22 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khan al Luban, Occupied Palestine.
The far-right settler organisation Regavim has filed a lawsuit against Khan al-Luban, taking the Darragmah family and various other Israeli institutions and groups to the Israeli Supreme Court. They claim that their home is a historical site on Israeli state land.
Regavim, who state on their website that their vision is for a “Zionist agenda for Israel that will lead to clear Zionist policies for all of Israel’s government systems”. The image on the right is a still from one of Regavims promotional videos; it claims that all Palestinian land including the Gaza strip is Israel and that Palestinians are illegally building on it.
Hypocritically Regavim are using international law to say that the historic building in which the Darragmah family are renovating should be preserved as a historic site. Khan al-Luban is surrounded on all sides by three settlements, which under international law are illegal, notably, but not exclusively, under the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 446.
The appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court unfortunately seems to be working. Soldiers arrived once again in Khan al-Luban with documents, this time stating that all building work must stop prior to a hearing, scheduled in less than a week.
Regavim at the same time as harassing people through the courts, have also been linked to violent attacks on Palestinians; this is consistent with what is happening to the Darragmahs. In recent weeks attacks have been again on the rise, an ISM activist and Khaled Darragmah have both been threatened with guns in separate circumstances. Khaled’s friend had two of his van windows broken when parked in the driveway to the family home. The family’s dog was attacked with sticks and stones, leaving him with open wounds on his neck and legs. The property was attacked with stones which broke the outdoor security light and damaged the newly fitted front doors.
22 January 2013 | Palestinian agriculture organisations, Occupied Palestine
Palestinian agricultural organisations and the Palestinian BDS National Committee call for the launching of worldwide campaigns on February 9 against Israeli agricultural export corporations in light of their deep complicity in Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and Palestinian human rights. Following the successful campaign against Israel’s former leading agricultural export corporation Agrexco, and in light of the growing international consensus on the duty to enforce an effective ban on trade with the illegal Israeli settlements, we invite social movements, nongovernmental organisations, trade unions and human rights campaigners to take creative and effective action on February 9th in support of Palestinian farmers defending their land and natural resources.
The sale and purchase of goods from Israeli agricultural companies, such as Mehadrin and Hadiklaim, finance and reward the on-going illegal Israeli exploitation and colonisation of Palestinian land and further undermine the chances for a just peace based on international law and respect for universal human rights. As was demonstrated in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa and the wide international solidarity movement with it, citizens can make a difference by refraining from buying products of complicit companies and by working to convince their supermarkets to stop trading with them.
Agriculture is a vital part of the Palestinian economy and national heritage, yet Palestinian farmers are being displaced from their lands and prevented from accessing it. Israel systematically exploits Palestinian natural resources in violation of international law and implements a range of restrictions on Palestinian agriculture in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, while allowing Israeli agricultural corporations to profit from Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.
As Palestinian agricultural organisations have noted, Israeli agricultural export companies are at the heart of Israel’s system of domination over the Palestinian people. They are an integral component of the on-going process of colonisation and environmental destruction of Palestinian land, the destruction of Palestinian agriculture, the theft of water, and the abuse of Palestinian workers’ rights, including child labourers.
Supermarkets should follow the lead of the Co-Operative Group in the UK, which has pledged to end trade with any company exporting goods from illegal Israeli settlements. Governments must meet their legal and moral obligation to take action in support of Palestinian self-determination and ban all forms of trade and cooperation with Israeli agricultural export companies complicit in the illegal settlement enterprise. People of conscience around the world can make sure such measures are taken. We count on your support to end business as usual with Israel’s agricultural companies as a contribution to our struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
Endorsed by:
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee
General Union of Palestinian Peasants and Cooperatives
Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees
Palestinian Farmers Union
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Stop the Wall
Union of Agricultural Work Committees
Union of Palestinian Agriculture Engineers
Please contact info@bdsmovement.net to let us know about your planned campaigns and actions or to discuss your ideas.
At about 8.30pm on Tuesday 15th January, Israeli tanks and military bulldozers breached the border adjacent to the village of Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis and intruded inside the Gaza Strip. The incursion into Palestinian farmland continued through the night and added to the long list of Israeli ceasefire violations.
Heavy shooting was reported during the assault but fortunately there were no injuries on this occasion. Also, explosions were heard but no homes were damaged. Terrified locals contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross but were told that the Israeli military wouldn’t listen to anyone.
The raid continued on the night of Wednesday 16th January, when Apache helicopters were reported to have also been deployed. Then, on Thursday 17th January, the Israeli military aggression continued in the area for a third consecutive night.
A large swathe of agricultural land was damaged, about eight kilometres along the border fence and about 250 metres back from it. Within this area about 300 dumuns were razed, including wheat crops planted in December. Fields belonging to about 500 different farmers were affected, according to local officials. Farmers have attempted to approach their lands since the attack but haven’t been able to reach land closer than 100 metres from the fence.
The mayor of Khuza’a, Kamal Al-Najar, explained that 800 of the 2,000 dunums of agricultural land in Khuza’a is close to the border fence and wasn’t accessible prior to Israel’s eight-day offensive on Gaza in November. At that time, farmers in Khuza’a had only been able to access their lands which lay half a kilometre or more from the border fence.
Since the ceasefire announcement, they have accessed land 300 metres from the fence and had managed to cultivate about 400 dunums within that area for the first time in ten years. However, most of this has now been destroyed in last week’s attack. Over the course of the last ten years, the Israeli military has destroyed olive and citrus groves, greenhouses and water pumping facilities in the border areas.
A farmer from Khuza´a pointing at his land that was bulldozed by the Israeli Army last week. (Photo: Desde Palestina)Razed farmland in the “Buffer Zone” in Khuza´a. An Israeli automated gun-tower can be seen in the background. An Israeli soldier stationed at the other side of the border made two warning shots on the ground a few moments after this photo was taken. (Text and photo: Desde Palestina)
21 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Occupied Palestine
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Israeli forces stormed into a peaceful Palestinian camp protest in the small village of Beit Iksa to demolish a half built mosque and tear down four large tents that had been erected since Friday.
Israeli occupation forces surrounded the camp after giving only 6 hours notice to the organisers that the building of a mosque and erection of tents was illegal due to the fact it was in Israeli controlled area C. The land on which the camp was set up on belongs to local Palestinian villagers and was a communally organised event to protest against the annexation of land by the Israeli government.
After forcing young and elderly civilians into the centre of the camp, Israeli forces then dragged and pushed the group down a rocky valley to check each individuals ID.
The group of peaceful locals and international and Israeli activists were then made to wait in cold temperatures as the mosque was destroyed and the tents were ripped down and confiscated. At the time of the eviction there were around 40 Palestinians and six Israeli and international activists.
After one and a half hours Israeli forces told the group to stay at the bottom of the valley until they had left the area with their vehicles and bulldozer which was used to demolish the mosque and remove the confiscated belongings.
Beit Iksa has a long history of being victim to the aggressive and forceful tactics used by the Israeli government to capture legally owned Palestinian land.
In the southern West Bank (oPt), in the South Hebron Hills, there exists an area called Masafer Yatta. The area encompasses some 1000 inhabitants and twelve Palestinian villages: Tuba, al-Mufaqarah, Isfey, Maghayir al Abeed, al-Majaz, at-Tabban, al-Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, Kharoubeh and Sarura. According to the Oslo Accord this is defined as Area C, under complete civil and military control of Israel. . However, already in the early 1970s. Israel declared the area as ‘Firing Zone 918’, a closed military zone.
In 1999 Israeli military forces, accompanied by Civil Administration officials, expelled the inhabitants living within Firing Zone 918, destroying Palestinian-owned private property in the process. The residents petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice, which issued a temporary injunction allowing people to return back to their homes and forbidding the state to expel them until a final decision in the matter was rendered. Notwithstanding, life for Palestinian communities in the area worsened because of settlement expansion in the area and ongoing settler violence. Moreover, Israel’s military and civil administrations carried out demolition orders and delivered stop working orders to area residents, preventing the construction of new houses and the renovation of existing ones.
In April 2012 the Israeli High Court resumed deliberations in the case. On 19 July 2012 the state, following instructions from the Ministry of Defense, submitted a detailed notification to the Court claiming the Petitioners are not “permanent residents” of the firing zone area and hence have no right to live there. On 7 August 2012 the High Court ruled that the state’s announcement constituted “a change in the normative situation” and consequently the specific petitions “were no longer relevant” and thus dismissed. A new petition was then submitted by Palestinian residents of the area and on 16 December the High Court of Justice will render a decision. If the Court rejects this new petition, residents of eight of the twelve villages in Firing Zone 918 will be evacuated and their homes and villages demolished.
Israel claimed that following the 2006 Lebanon War, its security needs increased and that troops now require additional ongoing training and more firing zones are needed, including Firing Zone 918 in the Masafer Yatta area.
However, this Israeli military requirement has no direct relation with the occupation because it refers to general army trainings; as such and according to international law, it is not a ‘military necessity. This means that the planned Israeli measures of eviction and demolition of eight villages within Firing Zone 918 would be unlawful; They are not permitted under the Hague Regulations and would constitute grave breaches of the IV Geneva Convention as according to international law, ‘military general training’ cannot for any reason be considered as a military need.
Moreover if a firing zone for general military trainings is established under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), in no case could expropriations and movement restrictions be justified in the twelve villages located within Firing Zone 918. According to Article 46 of the Hague Regulation, private property must be respected and cannot be confiscated, which includes the destruction of private property for establishment of a firing zone. Under these circumstances, Israel’s planned destruction of the villages with the purpose of using Firing Zone 918 would constitute a clear violation of the Article. 53 of the IV Geneva Convention and would amount to a grave breach according to Article 147. Finally, in the matter of prohibition of forcible transfer, IHL does not differentiate between permanent and non-permanent residents as the Israeli legislation does. Forcibly displacing any of the inhabitants or any community of the twelve villages (either for general military trainings or for their purported lack of building permits) is a violation of Article 49 of the IV Geneva Convention and constitutes another grave breach to Article 147. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since 1967 Israel has designated about 18% of the West Bank as a closed military zone for the purposes of military training (not including the closed military areas around Israeli settlements, all the lands located between the Separation Wall and the Green Line), rendering the areas effectively off limits for Palestinians.
Firing Zone 918 violates fundamental basic human rights. Its abolition would be a step toward promoting access by Palestinian inhabitants of the area to:
the right of a dignified life;
freedom of movement;
right to private property;
right to education;
right to work;
right to medical care;
freedom of worship.
Given these circumstances, we strongly demand:
Annulment of the Israeli Ministry of Defence decision to evacuate the area;
Abolition of the entire Firing Zone 918;
Respect for the rights and dignity of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills.
Promoters
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
South Hebron Hills Popular Committee
Operation Dove – Nonviolent Peace Corps of Association “Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII”
ISM – International Solidarity Movement
CPT – Christian Peacemaker Teams
Ta’ayush
Alternative Information Center
Comet-ME
Regavim at the same time as harassing people through the courts, have also been linked to violent attacks on Palestinians; this is consistent with what is happening to the Darragmahs. In recent weeks attacks have been again on the rise, an ISM activist and Khaled Darragmah have both been threatened with guns in separate circumstances. Khaled’s friend had two of his van windows broken when parked in the driveway to the family home. The family’s dog was attacked with sticks and stones, leaving him with open wounds on his neck and legs. The property was attacked with stones which broke the outdoor security light and damaged the newly fitted front doors.
