5th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
On Thursday afternoon, Activists for Prisoners organized a human chain outside the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza City office to support Palestinians detained by Israel.
4th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Operation Dove | Qawawis, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday morning, 3rd October, Palestinians discovered 48 olive trees destroyed alongside bypass road 317 near the South Hebron Hills area village of Qawawis.
The olive tree grove belongs to Ali Shetat from Qawawis and had been planted six years ago. At 10 am yesterday morning the owners, several internationals and B’tselem staff members gathered near the destroyed trees, waiting for the police. After 20 minutes the Israeli police and army arrived on the scene and documented the incident.
On May 10, 62 olive trees were cut during the night in a field next to bypass road 317, near the village of At Tuwani. On a small wall near the olive grove the slogan “price tag for those who steal” was found. The “price tag policy” (Hebrew: מדיניות תג מחיר) is, according to B’tselem, the name given to “acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces” by radical Israeli settlers.
The number of Palestinian-owned trees uprooted and damaged in the South Hebron Hills area from the beginning of 2013 now stands at 139. This is a substantial increase over 2012, when 101 olive trees were damaged.
Just in the last two months and right before the olive harvest season, 22 olive trees were destroyed in this area.
Olive trees are an essential resource for the Palestinian community in the South Hebron Hills area, and their damage causes serious economic loss.
4th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Burqa, Occupied Palestine
On Thursday the 3rd of October, a large group numbering around a 100 people, consisting mainly of Palestinians from the village of Burqa and the surrounding areas, as well as a smaller contingent of international activists and the press, celebrated the Palestinians’ reclamation of their land by planting olive trees on the ground of the former illegal settlement Homesh, situated on a hilltop next to the village.
Upon arriving at the site, there was an initial briefing encompassing both a short history of the area, statements made by the locals concerning their grievances over the many types of harassment that had originated from the settlement over the years, as well as their hopes for the future usage of the land. This was then followed by the planting of around 40 olive trees in the area, an act which everyone present was invited to share and assist with.
The illegal settlement of Homesh was ordered to be evacuated by the Israeli state in 2005. Despite the evacuation of the illegal settlement, the land itself was not returned to its rightful owners. As part of the Disengagement Plan, it was declared a closed military zone. This ruling was heavily enforced for Palestinians, meaning that they could not enter the hilltop, but periodically it has been blatantly overlooked with regards to Israeli settlers celebrating holy days and other events on this Palestinian land. Furthermore, in addition to reports of continued Palestinian harassment by illegal settlers, petitions had been made by Israelis to re-build the settlement since its evacuation.
In spite of the settlement being established contrary to international law, the practical return of the land was still dependent upon a formal petition to the Israeli judicial system. The legal proceedings were thus initiated in 2010 and reached the Supreme Court by the end of the year, finally terminating in the annulment of the military zone by 2013. In 2008, pre-empting the petition and final verdict, Palestinians along with Internationals tried to reach the hilltop to plant olive trees on the land, but were violently stopped by the Israeli army, who fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters in its attempts to end the demonstration.
The planting of the olive trees was more than a symbolic act, commemorating and celebrating their final victory over the illegal settlement. The growing of the trees also marks the return to using the land for Palestinian agricultural activity.
3rd October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Tuesday 2nd October local Khalil shop owner Abed Sider and his 3-year-old niece were hospitalised after being assaulted by several soldiers.
On the day of his birthday at 6:30pm, Abed had his home invaded by five Israeli soldiers who had come to interrogate his three year old niece on allegations of stone throwing. The Israeli forces dragged Abed from his home into the street; this aggressive action caused injury to his arm which later necessitated hospital treatment. Additionally the Israeli soldiers injured Abed’s three-year-old niece who also required hospitalisation.
The soldiers alleged that nearby illegal settlers from Beit Hadassah had made several complaints of stone throwing from the little girls’ bedroom window that overlooks the settlement playground. The window in question is sealed and caged to protect the Sider family from the constant attacks from the settlers.
An Israeli commander later came to the Sider family home and was convinced by Abed’s brother, Shadi, to view footage of the incident that showed the soldier’s aggressive actions. After viewing the video, the commander stated that the soldiers had been acting “out of accordance” with Israeli army policy and that they will be reprimanded and moved to a new post out of Hebron.
This is another incident in a long line of harassment and intimidation that Abed has had to endure; his seven-year-old son was recently blinded by an acid attack from settlers, and is in Jordan awaiting surgery to restore his vision. The Israeli government has refused Abed and his family the necessary travel permits to visit their son and pay for the treatment.
2nd October 2013 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights| Gaza, Occupied Palestine
In an excessive use of lethal force, on Monday, 30 September 2013, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian, and wounded another one before arresting him, near the border fence, east of Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR and the testimony given by Naim Khalil, an ambulance officer in the Palestine Red Crescent Society(PRCS), at approximately 19:15 on Monday, 30 September 2013, sounds of artillery shells and flash bombs that were followed by heavy gunfire were at the border fence, east ofal- Misreyin Street in the east of Beith Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip. At approximately 20:00, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) informed the PRCS in Jabalia that there was a body of a Palestinian civilian near the border fence. After coordinating with the Israeli side, an ambulance of the PRCS headed to the above-mentioned area, and the paramedics started searching for the body. After approximately 20 minutes of search, they found the body of the killed man who was lying on his stomach about 400 meters far from the border fence. The victim was hit by several bullets in the back and one bullet in the back of the head, and was wearing civilian clothes and possessing no equipment. The search process continued till 21:50, as the paramedics were informed that there was another person in the area, but they didn’t find anyone, before their director called them and asked them to evacuate the area for there was nobody else there. The paramedics took the body to Kamal Odwan Hospital in Biet Lahia, where the victim was identified later as Hweishel Ismail Hweishel Hanajra, 35, from al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The victim’s family stated to a PCHR fieldworker that their son had headed to the area in order to infiltrate into Israel to find a job, as a result of his difficult living conditions.
The PCHR fieldworker was informed that Israeli forces advanced into the area immediately after the incident, and chased and arrested a wounded man. According to the ICRC, the detainee is Subhi Hussein Salem Abudib, 36, from al-Bureij camp. Moreover, the artillery shelling caused material damage to Musleh Al-Tarabin’s abandoned house that is covered with tin plates, located about 700 meters far from the border fence; cracking its walls, damaging 4 water barrels, punching tin plates, and killing birds and a donkey.
PCHR expresses deep concern for such crimes which reflect the continued use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in disregard for their lives, and points out that the infiltrations through the border fence along the Gaza Strip are repeated due to the crippling economic blockade in Gaza.
PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and reiterates its call for the parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949 to fulfill their obligations under Common Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Article 85 of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.
