Author: ISM Media Group

5 Birzeit students arrested as Israeli army continues to target student population

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Right to Education Campaign, Birzeit University, 1 August 2007

In the last 3 days, 5 Birzeit University students were arrested by the Israeli army, most of whom belong to the university’s Student Council. The detainees are; Eyad Omar Abu Arqub, Fadi Yunis Jaber, Jalal Hosni Abu Khaled, Omar Abdelrazaq Abdellatif (all members of the Student Council) and Ahmad Mahmoud Hassan.

The men were taken at night from their respective residences, 3 from their student accommodation in Birzeit village and 2 from their family homes around the West Bank.

Under the military laws of the Israeli Occupation, membership to any student branch of a political party is illegal, automatically making thousands of students subject to arbitrary arrest. In practice, this sweeping power is used by the army as a tool for inciting political tensions amongst students as it chooses to arrest members of one group more than another.

“The arrested students who worked for the Student Council focused solely on providing local academic support for students and nothing else. In reality, these arrests serve to discredit and obstruct the work of the Student Council as an institution and are not about providing security for Israel” – said Fadi Ahmad, president of the Student Council.

In fact, this is not the first time that Birzeit Student Council is targeted by the occupation forces. Since 2004, the Israeli army has arrested 6 elected representatives of the Council, 3 of whom were presidents of the Council at the time of arrest.

Birzeit University released a statement yesterday condemning these arrests and calling for an end to Israeli aggression and obstruction against Palestinian education. The Right to Education Campaign reiterates such a call and states that there are currently 99 Birzeit students in detention, 9 of which are held indefinitely without charge under the 1945 British Mandate law of ‘Administrative Detention’.

Moreover, the Campaign highlights that 60% of all arrests were made since 2004 when Israel also stopped all Gazans from studying in the West Bank and deported 4 Birzeit students back to Gaza. Since then, the army has also escalated its practice of arbitrary ‘interviewing’ where students with no political affiliation are taken for questioning about their friends and family for no particular reason. The Student Council states that at least 30% of the 2,200 students living in Birzeit village are subjected to such ‘interviews’. The psychological pressure and anxiety generated from such interviews can amount to inhumane and degrading treatment under International Law. Students who object to such questioning are then harassed at checkpoints, denied work permits and subjected to house invasions.

These forms of harassment are a breach of International Humanitarian Law which states that an occupying power should not disrupt the daily life of the occupied population (4th Geneva Convention); and student arrests, especially those under ‘Administrative Detention’, amount to a breach of the internationally recognized ‘right to education’, first enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and protected by numerous UN bodies and conventions such as UNESCO, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

From Haaretz: Settlers attack UN personnel near southern Hebron Hills

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By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent

Two residents of an illegal settlement outpost near Hebron attacked United Nations workers on Thursday.

The UN personnel were driving in the South Hebron Hills area when one of the settlers jumped on the car and smashed the windshield, sending shards of glass into the driver’s eye.

A Haaretz reporter and photographer were in the car at the time, along with three members of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The settlers, residents of Mitzpeh Yair, claim that the OCHA workers were trying to uproot the outpost’s olive trees.

The OCHA workers had been visiting the nearby Palestinian town of Bir al Eid. As they were leaving, they spotted a man approaching. The driver braked in order not to hit him and the man drew near, as if to speak to the occupants.

Instead, he jumped on the car and refused to get down. UN orders forbid employees to leave a car that is under attack, so instead, the driver drove forward, very slowly. The settler held on to the windshield wipers and pressed against the glass until it shattered.

Meanwhile, another settler appeared and demanded to see the identity cards of everyone in the car, which sported a UN flag. He also brandished an iron bar and blocked the road with stones and tires.

About 25 minutes later, after the Haaretz reporter called the Israel Defense Forces, an army jeep arrived, followed half an hour later by a police car. According to the police, the man who attacked the car has been involved in similar incidents before. The second man is a British citizen. Both were questioned at the Kiryat Arba police station.

Hares: Villar Stealing Palestinian Land

Near the village of Hares south-west of Nablus lays the industrial compound of Barqan where Salman Mahmoud Simlawi has been facing a takeover of his land for decades by two factories on each side of his property. On Thursday the 26th the factory managed to uproot several olive trees after arresting Simlawi and preventing him to contact his lawyer nor any human rights groups.

On three occasions ISM Nablus has spent time on Simlawis land trying to prevent further conquest from the Villar factory bulldozer. Villar international is an Israeli construction company that specializes in large scale residential projects, amongst other things expansions for settlements.

“Villar group specializes in finding and purchasing lands for industrial buildings, safe housing for immigrants to Israel and offices for lease.” – Villar Corporate Statement.

For companies such as Villar producing their materials in industrial compounds inside Palestine is an opportunity to acquire a lower minimum wage, around 8-10 NIS per hour, cheaper than the average 19 NIS per hour in Israel. In 1982 Villar began clearing land to expand their productions facilities and Simlawi chose to go to court. Since 1986 Simlawi has legally been able to work on his original land near Hares yet harassment from the factory using military help continues with Villar refusing to recognize the 1986 court decision when confronted on Simlawis land. Now facing two large factories on each side Simlawi is slowly but surely loosing land. Simlawis only chance to fight the factory is through the Israeli legal system, but it requires the appearance and cooperation of the civil administration who haven’t yet showed support.

Hebron: Action to Access Lands

On Friday 3rd August, Human Rights activists will accompany the members of a local Palestinian family to access their land close to the Illegal Kiryat Arba Settlement in Hebron. On all previous occassions where the family has attempted to access their land, Settlers have acted with undue aggression attacking both Palestinians and Human Rights Workers who have been present. The most recent of which culminated in two Human Rights Workers being repeatedly hit in the face with a stick causing both distress and injury.

The aggression and violance on these occassions are typical and reflect the ongoing struggle Palestinians must face in their day to day lives and the determination of Settlers in their attempt to forcibly remove Palestinians from their land and homes through campaigns of violance and harrasment. We hope that our presence as international, Palestinians and Israeli activists will reduce the violance and enable the Palestinian family to tend to their land without being attacked.

We invite you to join us in accompanying this family to their land in both solidarity and protection. We will be gathering in Hebron, close to Kyriat Arba along Worshippers Way at 17:30. The action is expected to last 2 hours.

For more information, please contact Fawaz on 054 6533157

We look forward to seeing you there.

For additional information and previous reports, please see July 27th report or click onto Hebron Reports.

Artas and Walaja: Anti Wall and Occupation Demonstration

On Friday the 3rd August Anti-Wall and Anti Occupation demonstrations will be taking place in Artas and Walaja. Both these villages in the South Bethlehem region are subject to having significant amounts of their land confiscated by the illegal construction of the Aparthaid Wall. The construction of the Aparthaid Wall is illegal under international law. This grotesque land theft serves to economically and culturally impoverish the local communities by destroying their means of income and their historical connection to the land.

In solidarity with the local popular committees of Walaja and Artas, we invite you to participate in both demonstrations and add your voice to the growing number of people opposing the Israeli Occupation and its means of oppressing the Palestinian people.

Artas, South Bethlehem: 10am and then moving to Walaja for the demonstration at 12:30.

For additional information please contact Lui 059 955 1837

We hope to see you there.