Author: ISM Media Group

Tel Rumeida: Freedom to Trespass

At about 4:30pm two internationals human rights workers (HRW) were at the house of a Palestinian man who is in the process of rebuilding his home that had previously been used as an army post. This house is located directly behind Tel Rumeida settlement. The house being rebuilt is owned by a Palestinian and is under constant threat of attack from Israeli settlers. The HRWs were with the Palestinian owner of the home, his brother, four Palestinian children, and two Israeli human rights workers.

At this time, 4:30pm, an Israeli settler named Atam arrived with 5 small children ages 3-5 years old. The settler also had an Ak-47 on his back. At first the group stood in a field below the house and began to pray together. They then walked to the edge of the hill overlooking the city, and the Ibrahimi Mosque, and again briefly prayed. The group then approached the house. The owner of the home told them that they should not come, and tried to stand in the way of Atam who has caused many problems for this Palestinian man in the past.

The Israeli children immediately began to shriek and cry at exactly the same time. It was obvious that Atam had brought these children, with orders to cry, in order to cause some disturbance. He wanted to pass through the house, or at least through the property, in order to reach the settlement, and was using the children to do this.

Atam immediately called the Israeli police, because the Palestinian owner of the home did not want him to pass. The owner of the home knows that the settlers will use every reason to pass through his property so that later they can attack him and his home at will. In this case they are using children as an excuse to pass through the property.

Atam kept trying to push past the Palestinian man, and even tried to enter the home but it was protected by an international. The two Israeli human rights workers kept arguing with Atam and one was very much disturbed that he would use children to try and achieve his goals of passing through the property. All the while the children were crying.

At about 4:50pm two Israeli soldiers arrived and spoke with Atam and the Israeli human rights workers. The situation was not resolved and they continued to wait for the Israeli police. During this time Atam tried to push past the Palestinian owner many times with his screaming crying children.

When the police arrived both sides explained the incident. The Palestinian man said he would not allow the Israeli settler to pass because it was his property and the Israeli human rights workers said it was abhorrent that the settler would use children to try and pass. At one point the children had stopped crying and then began crying again for no reason making it obvious that Atam was telling them to cry.

Finally the police told Atam that he could pass, though the Palestinian owner of the home was very angry about this. He told the police that it was his property and that he would sue the police for this injustice. Atam passed through the area and afterwards the police continued to question the Palestinian owner and the two Israeli human rights workers. As usual with Israeli justice, the Israeli settlers who caused the incidents are free to leave while the Palestinians are forced to answer to the police as if they are the criminals.

The police continued to question and argue with the Palestinian man, and Israeli human rights workers until well after 6:00pm. Nothing was resolved.

Tel Rumeida: Harassment over Posters

July 10th, 2007. At 11:25am two international human rights workers were hanging up posters around the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida for a children’s summer camp due to begin at the end of the week. The posters are designed to make Palestinian children, within Tel Rumeida, ages 5-14 aware of the event so that they will attend.

The internationals had been hanging up posters for forty-five minutes, down Tel Rumeida hill, and on Shuhada street, when they reached the stone-staircase across from Beit Hadassah settlement. The internationals hung up a poster on a stop sign right before the stone staircase. The Israeli soldier present said nothing to either international although he obviously saw the internationals hang up the sign.

The internationals then proceeded to walk up the stone staircase, to hang up more posters, when an Israeli settler began to yell at the soldier about the poster hung up on the stop sign. This settlers name is Atan, he lives in Tel Rumeida settlement, and the internationals have had many problems with him in the past. The soldier told the internationals to stop, and ordered them to come down the stairs.

The internationals asked why the soldier would listen to the settler, and that the posters were for a children’s summer camp. The soldier did not respond as the Israeli settler, Atan, continued to yell at the soldier. One international offered to take down the sign since it seemed to have caused a disturbance and he wanted to proceed hanging up posters without interruption.

When the international tried to take down the sign, however, Atan pushed the internationals hand out of the way. The settler then dropped his shoulder into the internationals chest and pushed him back. The soldier present did nothing about this, and then told the international to leave the poster hanging up.

It then became obvious that they, the Israeli soldier and settler, wanted to use the poster as evidence that the internationals had broken some kind of law. It was then that a plainclothes Israeli showed up, and briefly flashed an id at the internationals telling them that they were detained until the police would come. He told the internationals that he had pictures of them and that if they left they would be arrested by the police. He refused to speak English to the internationals until they tried to leave, and then would make sure to tell them, in English, that if they left they would be arrested.

The internationals at that point were forced to wait, and they both assumed the man was Shin Bet. The Israeli man spoke freely with the soldier, and when a new group of soldiers arrived, who were in training, the Israeli man had long discussions with the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) commanders. He seemed to be respected by every Israeli or settler immediately, which is why the internationals assumed he was Shin Bet.

After about 15 minutes the police arrived and began filming the stop sign, with the poster, and the two internationals. They also took the internationals passports. The Israeli police also told the internationals that it was illegal to put up signs on public property and that they would be investigated. This claim was completely absurd as one can see settler posters and propaganda all over the Tel Rumeida neighborhood.

The time at this point was about 12:20, and the internationals had called multiple Israeli groups and Palestinian friends about their situation. It was obvious that it was the poster on the stop sign that had caused the whole disturbance, and though the internationals had offered to take down this poster multiple times the police told them to leave it hanging.

The police officer then told the internationals to get into the back of the police jeep because they were going to be investigated. The internationals at first refused to get into the police jeep because they feared they would face an absurd charge and be arrested. The policeman began to say, however, that the internationals were resisting arrest, and the internationals finally complied to go into the police jeep.

By the time the internationals arrived at the Kiryat Arba police station they had called everyone they knew about their situation and what they might be charged with.

They found later, after about an hour waiting at the police station, that they could be arrested on charges of putting posters on public property which is supposedly illegal under military law in the occupied territories.

However after about two and half hours, at 2:30pm, the internationals were released without charges. They had given their statements, and the police investigator told them they would remain under investigation. He also told the internationals that they should not make any more problems in Tel Rumeida.

The police investigator also told them that they could hang up more posters but only on houses on which Palestinian families allowed them to place posters. The internationals then walked home to Tel Rumeida.

When they arrived on Shuhada street they noticed that none of the posters were left on the walls. At this point it was about 3:00pm. They discovered, from the internationals present on Shuhada street, that the Israeli settler, Atam, had taken down all the posters on Shuhada street and up the hill.

One of the internationals, who had gone to the police station, stopped Atam, as he was driving, by standing in front of the van. The international quickly yelled at Atam that he had no business taking down their posters, while another international asked “why do you have so much problems with kids?” Atam just shrugged and drove away to an Israeli police officer, stationed at the end of the street, and complained to him about the international stopping his van.

When the policeman arrived he took the internationals information, and told them that it was illegal to put up anymore posters because the picture was inflammatory to the State of Israel. One side of the picture depicted a young girl with barbed wire across her face. Some of the barbs were in the shape of the Star of David.


Israeli Settler Tearing Down Posters

The policeman told them that the Israeli settler, Atam, had every right to take down the posters because they would incite the settlers, the army, and all Jewish people. He would not admit that the violent settler graffiti littered all over Tel Rumeida, including “Gas the Arabs”, is much more repulsive and inflammatory than these posters.

The policeman told the internationals that they could hang up posters around the neighborhood but not these posters due to the Stars of David.

Nablus: IOF Treatens to Make 70 Palestinians Homeless

July 10th, 2007. At midnight the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded Nablus with 75 vehicles from all different directions. They entered Balata refugee camp and the Old City of Nablus. During the night 7 men were arrested in the old city.

At 5 am, the IOF moved on to the Rafideh neighborhood with the aim of arresting 2 wanted freedom fighters in the area. Half an hour later the soldiers went into a villa, interrogated the 6 people living in the house, showing maps of the neighborhood and pictures of the wanted men, clearly knowing who they were looking for and where they could find them. At the same time they surrounded the civilian apartment complex situated next to the villa. The soldiers started to fire their guns and throw grenades and sound bombs in the street in order to wake up people sleeping in their homes. When the residents did not respond to their demands to open the door the soldiers blew up the front door.

They forced the 70 people in the house out into the street. All the men had to show IDs and then go through the humiliating act of taking off their clothes in front of everyone. After that women and men were separated and the approximately 20 men in the group were taken to the nearby villa for detention and interrogation. Since the wanted men were not among the men in this group the IOF started to place bombs around the apartment complex with the intention to blow up the whole building in case the wanted men would not turn themselves in. At this point the two wanted men and the apartment owner that hosted them exited the house. They were handcuffed, blindfolded and then brought to the villa, where they were tortured.

When the ISM team arrived at Rafidah they tried to approach the occupied buildings with no success. Shortly after that, the IOF left Rafidah with the 3 arrested men. After that the ISM activists were let into the apartment of the now arrested man. The apartment was completely torn to pieces. The soldiers had gone berserk, ripped up all the furniture, emptied drawers and closets, throwing everything on the floor including the children’s toys and school material. Basically, the soldiers wrecked everything in the family’s house.

The wife of the house owner told the ISM activists what had happen during the morning. The freedom fighters had been let in to the house earlier that night since they had asked for help and as she said; “we would never turn someone down that asks for our help. We’re doing his because one day we might be the ones in need of help and also we have to do it for our nation.”

Nablus: Planting Trees in Till

July 9th, 2007. As a part of the summer campaign 12 International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists visited the Till village to help the local farmers reach and cultivate their land.

The fear of being shot or having their tractors confiscated has made it impossible for the farmers to reach parts of their land. In addition, thanks to an Israeli law, Palestinian land that has not been cultivated for 3 years may be confiscated by the state of Israel. At 9am in the morning the ISM activists arrived to Till where they met the local farmer Forsam and his family. Forsam has not been able to reach his land in 4 years, out of fear of being shot by the military from their outpost which is located only 200m from his land. The aim of the action was to plant 20 olive trees in 2 hours. The ISM activists task was to make sure the Palestinians could move safely to, on and from their land, which is located inside a closed military zone.

The action was a big success, 20 olive trees were planted in less then an hour and the military did not intervene. This successful action will hopefully lead to more Palestinians being able to access their land during the actions occurring on future days.

It Is Not a Horrible Checkpoint

by: Ash

This morning the streets of the town of Kofor Ra’ai in the district of Jenin were almost empty except for people and families waiting on both sides of the street for transportation. It was a weird situation with no vehicles driving at 11 in the morning but it was obvious that there was a nearby checkpoint blocking cars from passing.

I was traveling for my first day at university in Jenin after a break of three weeks for the summer course, but my trip lasted for three hours which is four times more than a normal day. After thirty minutes waiting side the street, a mini bus arrived and I was lucky to get the last seat at the back. Just few minutes outside the town, an Israeli mobile checkpoint of two jeeps were stopping and checking vehicles in both directions of the road.
Finally it was our turn after one hour of waiting! One Israeli soldier motioned to our driver to get closer and told only males to get out of the bus and get our ID cards out. Two soldiers were already occupying a roof of a house by the street; I could only see the barrel of the gun of the soldier from where I was standing.

After five minutes, anther soldier asked us to walk forward and form a line. In an aiming motion, he was pointing his gun at each one of us slowly and one by one. It felt like he was looking for someone to shoot at. The soldier aims at each old man and tells them to go back to the bus. One of the Palestinians who was with us said that, this checkpoint was for students who are traveling to their universities from home after the break.

The same soldier was keeping our IDs on the top of the jeep; he looked at one ID while keeping his gun pointing at us and asked the first Palestinian who was about 19 years old to walk towards him. Immediately, the soldier told the young Palestinian in Arabic to turn around and lift his shirt up. The young Palestinian was detained!

While we were standing there mumbling from the heat, a small yellow taxi jumped over a queue of approximately thirty Palestinian vehicles in order to bring an old sick man through the checkpoint. The two soldiers on the roof of the house yelled loudly at the driver to go back and wait in line. The driver was waving and trying to address to the soldier that he has a sick person. The soldier cursed him in Arabic and told him to move back.

A big soldier approached to see what was happening and said in Hebrew to the soldiers on the roof “maybe he has a patient” then he motioned to the driver to go to the checkpoint. Meanwhile, an old woman who was apparently a relative to the sick person was trying to speak to the first soldier. The soldier on the ground behaved like if he was a doctor, checking the old person and asking him questions, it was obvious that the old sick man was unable to move and leaning his head against the person next to him.

The detained Palestinian was released after twenty minutes and interrogated by the same big soldier who checked the patient. The soldier confiscated the boy’s wallet and cigarettes, we all thought that the army was going to arrest him and leave which is an ironic tactic that the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) uses at checkpoints to round up random young Palestinians. The soldier gave only 10 shekels and two cigarettes back to the boy and stole the rest. When the boy asked him about the rest of his stuff, the soldier replied that what he gave him is enough for a boy!! Was that soldier asking for more money and cigarettes from the old sick man too?!

After anther twenty minutes, the soldiers asked the driver to get the bus closer to check it with everyone out, including women and children. We were all asked to walk to the checkpoint one by one and get in the bus. As I approached the soldier who was holding our IDs and was apparently the officer in charge I asked in English, “Do you know what you are doing? you should know that this is a horrible checkpoint.”

The soldier looked confused and didn’t hear so I replied “This is a horrible checkpoint!” then got on the bus immediately. After we all were in the bus, the officer came to my window and said “You are not in a position to tell us what we should do at the checkpoint, ok!” the officer didn’t wait and walked away!

In the bus, I was told by the boy that he recognized the soldier who stole his stuff and that most people of Tulkarem city know this soldier as a thief stealing money and gold from homes that the IOF occupies during invasions. The last case that was reported on for robbery done by the IOF was by an old mother of five children in Tulkarem, she last all her gold and money which she has inherited from her dead husband. As the boy was telling me about the horrible things that happened in Tulkarem, how he travels and the crimes of the IOF, he replied to my long silence while listening to him “What do you think of these people?”, “What do you think of this life?!”