Year: 2013 - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Photos: Palestinians rally for prisoners in Gaza as Samer Issawi freed in Jerusalem

27th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Marco Varasio | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On 23rd December, like every Monday morning, relatives and friends of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails gathered at the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza office for the weekly rally.

But people at the rally had another reason to gather: the impending release of the Palestinian hero Samer Tariq Issawi, who spent more than 270 day on hunger strike before signing an agreement with the Israeli authorities on 22nd April .

Mothers and wives holding banners of their imprisoned relatives chanted slogans paying tribute to Issawi and all the Palestinian prisoners.

“Today Samer Issawi will be released,” the rally’s opening speech began. “We are so happy for him. We will distribute flowers to all the people here to celebrate his freedom. We need freedom of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”

“We, as Activists for Palestinian Prisoners, celebrate his release to Jerusalem after a 270 days hunger strike,” said Samoah Ahmeed, a Palestinian activist and journalist. “We are close to his family. We want freedom for all the Palestinian prisoners in the future.”

Sweets and flowers were distributed to the people attending the rally to honor Issawi’s release.

What made the release of Issawi’s freedom so special was also that he was not deported to the Gaza Strip, but was instead released in his hometown Issawiya, northeast of Jerusalem.

The Israeli authorities will release another five Palestinian prisoners in the Gaza Strip through the Erez checkpoint next week as part of the current round of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.

(Photo by Silvia Todeschini)

Video: Israeli troops fire on Palestinian farmers and international activists in Gaza

27th December 2013 | Resistenza Quotidiana, Silvia Todeschini | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

International activists have been accompanying Palestinian farmers to their lands near the separation barrier between the territories occupied in 1948 and the Gaza Strip. We have noticed, in recent days, an increase in the presence of the Zionist occupation forces. A few days ago, we felt more drones and F-16, then Jeeps and bulldozers began to move near the barrier more often. On Sunday, 22nd December, two Jeeps were stationed in front of the area where farmers were seeding and tractors plowing. They fired shots into the air and one the the ground. This video shows the last episode.

Olive, orange and lemon trees grew in these fields until the second Intifada. Then bulldozers and tanks of the occupying forces uprooted them. After “Operation Cast Lead,” the no-go zone was established at 300 meters, but aggression towards Palestinians was not limited to that area. According to UN reports, high-risk areas in some places reach two kilometers from the barrier, and included 35% of all arable land in Gaza. Following the truce concluded after the Zionist attack called “Operation Pillar of Defense,” farmers were able to reach their land up to 100 meters. Now, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the situation is very similar to that seen before the last offensive: Zionist aggression reaches up to 1,500 meters from the border. The high-risk areas comprise 35% of arable land, and in the restricted areas, 95% is cultivable. Also according to PCHR data, the last farmer killed by the occupation forces while working, Mustafa Abdul Hakim Mustafa Abu Jarad, was 1,200 meters from the barrier. He was killed by a bullet in the head 14th January 2013, one of four people killed this year in the areas near the separation barrier.

Not only are Palestinian farmers attacked during their work, but the land they farm is itself destroyed by the passage of bulldozers and tanks. They create deep grooves that make it difficult for a tractor to pass and plow. By doing so, they mix layers, making the land less fertile. In addition, the water tanks which are used for irrigation in this area are all destroyed by Zionist gunfire.

In the separation barrier are installed several instruments of repression. There are turrets with automatic weapons, others on which snipers can stand, tall iron columns with cameras installed and others with radar. There is barbed wire, gates where Zionist military vehicles can enter, balloons equipped with cameras, and more.

The violence of the Zionists towards Palestinian farmers and fishermen are an attack not only on their ability to work, but also on the food sovereignty of all the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

The presence of foreign activists sometimes manages to lightly calm the situation, because we are inconvenient witnesses for the Zionist occupation forces. But the heroes are the farmers, who continue to reach their land. Without regular watering, they can grow only wheat, although after it has been cultivated for several years, not much grows anymore. The heroes are the farmers who, generation after generation, continue to say “adha hardy” – “this is my land,” no matter how strong the Zionist repression with all its resources, weapons, armor and surveillance equipment may be.

Israeli army confiscates land in Qusra

26th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Qusra, Occupied Palestine

Israeli soldiers have declared a road south of Qusra, in Nablus District, a security zone, thus denying villagers access to over 500 dunams of their farmland.

At 10:00 this morning, Israeli soldiers positioned themselves at various strategic points around the village. The commander then held a meeting on the farmland with the mayor of Qusra. It was in this meeting that the Israeli army officially appropriated the land, claiming “security reasons.”

Farmers have been told that they may apply for permits to access their land. However, Palestinian farmers state that these applications are frequently ignored. One farmer stated: “I’m sure they will not give anything to the farmers. This is a military order: it will pass.”

Israeli soldiers on Qusra land (photo by ISM).

UPDATED: Murad Eshtewi, head of the Popular Committee of Kafr Qaddum, has been arrested

21st December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Second Update 24th December:

A military judge has ruled that Murad Eshtewi will be released from prison with a 7000 NIS bail. Nery Ramati, Murad’s lawyer, argued that it was unreasonable to continue to hold Murad for interrogation as he had not been interrogated since his arrest at 10am Friday morning.

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Update 24th December:

Murad Eshtewi was arrested on the 20th December and has still not been interrogated. Murad has not been charged with any crimes, though he is suspected of “incitement”. This charge appears to be based on a photograph of Murad with a megaphone. He is also suspected of entering a closed military zone.

Yesterday Murad attended Salem Court near Jenin where Israeli forces requested that his detention be extended for 8 days, it was granted for four days and his second hearing will be held on the 26th

Today Murad and his lawyers are trying to appeal this decision at Ofer prison in Ramallah.

In recent years Israel has imprisoned leaders of popular committees for “incitement” and similar charges. An example is Abdullah Abu Rahma, the head of Bil’in popular committee, who in 2010 was convicted of “incitement” and imprisoned for 18 months. He also received a 6 months suspended sentence that is active for 5 years and a 5000 NIS fine.

The imprisonment of Murad Eshtewi is part of Israel’s campaign to criminalise popular protests by using its military court.

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Yesterday morning, Murad Eshtewi, the head of the Popular Committee of Kufr Qaddum and leader of the Friday demonstrations was arrested and is still being held by Israeli forces.

At around 3:00 on Friday morning, Israeli soldiers entered the village of Kafr Qaddum, in Qalqilya district, arresting two citizens on the accusation of having taken part in the regular Friday demonstrations held in the village. The men were released the following morning without charges.

The house of Murad Eshtewi, the head of the Popular Committee of Kafr Qaddum, was also raided during the night incursion and he was subjected to aggressive questioning.

Later, at approximately 10:00 on Friday morning, two hours before the demonstration was due to begin, Mr Eshtewi was walking on the outskirts of the village and was ambushed and arrested by soldiers. He did not resist this arrest and yet Israeli forces were extremely aggressive in their use of both pepper spray and stun grenades. He has not yet been released.

His attorney, Lymor Goldstein, stated that, “Contrary to the fundamental principles of due process we have not been presented with the accusations against Murad nor has he been interrogated since his arrest. “

In recent weeks there has been a steady escalation of night raids, increasingly violent repression of Friday demonstrations, flying checkpoints and seemingly arbitrary arrests. In the past month alone there have been more than twenty night raids on houses in the village.

Last month a new army commander responsible for the area gave a verbal warning to villagers stating that, unless they suspend their Friday demonstrations, the military harassment outlined above would be increased.

A typical night raid will involve up to around fifty soldiers surrounding and entering a particular house. Tear gas is often released and live ammunition may be fired into the air to intimidate residents. Israeli soldiers may break windows and doors in order to enter the houses.

Arrestees are blindfolded and handcuffed before being taken for questioning to another location. Interrogation may take place in the back of an army jeep, on the ground at the side of the road, or within the police station. Frequently they are subjected to verbal and physical abuse. When released, the detainees are often left in the road, kilometers from their homes.

The villagers of Kafr Qaddum are currently unable to access much of their land due to the closure by the Israeli army of the village’s main and only road leading to Nablus in 2003. The road was closed in three stages, ultimately restricting access for farmers to the 11,000 dunams of land that lie along either side to one or two times a year. Since the road closure, the people of Kafr Qaddum have been forced to rely on an animal trail to access this area; the road is narrow and, according to the locals, intended only for animals. In 2004 and 2006, three villagers died when they were unable to reach the hospital in time. The ambulances carrying them were prohibited from using the main road and were forced to take a 13 km detour. These deaths provoked even greater resentment in Kafr Qaddum and, on 1 July 2011, the villagers decided to unite in protest in order to re-open the road and protect the land in danger of settlement expansion along it.

Metaphor in Gaza

23rd December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Hundreds greet freed detainees at midnight rally in northern Gaza Strip (Photo by Charlie Andreasson)

You stand below a dam because you have discovered cracks where water leaks out. You try to seal them with your bare hands, but they are not enough. The pressure is too high, and the cracks too large. And you scream for help, to let people know what is happening, stop the pressure from the inside before the disaster happens. But no one listens to your warning, and no one seems to want to see the water that wells between your fingers. Some even claim you are exaggerating. And you stand there,not daring to move your hands, wondering how long you will be able to hold back the pressure, how long you can keep calling before your voice fails. This is the metaphor that best describes the frustration activists here feel from time to time, a frustration we have to deal with because it cannot pass in dejection.

To be an activist here is not just to go with farmers into the “buffer zone,” or out to sea with fishermen, more or less as human shields: to try to seal the cracks with your hands, if I am allowed to continue using the metaphor as an explanatory model. Far more time is spent interviewing victims, gathering information, going to demonstrations and writing articles, to call for help and draw attention to what is happening. And it is mainly during the search for information that you unwittingly also look for something to show that a change is afoot. One’s eyes skim through title after title, then suddenly it’s there, the article that makes you pause. Standing below the dam, you notice a change among those high above you. Maybe now something’s finally starting to happen. And you feel relief and joy, and share the news with all the activists you meet.

Most recently, on 8th December, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had planned to inaugurate a container scanner at the Kerem Shalom checkpoint, but called off the whole thing when it became apparent that the scanner would not, contrary to Rutte’s assumptions, facilitate and thereby increase the movement of goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel is determined to keep these two parts of Palestine separated from each other.

On the same trip, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans refused to accept an Israeli military escort in the 1967-occupied territories, instead canceling his planned visit to Hebron’s older neighborhoods. Other foreign ministers have recently visited them without military escorts, and Timmermans did not accept the new conditions to avoid creating a precedent.

Netherlands, you are great among activists here now. Upright, a standard-bearer for human rights, the defender of the Geneva Conventions. Only days later, we read that the Dutch water company Viten ended a partnership with Israeli water company Mekorot. Also on Rutte’s trip was Dutch Minister of Trade Lilianne Ploumen, whose visit to Mekorot the Israelis abruptly canceled. Perhaps this was because Dutch media had revealed that the same company was denying Palestinians water, but we may never know.

Netherlands, you are a light in the darkness, and may other nations follow that light. You demonstrate that there is a political space to maneuver to bring about a change. And now Romania denies its citizens work in Israeli settlements in 1967-occupied territory. Salvation is close, you can stop shouting now, and soon you will no longer need to keep your hands over the cracks.

But we are deceiving ourselves, and maybe we need to do it to not be dejected. For while we focus on the good news, we shut our eyes, at least temporarily, to the bad, which is much more plentiful, and more serious in nature. As the UK develops a new type of drone with Israel, and Italy expands its cooperation on several levels with the aforementioned occupying power, that members of the Knesset already have started congratulating each other for the peace talks that do not seem to lead anywhere … the list is grows longer every day. And when we go out on the streets of Palestine, we see that nothing has improved. Do average people here know the Netherlands stands up for them? Do they react the same way we do to the news??

People here are hardened. They believe in a change only when they see it. They’ve had enough empty promises to stop dreaming. And that’s why they pay tribute to every Palestinian who returns from an Israeli prison, no matter what he or she has done – armed resistance, political activity, being in the wrong place at the wrong time – because this person tried, in a concrete way, to change the situation. That’s all that counts after the betrayal of all who walk above, without giving a thought to the cracks you frantically try to seal. They are about to be drowned further downstream from the dam. And we continue to cry out for help.