Year: 2013 - Page 97 - International Solidarity Movement

The broken truce

21 January 2013 | GazaStories, Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine

A ceasefire was announced on 21st November, ending eight days of horrific bloodshed in Gaza. Has the delicate truce held over the past two months? It depends who you ask. Israelis or Gazans, each going about their daily lives on opposite sides of a border fence.

There has not been a single report of a rocket fired out of Gaza since 21st November. In contrast, four Palestinians have lost their lives and over 80 have been injured by Israeli forces since then. Yet these violations have received little or no coverage in the mainstream media. Palestinian civilians, whose only crime is to live in the border areas, are terrorized on a daily basis by the Israeli army. This is what everyday life under the ceasefire has meant for them.

Beit Lahiya, in the far north of the Gaza Strip is one such place. A week ago it saw the brutal murder of 20 year-old Mustafa Abu Jarad. Today, it was the site of another Israeli violation. Abdullah Marouf, 18, was in the west of Beit Lahiya, near the coast, when he was shot in the right leg by Israeli forces, fracturing both his tibia and fibula.

Abdullah Marouf in hospital. (Photo by Desde Palestina)

At about 9.00 on the morning of 21st January, Abdullah was in an area approximately 250 metres from the border fence, catching birds with his two brothers. A group of five or six Palestinians they were unaquainted with were also in the vicinity, closer to the fence than they were. Abdullah had been under the impression that he would be safe, however he noticed an Israeli soldier in a watchtower on the border and others on the ground. The soldiers began firing live ammunition towards them and Abdullah was shot.

Two local farmers brought him to Kamal Adwan hospital where surgeons performed percutaneous pinning of his lower leg which had sustained damage from an entry wound and a significantly larger exit wound. He requires subsequent surgery in a couple of months to fit internal wires. His recovery is estimated to take at least 12 months.

Abdullah, who is engaged to be married, had been working with his two brothers selling scrap metal. Now they will have to support a family of nine without his help. It is unsurprising that he expressed a lack of faith in the ceasefire agreement.

One can only expect that the Palestinian resistance has also lost faith and is fast losing patience. If a response is provoked it will appear to be in a vacuum – despite this being far from the case – due to the shameful silence maintained by the international community throughout the ongoing Israeli atrocities. It is for people of conscience to protest this injustice and prevent a further escalation of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

22 year old woman killed in the West Bank

Updated on 26 January 2013.

23 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

A 22-year-old Palestinian woman was killed after being shot in the head by Israeli occupation forces in an unmarked car around 2 pm near the entrance of Al Arroub refugee camp, some eight kilometers north of Hebron. Three others were injured including Suad Jaara, 28, shot in the hand and Ahmad Yousef Abu Ghazi shot in the arm. They were taken to Al Ahli hospital in Hebron.

Lubna Hanash lived in Bethlehem and was a fourth year political science student at Al Quds university.

Witnesses talked of a civilian car with Israeli plates stopping on the main Hebron-Bethlehem road and two men wearing military fatigues got out and began shooting at a group of four Palestinians. They said that after Lubna was killed soldiers prevented an ambulance from arriving at the scene for ten minutes. Clashes followed in the Arroub camp Wednesday evening. Upon the family of the martyr’s insistence the burial took place in Betlehem on the same night.

Speaking to Maan News Agency one of the injured, Suad Jarra, said: “Lubna arrived two days ago to visit her sister, who is married to my brother. She had heard about Al Arroub College and she wanted to visit it. I accompanied her to campus and she admired the area because it’s in a charming natural landscape.” Suad continued that they decided to leave the campus: “I saw an Israeli soldier on the main road firing gunshots haphazardly, so I put my left hand on Lubna’s back, and grabbed her to try and run backward. A gunshot hit my hand, and I shouted as I ran. I thought Lubna was running behind me until I reached the security guards of Al Arroub College who took me to a clinic in the camp before an ambulance arrived and took me to hospital.” Suad concluded by describing the soldier as a “a criminal who opened fire at us and in cold blood killing Lubna and injuring me.”

Lubna’s death brings to six the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in the past two weeks: Anwar al-Malouk, 21, was killed on 11^th January in Gaza, near the barrier in Jabalya. On Saturday 12^th January, 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 Palestinian, Mustafa Abu Jarad, 21, was killed on 14^th January near the barrier in Beit Lahia. Sameer Awwad, 16, was fatally shot in Burdus on 15^th January. On 18^th January, Saleh al Amareen (Saleh Amarin), 16, from Azzeh refugee camp in Bethlehem, was critically injured by live bullet by an Israeli soldier. Saleh died in hospital of fatal injuries on the same day as Lubna was killed, 23rd January. Perpetrators of these crimes remain unpunished.

Video: Victims of Al Arrouba shooting being taken to the hospital in Hebron

Teenager dies following shooting in Bethlehem

23 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

On Friday January 18th at approximately 3.20 pm, fifteen year old Saleh Elamareen was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem. Today Wednesday 23 January he was pronounced dead.

Salah Elamareen was outside the Lajee Refugee Centre when he was shot through the left forehead. The Centre lies some distance from the wall itself. At the time of the shooting eyewitnesses have said that protests were not happening, and that the people of Aida were simply watching the soldiers from afar. This is supported by video documentation of the incident, which shows a group of youth carrying Elamareen after he was shot.

Two of the doctors who treated Elamareen did not rule out previous rumours that he was shot with a dumdum bullet, due to the fragmentation of the bullet within his head. Another doctor has claimed it was definitely a dumdum bullet in his opinion.

Dumdum bullets expand after impact and are designed to cause maximum damage and pain. Due to the brutality of these bullets they are illegal under international law. Article 8 at the Review Conference of the Rome Statute in Kampala made the use of expanding bullets in non-international armed conflict a war crime. The Hague Convention also prohibits there use in international warfare. If the doctors are correct and a dumdum bullet was in-fact used, this would be another serious violation of international laws and standards by Israel.

The head of the department under which he was treated at the government hospital said he was hit with the bullet in the left frontal section of the head, around the eye, causing large intracranial hemorrhaging. A number of doctors who looked at the patient concluded that the bullet exploded in the brain. The CT scan shows the shrapnel inside his skull. The entry wound shows significant impact to the skull, and there is no exit wound.

Note: There are several occurrences of English transcription of the victim’s name: Saleh Elamareen (used here), Saleh al Amareen, Saleh Amareen and Saleh Amarin.

Military exercises in firing zone 918, Massafer Yatta

by Team Khalil

23 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Massafer Yatta, Occupied Palestine

On Monday 21st January over 100 soldiers from the Israeli army held training exercises in the firing zone 918 in Massafer Yatta, also known as South Hebron Hills. The exercises continued throughout the day on Tuesday 22nd January. The Israeli military set up tented encampments near to two Palestinian villages, Mirkez and Jinba. Live fire could be heard in the area until late on Monday evening and on Tuesday.

Israeli occupation forces erected a large tent midway between the army base camp and Jinba. Another large tent was erected in the valley between Jinba and Mirkez, also several groups of soldiers of around ten, camped near the two villages in small tents or ‘bivvi bags’. These camps, some of them less than 50 metres away, surrounded the village of Mirkez, other camps were in front of Jinba and on the hill towards Hallawi. A large military truck was parked on the road near to Mirkez and jeeps and humvees drove around the area. Soldiers constantly walked from one camp to another over the fields where crops have been planted for sheep to graze.

Residents in Mirkez complained about interference from the soldiers when taking their sheep out to graze, being told they could not bring their sheep close to the soldiers. One resident of Mirkez said soldiers had thrown stones at their sheep hitting three of them, he also complained of being a prisoner in his own village unable to move freely. Residents of Jinba expressed similar sentiments saying there were soldiers camped in front of the village and settlements behind.

On Monday afternoon international volunteers talked to an officer at the camp between Jinba and the army base. When asked what the army was doing, the officer said the soldiers were being trained in how to deal with the cold conditions and that they would be there for a week. The officer went on to say they would not enter the villages and the actions of the army were nothing to do with the Palestinians. The international volunteers said the residents were worried by how close the camps were to the villages, especially Mirkez. The officer said that they were thinking of moving one of the camps for this reason. On Tuesday, the only discernible difference was the army truck had moved from the road near Mirkez but soldiers were still camped in the same place where the truck had been.

The presence of the Israeli army holding these exercises in the firing zone 918 is causing worry and distress to the Palestinians living there, as well as disruption to daily life. On Monday afternoon around 15 people were standing in the fields by a fire in front of Jinba concerned for the village and their families. At least one person from the village did not go into work in Yatta on Tuesday in order to protect his loved ones and livestock. The people of Jinba and Mirkez are unable to access and work their lands during such exercises. The sound of live gunfire throughout the day causes anxiety and at night disturbs sleep. The gunfire lasted until after 10 pm on Monday night.

Background

The so called firing zone 918 is an area of 30000 dunams in Massafer Yatta (also known as South Hebron Hills). Declaring it a “closed military zone”, the Israeli army uses the area for the training of its soldiers. There are 12 Palestinian villages within the area and around 1000 Palestinian inhabitants. Currently eight villages are under the threat of eviction. There has been ongoing harassment of the Palestinian residents of the area.

On 16th November 1999 the Israeli military forcibly removed over 700 cave dwellers, eighty-three families, from their caves in the South Hebron Hills, because the Israeli family said they needed the area for a military firing range (designated as a closed military zone for training, or “firing zone 918”). The soldiers confiscated and put the belongings of the Palestinians into military vans. They demolished scores of caves, cave entrances, and wells. Flocks of sheep were scattered. The people and their flocks had to spend the cold winter away from their caves. The people resisted by going to the Israeli High Court. On 29th March 2000 the villages won a partial, temporary victory, when the Israeli High Court ruled that residents who had signed on to the lawsuit in the Israeli High Court could return to their cave homes and land, pending a decision of the case. Finally the High Court decided that all residents could return. (In: Arthur G. Gish: At-Tuwani Journal: Hope & Nonviolent Action in a Palestinian Village, Herald Press, 2008)

For more information on firing zone 918 see also here. Sign a petition calling for abolishing the firing zone here.

Soldiers exercising near Jinba and Mirkez villages

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Israeli forces demolish in two villages, damage a crucial road in South Hebron Hills

22 January 2013 | Operation Dove, At Tuwani, Occupied Palestine

On 21st January the Israeli army demolished a building in the village of Ar Rifa’iyya and a water cistern in the village of Hawara. The army went on and damaged the only road that connects the village of At Tuwani and the nearby villages with the city of Yatta in South Hebron Hills. The three villages lie in Area C.

At around 8.30 am two bulldozers and three vehicles from the District Coordination Office (DCO) raided in the village of Ar Rifa’iyya, escorted by five Border Police vehicles. They demolished one house, belonging to Amed Mohammad Jaber Amor and his family consisting of 20 people. His brother Sabbri declared that the house was demolished twice previously because it is three meters outside the village master plan.At 9 am the Israeli forces moved to Hawara village, where they destroyed one water cistern belonging to Musa Abu Aram. The cistern was full of water. This is major damage as water supply in this area is particularly critical. The two villages are located along the road 317.

Afterwards the military convoy and bulldozers stopped at the entrance to At Tuwani village, where they damaged the road connecting the villages in Massafer Yatta area to the northern city of Yatta. At first they destroyed part of the little wall built alongside the road. Secondly they piled these ruins on the street, causing travel obstruction. The local council representative declared that they had never received a demolition order for that street. He added that the council appealed to the Israeli Civil Administration in order to receive a work permission for the street, but no answer was ever received.

“The aim of demolitions is to expel us from here and to take us to the other side of 317 road”, said Sabbri M. J. Amor from the village of Ar Rifa’iyya, “Nevertheless, we will rebuild this house again. Palestinian resistance is like the grass: it gets dry, but when it rains it grows back.”

Background

The policies enforced by the Israeli authorities in Area C restrict the possibility to access to basic needs for the residents and prevent development of Palestinian communities. An OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territories research demonstrates that “in some communities, families are being forced to move as a result of Israeli policies applied in Area C. Ten out of 13 communities recently visited by OCHA reported that families are leaving because policies and practices implemented there make it difficult for residents to meet basic needs or maintain their presence on the land.”

Most of Area C has been designated as military zones and for expansion of Israeli settlements, severely constraining the living space and development opportunities of Palestinian communities. While it is virtually impossible for a Palestinian to obtain a permit for construction, Israeli settlements receive preferential treatment in terms of allocation of water and land, approval of development plans, and law enforcement.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.

Operation Dove has maintained international presence in At Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Demolished house in Ar Rifa’iyya village

Volvo bulldozer demolishing cistern in Huwara village

Bulldozer blocking the entrance to At Tuwani village — Volvo bulldozer blocking the entrance to At Tuwani village

Earth obstruction at the entrance to At Tuwani village

More photos can be found here.