17 January 2013 | PSCC and International Solidarity Movement, West Bank, Occupied Palestine
A demonstration will be held on Friday 18th January in Budrus to commemorate Sameer Awwad (16) who was shot on Tuesday 15th January with 3 live bullets. Awwad is the fourth to be killed near the Barrier in five days.
On Tuesday morning, while children were clearing out of their classes in the village of Budrus, Israeli soldiers who convened by the Barrier near the school shot and killed 16 year-old Sameer Awwad. According to eyewitnesses, Sameer was walking away from light clashes that had erupted by the Barrier when he was shot from the back with three bullets, from a distance of about 100 meters. One bullet hit his leg, another at the back of his neck and exited near his eyebrow, and the third entered his rib cage and exited from his chest.
Awwad was immediately transferred to Ramallah Hospital, where he was pronounce dead shortly after. He is the fourth Palestinian to have been killed this week by Israeli forces in the vicinity of the Barrier. Anwar al-Mamlouk, 21, was killed last Friday in Gaza , near the Barrier in Jabalya. On Saturday, Oudai Darwish from Dura near Hebron was killed in the South Hebron Hills, when trying to cross the barrier to find work in Israel. Another Plaestinian, Mustafa Abu Jarad, 21, was killed yesterday near the Barrier in Beit Lahia.
16 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank, Occupied Palestine
By Neta Golan
After spending the night in the Russian compound detention center, known as Al Moskobia, I was taken to the holding cell in the court to await trail. Looking through the bars of the holding cell next to mine I was shocked to recognize Samer Al Issawi. I asked the young man standing near the barred door to tell Samer that I know him and that many others all over the world know his face, his name and his cause and are working to raise awareness and to support him.
When Samer heard that I had been arrested in Bab Al Shams he came up to the door to speak to me in person. He was too weak to stand without support and needed to lean himself against the door, but when he spoke he spoke with strength and passion. He sends his regards to all those who took part in Bab al Shams and says that this action has been giving him strength and pride and strengthens his resolve to continue with his hunger strike until his release. “I hope this model will spread and many similar villages will be created around Palestine. I hope to see Bab Al Muhabeh (the gate of love) Bab Al Huriya (the gate of freedom) and Bab Al Salam (the gate of peace).” Samer reiterated his resolve to continue his hunger strike until his release despite his deteriorating condition. “I will join you all on the outside soon,” he said smiling.
According to Dr. Daud Abdullah, Samer was Born in December 1979 and is now battling for his life. Long years of imprisonment, deprivation and torment have taken their toll. Still, he continues to resist with the only weapons left available to him; an undaunted spirit and an empty stomach. His resolve is never to succumb to what he regards as Israel’s racist policies.
“Shortly after his release in October 2011 as part of the exchange for the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shailt, Samer was rearrested; this time the pretext was that he broke the condition of his release by visiting the West Bank. He faces another twenty years behind bars to complete the original sentence.
Whether he survives or not, Samer Al-Issawi has placed before the free world its moral, legal and political duties toward the Palestinians in Israeli jails. They may be “disappeared”, but they’re not forgotten. The newly-recognised State of Palestine is no less culpable. It must take the lead by activating the 2012 Baghdad Declaration at the UN for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal status of the Palestinians in Israeli occupation jails. That should be followed by similar action within the International Criminal Court.”
On the 16th January, the day I met him, Samer had a court hearing in Jerusalem in which his appeal was denied. The occupation authorities set another hearing on 5th February at Ofer military court to decide his case.
16 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Ummar, Occupied Palestine
At around 2:30 pm the Israeli occupation forces violently attacked a funeral in Beit Ummar using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.
The funeral of Masouza Alja’ar, an elderly woman who died of natural causes, was attacked by the Israeli army with large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. For over three hours the town was rocked by the unprovoked actions of the soldiers. The youth of Beit Ummar defended their town as clashes broke out. Not until dusk, around 5 pm did the town return to normal. Tear gas canisters were fired at the residents forcing them to take refuge in their homes and inside shops.
Most funerals in the town of Beit Ummar are attacked by the Israeli army. The last funeral to be violently disrupted in the town was on 25th December, Christmas day. Again there was nothing out of the ordinary about this funeral so it remains unexplained why it was being attacked by the Israeli army. The violence spread to an area where there were also clashes between the Israeli occupation forces and people from the town, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kharmei Tzur.
Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)
14 January 2013 | Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine
Just three days after the fatal shooting of Anwar Al-Malouk near Jabalia, the Israeli military has murdered another Palestinian civilian despite a supposed ceasefire being in place. Mustafa Abu Jarad, 20, was one of a group of bird hunters working on a plot of land in an area north of Beit Lahiya in the very north of the Gaza Strip, over a kilometre away from the border fence.
From the border, the Israeli army began firing heavily in their direction and immediately targeted Mustafa directly in the forehead. The group had thrown themselves onto the ground and when the situation calmed enough for them to move they realised that Mustafa had been hit.
The bullet went straight through Mustafa’s head leaving a massive exit wound. He was rushed to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip but was quickly transferred to Al Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital, due to the severity of his injuries. He arrived in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery to remove bone fragments from the remaining part of his brain and to relieve internal bleeding. Unfortunately, he had sustained a massive brain trauma and his prognonis was bleak. He died in the ICU a few hours after the operation as his family anxiously waited for news.
Mustafa’s older brother, Loay, was killed two and a half months ago whilst active with the Palestinian resistance. Mustafa had no involvement with the resistance himself. He was trying to earn a little extra income for his family whilst he completed his studies. The latest attacks increase the number of Palestinian casualties since the ceasefire announcement to more than 80, according to officials in Gaza.
To further flout the ceasefire agreement, several Israeli military vehicles were reported to have breached the border with Gaza this morning in an agricultural area east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to Ma’an News Agency. After continual violations of the November ceasefire, committed by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, the question remains:
When will the international community take notice – and furthermore take action – to prevent an escalation of bloodshed?
Note: This is extended information on a related article published recently.
14 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Israeli military bulldozers destroyed four homes in a morning of mayhem in the South Hebron Hills. The demolitions were carried out by plain clothed officers accompanied by 15 Border Police and two bulldozers.
At 8 am Monday 14th January the house of Shoib Hathaleen in the village of Um Al Kheir was demolished by the Israeli occupation forces bulldozers. Eight people lived in the house, four adults and four children. Shoib has had a stroke and is unable to speak. The family were able to remove their possessions and pile them up next to the rubble of their home. The house had a demolition order put on it three years ago and on this morning the Israeli military turned up unexpectedly to wreak havoc on this refugee family. Their status as refugees means that the Red Cross who visited the family shortly afterwards has to check with the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA) before supplying them with basic aid such as a tent for shelter from the cold.
From Um Al Kheir two Israeli army bulldozers drove to an area called Shakia, near to the village of Hawara, between Um Al Kheir and Al Dereit. This is a rural area and the houses are spread far apart across the hills. The two bulldozers, acccompanied by Israeli army jeeps and plain clothed officers possibly from the District Coordination Office (DCO) driving in white pick up trucks drove around the area leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
At 9:45 am the next house to be demolished belonged to Ziad Makhamri.Ziad lives in this house for four to five months a year in the spring. Ziad owns a hundred sheep and lives in the house when his flock grazes on the lands around the house which he owns, the rest of the year Ziad lives in the village of Birl Ed. The family recieved a phone call to say the Israeli army were demolishing their house. They turned up to see the house lying in ruins. “The family were given no notice and no reason as to the destruction of their house, there was no demolition order on the building,” a family member Jamille Makhamri, a vetenary doctor said. “This is area C, we did not have a permit to build the house but the Israelis don’t ever give permission to build,” he added. Area C is under full Israeli civil and military control and permissions for Palestinians to build on the lands they own is very rarely granted.
At 10:45 am the home of Waleed Saljbor’s family was destroyed. And at 11:10 am the family of Mohammed Ali Issa Atayet, comprising of fifteen people including children, found themselves homeless as the Israeli occupation forces bulldozed their home.
The Israeli military targeting civilian housing in the middle of winter, leaving people to fend of the bitterly cold weather with little more than the clothes they are wearing, can only be described as acts wonton destruction carried out against farmers who work the land, and refugees.
Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)
A demonstration will be held on Friday 18th January in Budrus to commemorate Sameer Awwad (16) who was shot on Tuesday 15th January with 3 live bullets. Awwad is the fourth to be killed near the Barrier in five days.
