Year: 2013 - Page 47 - International Solidarity Movement

Saturdays under the settlements

25th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Saturday is supposed to be a holy day for the Jewish settlers of the illegal colonies in the West Bank; many don’t work, they don’t turn on electrical appliances, they don’t drive cars. But some of the violent and Zionist among them still allow themselves one activity – attacking and harassing Palestinians.

Farmer showing damaged grapevines (Photo by: ISM)

This Saturday, four international volunteers accompanied a farmer and his family from the town of Beit Ummar to their land, which is in the valley directly underneath the settlement of Bet Ayin, notorious for violent attacks against Palestinians, especially on Saturdays. The family had asked for an international presence to act as a deterrent for the settlers and also to speed the farming, as the quicker we could bring in the harvest, the less time the family would be at risk on their land. This day, thankfully, there were no settlers running down the hills throwing rocks at the farmers, and there were no helicopters bringing Israeli military to “protect” the attackers, as has happened in the past (needless to say, they don’t come to protect the Palestinians who are being attacked). We picked enough plums to fill all of the boxes that the farmer had brought and these were loaded onto a donkey to be taken to market.

It was after we were finished – and after we had been given one (or two, or three) of the delicious plums by the farmer – that we were taken on a tour of the valley and the family’s land. Although it is still lush, well tended and green, there was also destruction visible everywhere. Fruit and olive trees had been hacked down leaving just stumps, branches of figs had been half torn off, grapevines were ripped from their supports. In addition several newly planted young olive trees had been uprooted.

The farmer walked us through, pointing out each and every plant which had been killed over the last couple of years. Each had been sown with love, hope and resistance – and each had been torn down by the settlers. At every plant and tree the farmer paused and told us to “see, see what they did! It is so bad”. It was clear that every new piece of destruction was a blow to him.

Bet Ayin settlement visible on the hill (Photo by: ISM)

He also showed us the river running through the valley and how it was polluted, poisoning some of the trees and causing weeds to grow wild, blocking access across the river to the land on the other side. The pollution comes from the looming settlement of Bet Ayin. When his English was limited, the farmer acted out the attacks to which he had been subjected – showing us marks on his head where the settlers had beaten him.

But despite all of this, the farmers will continue working their land, each tree a symbol for their resistance and each harvest a step towards the day when they will be able to farm their land on Saturdays – and every other day – without international accompaniment and without having to watch the hills for settlers.

Land confiscation continues in Awarta

24th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Awarta, Occupied Palestine

Map of land confiscation in Palestine. (Photo by ISM)

Awarta, a small village south east of Nablus, faces constant intimidation from the Israeli army and nearby Itamar settlement.

In the past month, the Israeli Civil Administration handed out two land confiscation orders to residents of Awarta. The first one, three weeks ago, stated that 360 dunums of the village’s land will be confiscated and the second one, issued last week, confiscated 63.4 more dunums. However, residents of Awarta affirm that the actual total amount of land confiscated raises up to 1,500 dunums.

As you can see on the map, the area confiscated is located around the settlement of Itamar, where farmers own hundreds of olive trees. While the confiscation orders are valid until 2015, farmers fear that Israeli authorities will renew them so the land and thus, all olive trees are now lost to Itamar settlement.

The past ten years farmers have only had permission to visit this land once or twice a year, despite the fact that they have documents stating their ownership of the land. Three weeks ago, the 22 farmers affected from the first land confiscation order went together to visit the land but were denied access, only getting within 2km of the land before being stopped by the Israeli army. The farmers were attempting to visit the land due to the recent destruction of 300 olive trees and concerns that the 600 dunums of land was being damaged by chemical pollution from the settlement.

The olive trees are the main source of income for the farmers but due to the threat of violence and the restriction of access from Israeli authorities they would never visit their land alone.

When asked what are they going to do now, Awarta’s major said: “We have two ways of resisting, one, by appealing the order in the Israeli court and the other, by staying on our land. This is our land and we will never leave”.

Israeli army and settlers regularly bar Palestinian access to land surrounding settlements, one of the first moves in achieving land confiscation and settlement expansion. A B’tselem report, Access Denied: Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around settlements, comprehensive report (September, 2008) states: “Blocking Palestinian access to land adjacent to settlements is the direct result, and an integral part, of the illegal settlement enterprise. This enterprise continuously violates the absolute prohibition specified in international humanitarian law on settlements in occupied territory.”

Located close to the Huwara checkpoint and military base, the village is designated within Area B but the surrounding farm land is Area C and therefore under Israeli civil and security control.

The illegal settlement of Itamar, constructed in 1984, has taken 30,000 dunums from the nearby Palestinian villages of Awarta, Beit Furik, Rujeib and Yannun. Awarta’s land comprises a total area of 22,00 dunums. However, Itamar has taken 12,000, leaving the residents of Awarta with only 10,000 dunums, most of it located in area C. Israeli government recently approved a plan to build 675 new housing units in the settlement of Itamar, Of the 675 housing units, 137 are existing apartments that have now been retroactively approved.

Army to Duma: “Stop building!” Duma to army: “We’ve built already”

24th June, 2013 | International Women’s Peace Service & International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Duma, Occupied Palestine

Wahid's house. (Photo by ISM) — Wahid’s house. (Photo by ISM)

On Thursday 20th June, Israeli soldiers and border police handed out “stop building” orders to 11 buildings in the village of Duma, southeast of Nablus.

The papers state that owners of the targeted buildings, which include family houses and a furniture factory, must stop construction because “it is forbidden to build” in that area. Villagers are ordered to apply for building permits at the illegal Israeli settlement of Bet El (which is also the headquarters of the Israeli Civil Administration); they are given 30 days to do so.

As is the case with most other villages in the occupied West Bank, the built-up area of Duma is declared Area B (under Palestinian civil and Israeli military administration, according to the Oslo Accords), while around 95% of the village’s land is Area C (under Israeli civil and military control). All buildings recently given “stop building” orders are in Area C; most of them are already fully built.

Among them is a fully functioning furniture factory constructed 2.5 years ago; it employs 25 people from the village, most of whom are the main breadwinners in the family. The factory was given a “stop working” order, while its adjoining office building – a “stop building” paper. The majority of its production is sold in Israeli markets. It took the owner of the factory two months of daily knocking on institutional doors to attain a document recognised by both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities stating that he is the legal owner of the land he’s built on (29 dunums in total). He received the “stop building” order nevertheless, and is now ready to fight his case in courts.

So is Wahid, a father of four, whose house is right next to the factory. The youngest of his children is only one-and-a-half; Wahid’s family house was built 2.5 years ago. Last Thursday Wahid was not at home when the Israeli soldiers and border police were handing out their orders; he found the paper, in Hebrew and Arabic, under a rock at the entrance of the house. “I’m not afraid,” Wahid said. “This is my house and I will continue living here.”

“In the end, this is our land and so we can build here,” a local resident told ISM. “It’s dangerous, yes, but we build anyway.” In 2008, the Israeli army handed similar “stop building” orders to several other villagers in Duma; people built homes for their expanding families nevertheless; those cases are still stuck in Israeli courts.

Duma experienced its latest demolitions some 20 years ago. Villagers speculate that Israel has not yet demolished new “forbidden” buildings because of Duma’s geographical location: thanks to the rocky terrain, there are no nearby illegal settler colonies whose interests Duma would supposedly be threatening.

The reasons for such harassment as the recent “stop building” orders are thus threefold: intimidation of Palestinian population; explicit showcase of Israeli power and control over the territories it occupies (“They came to let us know that they are here, that they have the power,” a local resident commented); and money.

Applying for a building permit is a highly costly affair. Gathering all the necessary documents and paying the lawyers’ expenses in building permit cases which habitually drag on for years (with absolute majority ending in negative outcomes) can easily cost NIS 10,000 (US $2,800). “And that’s just the beginning,” said one resident who was given the “stop building” order. That’s why many families build houses on their own land without any permits from the occupation authorities. “We need to live somewhere, don’t we?”

The Israeli army has also tried to deny Palestinian houses in the outskirts of Duma to be connected to electricity and water. Pressure from the Red Crescent led to the electricity cables finally being installed; negotiations are still going on regarding the half-finished water project.

In the night, lights from several smaller illegal Israeli settler colonies and a military base in the surrounding mountains are visible from Duma. “Israel demolishes many Palestinian houses every year,” a Duma resident said, cracking the almost-ripe almonds on the land of his ancestors. “But they allow the settlers to build anywhere they want.”

Duma's lanscape( Photo by IWPS) — Duma’s landscape (Photo by IWPS)

Witness to a child arrest in occupied Hebron

24th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Two detained children, soldier looking on (Photo by: ISM)

Since coming to the West Bank I had heard a lot about the Israeli army detaining and arresting children. Despite this, the first time I saw it myself, I was amazed. Amazed that people – young soldiers – could intimidate, harass and arrest kids. And all done with smiles on their faces.

We were called to the army base on Shuhada Street with a report of two children being detained. We walked down the street, passing checkpoints, getting held up while the soldiers ‘checked’ our passports and hassled us. When we got close to one of the illegal settlements in Hebron, we saw a mob of about ten soldiers down a side road – when we approached they disbanded. As they moved apart we saw that they had been crowded around two young children, around ten years old, who were backed up against a wall.

On our arrival a group of soldiers came over to us, laughing and joking with each other, trying to talk to us in broken English. According to them the children had been caught throwing stones in the old souq. It seems laughable to think they’d be so concerned, being covered head to toe in military gear and holding guns. The children were forced to stand apart, in the dark, in an alley full of soldiers for over an hour. We asked the soldiers if they knew where their parents were, if we could talk to them, if we could walk them back into the Palestinian controlled area of Khalil. All of our questions were met with the same answer; “No”.

We sat and waited, waving at the children, making sure they knew we were there to try and help. Attempting to talk to the soldiers was futile; “we’re waiting for further instruction from higher up”, “I love kids, we’re not doing anything wrong”, “I’m just doing my job”. All I could think was: “Imagine if your kids, or your brothers, were missing at night and you didn’t know where they were?!” – the whole thing felt disgusting and underhand. Even the way they moved away from the kids when they saw us coming – they must have known that what they were doing was wrong. That it would seem wrong to the international community if they knew about it.

The two children seemed fairly calm after a while, eventually exchanging jokes and swapping positions when the soldiers weren’t looking. We decided, amongst the five of us that were there, that two should walk back up to the main checkpoint between the Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas. This would be where the children would get taken when/if they were released. My comrade and I walked back up Shuhada Street, the soldiers laughing at us as we left. We of course got stopped for a long time at another checkpoint in between – in fact, long enough to see the soldiers escorting the two children up the road towards us. We could not follow to make sure they were okay as the soldier who had detained us was holding our passports and ‘radioing in’ to ‘confirm our identities’.

Soldiers smiling - children arrested behind them — Soldiers smiling – children arrested behind them (Photo by: ISM)

After about 15 minutes we got our passports back and got to the checkpoint to see the children being ‘posted’ back into the Palestinian controlled area and handed to the Palestinian Authority. The whole thing left me feeling sick. The smiles on the faces of the soldiers, the way they thought it was acceptable – or even normal – to hold children against their will at night, their use of intimidation and blatant abuse of power.

It may not seem like it, but these children were lucky – they were not blindfolded or handcuffed, nor were they were beaten or imprisoned. But others are. The children of the West Bank are learning first hand every day about the brutality of the Occupation. But they are also learning how to resist. I hope that their resistance will create a Palestine where children can play in the streets freely and without fear.

Struggle against apartheid wall continues in Bil’in

21st June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Bil’in, Occupied Palestine

Following the Friday prayers on June 21, residents of Bil’in accompanied by a contingent of international supporters gathered for the village’s weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall. The wall has cut the village off from Palestinian land that is now being used to expand an illegal Israeli settlement. A European TV-crew followed the protest in order to cover the disproportional use of force carried out by the occupying soldiers. Two protesters from Bil’in have died from wounds received at the weekly protest that has been taking place for the last eight years.

Protest against the wall in Bil'in. — Protest against the wall in Bil’in (Photo by ISM)

At Friday’s demonstration before the protesters could even reach the wall they were stopped by fencing and barbed wire. They attempted to remove the gate so that they could continue their march. After the removal of the outer gate, soldiers manning the apartheid wall threw volleys of tear gas and stun grenades at the protesters who had gathered around twenty meters from the wall. Observers noted that one sound grenade went off before it had been thrown over the wall, to the confusion of the soldiers. However, another grenade managed to set the dried-out fields in front of the wall on fire. The resulting smoke led some of the protesters to retreat out of firing distance of the soldiers.

Protesters trying to remove part of the fence (Photo by: ISM) — Protesters trying to remove part of the fence (Photo by ISM)

In spite of tear gas, stun grenades and the nearby fire, many protesters remained in front of the wall, chanting. At one point, a plastic-coated steel bullet was fired at the protesters, but no one was hit. After around an hour of protesting, the demonstrators decided to return to the village. As the protesters were leaving the area near the annexation wall, soldiers started volleying yet more tear gas at the crowd. This led to the dispersion of the protesters and caused general panic. Two years ago local woman, Jawaher Abu Rahma, was killed from severe asphyxiation caused by the excessive use of tear gas against protesters. Despite the brutality of the Israeli military, the people of Bil’in continue their struggle against the occupation.

Tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the crowd (Photo by: ISM) — Tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers into the middle of the crowd (Photo by ISM)