was taken to hospital. On 13 January she was transferred to Egypt. I went with her.”

Saeed’s wife, Nisreen al-Rahel (33), and their other children, Sunia (17), Dina (15), Ansam (13), Ahmad (11), Mohammed (6), and Ali (4), stayed in the UNRWA school in Beit Lahiya after the attack. Nisreen recalls: “we stayed in the school building from 8 to 17 January. It was winter and very cold. We didn’t have any mattresses. We had to use blankets as mattresses and it was very difficult, especially for the children. We didn’t have enough food. We also had to ask other people to give us water. There was no clean water.”

On 17 January 2009 the Israeli army bombed the school building with white phosphorus shells. “Experiencing the attack on the school was more difficult for me than the attack on the house. At the moment that the bombing of the school started I was in a classroom with my children. The bombing started around 5:00am and it was dark. I heard Ansam cry ‘I am wounded in my head’. The firing of bombs was very intensive.” Ansam was severely injured in the head, she lost her hair in the place of the injury and the scars get infected from time to time as parts of her skull are missing. “She is still suffering because of her injuries. At school she loses consciousness when she is active,” say Nisreen.

Saeed remembers the moment he found out about the bombing of the school: “Before I went to Egypt I stayed in that same classroom with my family. I saw the attack on the television when I was in Egypt and I recognized the classroom. There was blood on the floor. When I called to my family, no one wanted to tell me how my daughter Ansam was doing.”

When Nisreen and her remaining children moved back to their house after the offensive they found it badly damaged and their livelihood destroyed. “Shortly before the war I bought cattle. We had 2 oxen, 17 goats and dozens of rabbits. I kept them next to our house. I took out loans to buy them,” explains Saeed. “When our family returned to our house after the war they found all the animals killed by shrapnel. Only one goat was still alive but he also died after a few days. Now I am stuck with many loans. I can barely provide for the treatment of my daughter Ansam. I was even arrested by the police because I cannot pay back my loans to people. With a complete lack of money I am also not able to repair the severe damage that was done to the windows and walls of our house.” Cardboard and blankets serve to protect the family from the nightly and winter cold.

The events of January 2009 have had a profound impact on the psychological wellbeing of the Saeed, Nisreen, and their children. “It has been very difficult for me because I lost one of my daughters and another one was badly injured. I remember Dima when I see girls going to school,” says Nisreen. “The other children keep talking about Dima and the memories of both incidents. ‘We wish to die like Dima’ is what the children sometimes say to me because of all the stress and our poor living conditions.”

Saeed noticed changes in his children too. “Ansam holds a lot of anxiety and stress since the war. One time I called her and she started screaming and threw a plate at me, screaming to leave her alone. I am her father and she is afraid of me.” Nisreen adds: “Ahmad’s scores were badly affected after the war. He used to be an excellent student. Now he even has problems in reading. He also suffers from bedwetting.”

Fear seems to have become a part of daily life for the family. ”The children, like me, are always afraid when they hear drones or firing. When we hear it, we all sit in a single room,” says Nisreen. The fear of another attack is never far from Saeed’s thoughts either: “I am afraid that another war will come. When people talk about it I feel afraid. When I hear drones in the area, I leave the house. I get afraid that they will target us again.”

PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of the al-Rahel family on 9 September 2009. To-date, no response has been received.

The series of narratives:

7 January 2009 – The Mattar family
6 January 2009: Al-Dayah family
5 January 2009: Amal al-Samouni
4 January 2009: The Abdel Dayem family
3 January 2009: Motee’ and Isma’il as-Selawy
2 January 2009: Eyad al-Astal
1 January 2009: The Nasla family
31 December 2008: The Abu Areeda family
30 December 2008: The Hamdan family
29 December 2008: Balousha family
28 December 2008: The Abu Taima family
27 December 2008: The Al Ashi family

Kufr ad-Dik resists by the hundreds

by Jonathon

7 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The residents of Kufr ad-Dik sent a clear and strong message of resistance to the Israeli authorities,  just the second of planned weekly demonstrations in the village thus far.

There were approximately 250 residents who attended the demonstration, with a number of Israeli and international activists also present to resist the planned further expansion of  several illegal settlements besieging the village. Should construction go ahead, it will reportedly take 80% of the land belonging to Kufr Ad-Dik. To add further insult to the injustice and illegality of this situation, the Israeli authorities have denied Kufr Ad-Dik permission to build any new homes on their own land as the village is in Area C.

The protest began with the gathering of demonstrators in front of the village municipality, before walking in unison towards the Israeli military. They walked up a hill towards the main road separating the village from the illegal settlements and inevitably towards the Israeli military. It appeared that perhaps the occupation forces were caught off guard by the demonstrators, or at least by their courage, and were not immediately prepared to respond in their typically aggressive and sometimes fatal manner.

 The partial retreat of the Israeli occupation forces was short lived and was followed by an extended and intense period of tear gas, sound bombs and steel bullets coated in a thin layer of rubber. Even under such an assault the protesters remained steadfast, refusing to be intimidated even when it appeared there was a genuine threat to their lives.

The demonstration also caused some considerable disturbance to traffic travelling along the illegal road, and there are reports that live ammunition was fired by settlers from the main road. As is to be expected there was no evidence that any attempt was made by the Israeli military to intervene in any way. Instead the soldiers continued to fire directly at the protesters.

For the second consecutive week an ISM activist had a tear gas canister fired directly at them while they attempted to record the soldiers with a camera. It is clear the Israeli military is targeting media.

Eventually the demonstrators were forced to retreat. Gradually the group moved to another area of the village where they were again confronted by the Israeli military positioned on the illegal road. On this occasion the Israeli Occupation Forces were prepared and immediately began firing tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets.

The young men of the village refused to be subdued or intimated by such intense aggression and continued to throw stones in a symbolic gesture of resistance. Eventually the older men of the village urged the young men to cease, and that the situation was becoming too dangerous.

The injuries sustained were relatively minor, mostly constituted by partial asphyxiation from tear gas. It seems inevitable that there will be a series of arrests targeting the young men of the village during the next week, yet it is reported that this will not deter the village from continuing their struggle for justice.

Jonathon is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Beit Hanoun commemorates 3 years since operation ‘Cast Lead’

by Rosa Schiano

7 January 2012 | il blog di Oliva

(Photo: Rosa Schiano) – Click here for more images

On Tuesday there was another demonstration in Beit Hanoun against the “buffer zone” imposed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators also commemorated the over 1400 Palestinians killed during operation “Cast Lead”.

The demonstration started at about 11.00 am. A drone was flying over Beit Hanoun.

The volunteers of the ISM and other youth marched until they were only a few meters from the separation barrier, singing songs, among them the Italian “Bella Ciao”, and waving Palestinian flags.  During the march, they heard gunshots from Israeli soldiers.  Saber Zaaneen and other young men placed a Palestinian flag in the land.

At the end of the demonstration, Saber answered some questions.

Why do you demonstrate every week in Beit Hanoun?

We demonstrate against the Israeli occupation and against the siege of Gaza. In 2008 the Israeli army created a “no go zone” along the border that prevents the farmers from working within  300 meters of the border. We demonstrate against the “no go zone” and support the steadfastness of the farmers.

There is also a “no go zone” in the sea. The farmers and the fishermen are both oppressed by the “no go zone”.

This last demonstration had a special meaning. Today Gaza doesn’t kneel and doesn’t submit. Gaza did not raise the white flag. Gaza is still strong. Three years ago the state of Israel launched an attack on Gaza. For 23 days they used every weapon on us. They used planes, tanks, guns, missiles, bulldozers and white phosphorus. They wanted to destroy the resistence and Hamas. They did not succeed. They destroyed houses, they bombed  schools, UNRWA buildings. They massacred the Samouni family, the Idaaya family, the Abed Aldayem family, the Deeb family, the Ayel family and many others.

You placed a Palestinian flag at the border, why?

For three years we have had this demonstration in the buffer zone, so we thought today to do something  new. In the last demonstration we marched into the buffer zone and we reached an area that Palestinians haven’t reached since May 2000. I was happy to see today the flag in the same area.

How was the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative born?

It was born in September 2007, from the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli attacks. The main reason was  the killing of 18 children in Beit Hanoun, some of them were in school at the time.

We started to demonstrate in the name of our children that Israel killed at that time. It was  my idea to set it up. Our name is Volunteers for Human and Social Service. We have a psycological support group for the children and the mothers. We visit families, helping them, to harvest their lands. During Israeli attacks we help and provide first aid for injured people.

We also have a group that dances Dabka during Palestinian celebrations. Besides this, we organize events on important days every year: on Land Day, on the 30th of March, working with farmers. On the 15th of May, Nakba Day, we planted tents in the buffer zone to reflect the condition of the refugees.

How can this conflict end?

There are some decisions from the UN that could end this conflict if they would be applied. This  conflict could end if they give to the Palestinians the lands they had until 1967, but the problem is that there is still no justice in the world. The United States and Europe still support Israel, they could end this conflict if they apllied those UN decisions. Despite all the suffering Palestinians have endured for 63 years and all of the killings, the Palestinian people still fight to have freedom and justice. Our message is a request for freedom, justice and peace in Gaza and all Palestine.»

The illegal buffer zone was established 50 meters from the border, inside the Gaza strip, according to Oslo, and since then it was extended by Israel to 300 meters and in reality it often reaches 2 kilometers, preventing  Gazan farmers from working on their lands.