Author: ISM Media Group

Passengers of freighter seized by Israel return home with tales of abuse

Soldiers kicked and beat activists, journalists before setting them free

Andrew Wander | The Daily Star

BEIRUT: A group of activists arrested after the Israeli navy seized an aid ship bound for the devastated Gaza Strip were expelled from Israel on Friday, a day after being detained by the military. Fifteen of the Togolese-flagged Tali’s crew members were deported back to Lebanon and Syria early on Friday, and three others were preparing to fly to London.

Nine Lebanese and a Palestinian were handed over at the border with Israel to the UN peacekeeping force responsible for monitoring stability in southern Lebanon.

The freed crew told how they were beaten and handcuffed after Israeli gunboats fired on the ship and sailors stormed the vessel, arresting everyone on board. The boat was then towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod where it was searched.

Salam Khodr, an Al-Jazeera journalist who was on board the vessel, said the Israelis had taken the crew’s possessions when they were arrested. “The Israeli army confiscated all our videotapes; we were separated from each other, we were blindfolded and handcuffed. They beat some of us; I was beaten,” she said.

“The soldiers kicked Dr Hani Suleiman, in the chest and back; we asked for a physician to check Dr Suleiman who suffered short breath; one Israeli female soldier answered: ‘You should have thought about his health condition before you attempted to come and break the siege of Gaza’,” Khodr said.

An Israeli military spokes-man admitted that no arms had been found on the ship, which turned out to be laden with medicine, food, and humanitarian supplies for the population of the war ravaged enclave.

Israel is enforcing a tight blockade of Gaza, but said that blood donations that were on board had been immediately transferred to territory. More than 1000 units of donated blood were part of the ship’s humanitarian cargo.

The Arab League described the seizure of the vessel and the detention of those on board as “an act of piracy,” and said it would complain to the United Nations about the incident.

But Israeli officials defended their actions, saying that the boat had raised suspicions because “it could threaten security concerns, or furthermore, the boat could be used for smuggling banned equipment [weaponry etc.] into or out of the Gaza Strip.”

The ship set sail from Tripoli on Tuesday, docking in Cyprus where its cargo was checked before beginning its onward journey towards Gaza. But it was intercepted by Israeli helicopters and gunboats as it tried to enter Gazan territorial waters.

Israel denies that their sailors fired at the ship, but passengers insist that they came under attack. “They opened fire on us,” Khodr said.

The Tali remains in port at Ashdod and there has been no indication of when it will be allowed to sail.

In the months before Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza, several boats breached the naval blockade to deliver aid and free Palestinian students trapped in the coastal strip.

But since fighting in Gaza began at the end of last year, Israel has clamped down on aid shipments entering the enclave. Last month an Iranian ship was prevented from delivering humanitarian supplies, and in December a vessel belonging to the Free Gaza Movement was rammed and badly damaged by an Israeli gunboat.

The interception of the Tali marks the first time Israel has captured an aid ship and its crew, and will be seen as a clear signal that it will not tolerate further attempts to circumvent the blockade of Gaza.

Hamas has said that lifting the crippling restrictions on the territory’s borders is a precondition for any sustainable ceasefire with Israel, but the Jewish state has so far refused to consider relinquishing control of the borders. – With agencies

Israeli forces extra-judicially execute man in Jenin area

Ala Ad-Din Abu Ar-Roub, killed by Israeli forces
Ala Ad-Din Abu Ar-Roub, killed by Israeli forces

A 21 year old man, Ala Ad-Din Abu Ar-Roub, from Qabatiya village near Jenin was killed early Thursday morning after his home was surrounded and entered by a large number of Israeli forces.

According to family members, Ala was working on his computer in his room at 4:30am when the soldiers attacked the house, blowing open the front door and entering without warning. Ala was killed by multiple gunshots to the head and chest while his brother Muhammed lay sleeping on a mattress next to him.

The Israeli forces then forced all of the family members outside after violently subduing Ala’s mother who had attempted to come to his aid. The family members including children were not even permitted to put on outdoor clothing or shoes before exiting the house.

After the family was evacuated, the Israeli forces laid explosive charges inside the house, blowing open a large hole in one wall and damaging much of the internal structure of the house. The family was prevented from attending to Ala during this time and had no knowledge of his condition.

Family members claimed that they had been given no indication by Israeli forces that Ala was wanted on any charges although he had been imprisoned more than a year previously. They stated that he had not been involved recently in any political activity and would not have been living unprotected at the family home if he had believed he was a target of Israeli security forces.

Abu Ar-Roub was shot multiple times while his brother lay on a matress next to him
Abu Ar-Roub was shot multiple times while his brother lay on a matress next to him

Ala was the oldest child of the Abu Ar-Roub family, and is survived by his parents and brother Muhammed and seven sisters. He had previously studied electrical engineering and intended to continue his studies. He also enjoyed various athletic activities.

According to village sources, this is the first targeted assassination in the Jenin area in over a year, although arrests have been common by Israeli forces. Such extra-judicial executions by the occupying forces are flagrant violations of international and humanitarian law.

Israeli forces hold Palestinian youth hostage during invasion of Jayyous

6th February 2009

Armored Israeli bulldozer in Jayyous
Armored Israeli bulldozer in Jayyous

The Israeli Occupation Forces continued their most recent assaults on the village of Jayyous, near Qalqilya, invading on the 5th and 6th of February.

On the 5th February , Israeli forces invaded at 2pm, imposing curfew on the village until 10pm.

The following day, at around 12.30pm, the army once again entered the village, this time using a bulldozer to pave the way for 6 jeeps, dozens of soldiers and border police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. They then proceeded to occupy one family home, taking up position on the roof as the village attempted to resist the invasion by throwing rocks.

The IOF also attempted to break in to another house nearby. When their attempts to break open the lock on the front gate with a rock failed, they employed the bulldozer to break it open creating much damage to the gate. Yet they then failed, after many attempts, to break down the front door, all the time threatening international Human Rights Workers (HRWs) who were filming while trying to stop them.

Israeli forces entered Jayyous in armored jeeps and bulldozers
Israeli forces entered Jayyous in armored jeeps and bulldozers

Several jeeps accompanied by soldiers on foot then descended into the village continually firing at residents. When the international HRWs confronted the soldiers they were told that the area was a closed military zone and threatened the internationals with arrest if they stayed. Throughout this time the Israeli soldiers did not show the required paper for declaring a closed military zone.

The army pushed further through the whole village, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition indiscriminately, even to the point where they seemed to be treating the invasion as a game. The soldiers moved towards a house in the centre of the village when two HRWs came into view of the house. The international HRWs were quickly fired upon from around 10 metres away, despite being clearly unarmed having even been acknowledged moments before by the soldier who shot at them.

Villagers in Jayyous protest detention of youth
Villagers in Jayyous protest detention of youth

The soldiers then came out of the house with a young man and were taking him towards the jeeps, when his brother who was trying to prevent his brother’s arrest was shot at close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet causing serious injury to his arm. While one international HRW headed to the area where Israeli soldiers were arresting the young man, they were fired upon, with the soldier, anxious that no film or photos were captured, obviously aiming for the head.

During the next half hour many of the residents of the village, supported by internationals, came out of their houses and argued with the soldiers demanding they release the boy and leave the village. On more than one occasion the soldiers used sound grenades, throwing them into the crowd mainly composed women and elderly men.

Attempts to release the boy were met with physical violence and the pointing of weapons in peoples faces. The Israeli military eventually made their way to the edge of the village near the south gate. They told villagers that they would stay there and if the village was quiet for 5 minutes they would release the boy, thus making it obvious that they were holding him for no other reason than for blackmail.

After another half hour, the Israeli DCO arriving and the grandfather stubbornly negotiating with them, the boy was released. During this time the army had gained access to the house they tried to break into previously and took up sniping positions on the roof. After several clashes between the village youth and the Israeli army they retreated temporarily to the south gate before once again entering the village, this time on foot with no support from jeeps.

As it got dark they once again retreated to the south gate, before spreading themselves out along the fence that runs along the edge of the village. Youths from the village attempted and were successful a couple of times in setting tires alight on the fence but the army used flares and were repeatedly shooting with automatic rifle fire. This continued for a couple of hours until at this point the village has been invaded again by many jeeps and soldiers with the whole village yet again under curfew.

Israeli army shoots flares in Jayyous
Israeli army shoots flares in Jayyous

One million and a half broken hearts

Natalie Abou Shakra | Gaza 08

Wednesday February 4, 2009

Tears drop on her hands, hands that he had once kissed passionately, on her engagement ring, that ring he chose for her, on her cheeks that oust the redness of burning coals within her. The funeral is over now; his body is away, but the memory of him is as vivid as his own being yesterday. Dreams of a wedding, now written in the history of numerous deaths, is beyond of what reality can bring.

Her name is Hanaa, what means felicity. But, Hanaa shall know no felicity for many years now, overcoming the killing of her lost love, Mohammed, who was killed by IOF whilst at the Abu Middeen police station on December 27th, 2009. Red roses are thrown over Mohammed’s tomb as he is carried through the streets of his neighborhood. Hanaa, her head bent towards the ground, stroking the ring on her right hand, nods her head accepting a reality imposed, one of which she had no choice in determining.

This is the case of many here in Gaza, where love has been targeted, where intimacy has been destroyed, where sentiments are victims of slaughtering and massacres. “We are just numbers in the media,” says Hanan, a student at the Aqsa University in Gaza. “But, behind the numbers are stories, are loves lost, are childhoods devastated, choked.”

As I visited my friend’s house in the eastern neighborhood of Jabalya Town, I saw beds being torn apart, as the holes in them mark the aiming of an Apache rocket in the middle during the twenty two day attack on Gaza.

Since we are living in a culture of a so-called ‘human rights’ production, then perhaps those that declared those aforementioned rights can issue a declaration of a right to love.

“How can one express the broken dreams inside of him? How can one express himself?” asks the late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani in “I have Married You, o Freedom!” a similar rhetoric now demanded on the streets of Gaza.

“There are no theatres, no cinemas, not even public libraries!” There is not even the right to go to the sea… to smell the ocean. Three years ago, the adolescent Huda Ghalyeh came out of the sea after she was swimming to find the eleven members of her family, slaughtered on the coast. The Israeli gunboat had missed shooting at her as she swam far from where her family was walking. Huda came out of the ocean as she heard the nearby sounds of the ambulance siren and people screaming to the images of killings. From three years of living within what is now described as the largest collective prison modern history has witnessed to what has become a largest concentration camp of killings and slaughtering, that many compare to the Warsaw and Auschwitz concentration camps, which still bring shivers to those who recall it during WWII.

In Gaza, where normality of habit and routine does not exist, in Gaza where the thought of a coming death is a consistent companion, amid a struggle to maintain a meaning to one’s life. “After one’s home is demolished, leveled down to ruins, one’s love, one’s family no longer existent… can you tell me what is worth living for?” asks twenty five year old Firas, who lost it all. He works at a local media agency, and manages to control the torn life that dwells bellow his childlike facial expressions.

“I missed eating fruits. We had no fruit. But, after the killings, they opened the crossings for a day or two to bring in fruit… I was nauseated by the fruit they [IOF] allowed to enter. I do not want to eat any fruit anymore after they killed 1500 of us” I hear from a young lady.

On the balcony of a friend, I observe the sun setting down on Gaza. My friend’s eyes are now an ocean of sadness. His expressions changed since before the war; he now looks into empty space, losing everyone around him. When he jokes and we laugh, his smile returns back to the land of forlornness, and it leaves a façade of an expressionless existence. We speak about the numbers of the dead, but there are also those six thousands citizens who have lost a body part, who are now physically challenged. How will they live the rest of their lives? How will the rest of the million and a half broken hearts in Gaza go on living in a time where the human condition is too worthless to be a condition from the start?

When asked about hell on earth, my answer is not Gaza: Gaza’s hell is… other people.