25th November 2013 | Corporate Watch, Tom Anderson and Therezia Cooper | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Palestinians hold their weekly vigil at the ICRC in Gaza City in solidarity with prisoners in Israeli jails. (Photo by Corporate Watch)
Palestinians held a demonstration at the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza City today in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. The demonstration has been held every week since 1995 to remember the prisoners and is a focal point for organising prisoner solidarity campaigns.
The weekly vigils were initiated by Um Jaber and Um Ibrahim, two women who both had sons imprisoned by Israel and wanted to do something to act in solidarity. To read more about the weekly vigil click here.
International companies are profiting from providing services to the Israeli prison system. One such company is G4S, the British/Danish security firm which has held a contract to provide services to the Israeli Prison Service since 2007.
For more information on G4S see Corporate Watch’s company profile.
Hussam Association, a Gaza based organisation of current and former Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, has recently released a statement calling for the prosecution of G4S.
(Photo by Corporate Watch)(Photo by Corporate Watch)(Photo by Corporate Watch)(Photo by Corporate Watch)(Photo by Corporate Watch)
25th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbat Tabib, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday, November 24th, Israeli soldiers blocked the road at the entrance to Izbat Tabib and entered the village on three separate occasions during the night, firing tear gas canisters and intimidating residents.
At approximately 14:30, a military jeep carrying four soldiers set up a flying roadblock near the entrance to the village preventing the passage of traffic and pedestrians on the road to Qalqilya. The roadblock remained in place for one and a half hours. Only a few vehicles or pedestrians were permitted to pass according to the arbitrary judgement of the soldiers.
Shortly after sunset, an Israeli armoured jeep entered the village. Three soldiers aggressively searched the tent used as a community center, physically searching a 14-year-old Palestinian and threatening to return later in the night.
At around 22:00, a foot patrol of four soldiers stationed itself in the bushes near the entrance to Izbat Tabib.
On all three occasions, soldiers were confronted by international activists. When asked the reason for their presence, they made unfounded allegations that village children had been throwing stones and molotov cocktails onto Highway 55, a road shared by both Israelis settlers and Palestinians.
When specific details were asked for to clarify these claims, the Israeli soldiers gave conflicting and inconsistent accounts. For instance, one soldier even claimed that a molotov cocktail had been thrown at 15:00 near the entrance to the village. This was impossible as soldiers had been blocking the road and international activists were present during this time.
Finally, at 00:30, soldiers entered the village for the fourth time that day and fired tear gas amongst the houses.
Izbat Tabib, population around 250, is located within Area C. Several years ago the village, east of Qalqiliya, was served with demolition orders by the Israeli Army. The orders would mean destruction of 33 houses (73% of the village) and the village school. Two houses have already been demolished, and the school, which has 52 students, is vital to the village and its future.
The harassment is part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation and collective punishment to pressurize residents into dropping popular resistance to these demolition orders and to the occupation as a whole.
Israeli soldiers and the flying checkpoint outside the village
25th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Mohammed Adel Afana. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
On the afternoon of Friday, 22th November 2013, Mohammed Adel Afana, age 22, was injured by Israeli gunfire east of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Adel Afana had gone there with friends. Each Friday, many Palestinians go to the cemetery, which is located about 300 meters from the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from territory occupied by Israel in 1948.
It was between 3:30 and 4:00 pm. Some youths began to throw stones at Israeli soldiers. Adel Afana joined them. In the hospital, he said there had been three Israeli jeeps and about 10 soldiers. A soldier shot his right thigh. The bullet entered and exited, but cut the nerves and left shrapnel inside the limb.
The young men with him called an ambulance. It transported Adel Afana to Kamal Odwan hospital in Jabalia. He was later transferred to the Beit Hanoun hospital for surgery. There doctors removed the shrapnel from his leg and cleaned the still-open wound.
Adel Afana will probably need another surgery due to the severed nerves. Before the interviewed ended, he was transferred to Kamal Odwan hospital again.
He works in a bakery. His family is has 10 members.
Adel Afana was previously wounded on 30th March 2012, Land Day, during the Global March to Jerusalem at the Erez checkpoint in Beit Hanoun. It was a bloody day, with Israeli soldiers targeting and shooting the arms and legs of young protesters. Mahmoud Zaqout, age 19, was killed by a bullet to his chest.
Adel Afana says he was shot in his his right thigh, the same place he was injured on Friday.
In addition, one of his brothers was wounded during Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” military offensive against the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009. One of his legs was amputated.
“All the gunshot wounds caused by the Israeli army are in sensitive areas of the body,” said Dr. Fayez al-Barrawi in Beit Hanoun hospital. “I have 17 years’ experience in surgery at many hospitals. Most wounds are in the head, chest and legs. More than 95% of them have no hope of cure, even abroad.”
“There is not much hope of recovery,” Dr. al-Barrawi said of Adel Afana’s wound. “It is difficult to reconnect nerves and bring the situation to what it was before.”
Hamada Suleiman al-Barrawi with his mother. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
The second injured patient lay in the same hospital room as Adel Afana. Hamada Suleiman al-Barrawi, age 15, complained of pain, despite the administration of analgesics.
Hamada saw Adel Afana’s injury. In hysterics, and near a nervous breakdown, he began running aimlessly until he fell. The fall has fractured his right arm and some veins. He already underwent one surgery and will face another.
Hamada already experienced a tragic story. His cousin Bilal al-Barrawi, age 20, was killed by Israeli forces in November, during their “Operation Pillar of Defense” military offensive. When Hamada saw his body, he began having hysterical reaction to the sight of injuries. He doesn’t control his movement and his memory is affected. A doctor said his case is difficult due to the rupture of his veins.
The ceasefire of 21st November 2012 established that Israeli occupation forces should “refrain from hitting residents in areas along the border” and “cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip by land, by sea and by air, including raids and targeted killings.”
However, Israeli military attacks by land and sea followed from the day after the ceasefire, and Israeli warplanes fly constantly over the Gaza Strip. Seven civilians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces since the end of their last major offensive, “Operation Pillar of Defense,” and more than 130 have been wounded.
These attacks on the Gaza Strip continue amid international silence.
25th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday in the village of Bruqin, citizens found that approximately 10 olive trees had been severely damaged. The branches were cut with a saw and then pulled off by hand; this method can kill the tree if the damage is not immediately repaired.
The olive trees were 63-years-old and were planted in 1950. The trees’ owner relies solely on them for his livelihood. This is the first time since the occupation that he has been attacked. He has been frightened by the recent attack and fears for the future.
It is not known who damaged these trees, though villagers of Bruqin suspect that it was settlers from the illegal settlement of Bruchin. The villagers have had problems with Bruchin settlers in the past. Recently, a group of settlers fenced off a portion of Palestinian land, preventing the owner from accessing it. Settlers also built a settler-only road through a Palestinian olive grove.
The destroyed trees (photo by ISM).
The farmers have also had problems with the Ariel settlement. The factories in its industrial zone have built sewage pipes that lead directly to Palestinian land; this sewage pollutes the soil and harms the many olive trees planted there.
22nd November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
I was just going to make dinner when I realized the filtered water in my tank was almost done. Perhaps it would be enough if I used the last of my bottled water. But then I would have nothing to drink with my meal. And there would be no coffee, not after the food and not for breakfast. Glances at the tap, I considered diluting the filtered water with tapwater, in order to save time and to avoid having to walk two blocks to fill the tank. It was dark outside, and the shop with water might be closed.
Tapwater cannot be used for cooking, or should not be used for cooking. I avoid doing it anyway. I wash dishes in it, but do not use it to cook my rice. It’s salt. Saltwater penetrates the underground aquifier, which it is larger than the natural supply of fresh water can fill. But the seawater is not its only contaminant. According to the United Nation, chemicals and sewage also pollute it, which is not surprising when 90,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage gush out every day. Sewage, from the toilets, back in the taps. With water treatment plants, that works. But in Gaza, the problem is that there is not enough diesel to run the generators around the clock. And for those Israel has bombed, well, it also stops the import of replacement parts. Meanwhile seawater, chemicals and sewage increase in the water supply. By 2016, UN expects the water to become completely unusable. Only three years are left until then. And at 2020, no one they say, no one will be able to live here.
I open the fridge, hoping to find something that does not require water for cooking. I close it again. Maybe the store is open, but the cistern outside it is empty. It’s not just me who needs water. And some families have to spend as much as a third of their income on it. They must use the contaminated tapwater far more than I do. When I first came here, I used tapwater to brush my teeth. That was a mistake I will not repeat. But I rinse the toothbrush in it afterwards, shaking it carefully. I think that’s okay. A Swiss woman visiting Gaza asked if I drank the filtered water. It should be drinkable, but someone told me it is only filtered from salt. I do not want to find out how things are, do not want to know. I buy the more expensive bottled water. But I wash my clothes in water from the plumbing system, like everyone else here is forced to do. I wash my hands in it, my face. I take my showers in it, washing off my salty sweat with contaminated water, polluted not only by salt, like everyone else here must.
It becomes more polluted every year. The farmers have problems with it. It’s too salty for citrus seeds to germinate, and causes harvests to decline for the products that still grow. Tanker trucks drive to those who can afford to pay. Israel says it’s concerned, has plans to pull in a pipeline and talks about desalination plants, the same plants it keeps from entering. And I think about what will happen when the disaster strikes, when no one can live here, when everyone is forced to flee: a new Nakba, caused not by the force of arms but by the siege. Where can they go? Who is prepared to receive them? And what will happen then? Will Israel then will take over the empty land, this terra nullius, pumping in water, getting the desert to bloom? I hear it as an echo.
