Author: ISM Media Group

Tel Rumeida: Attempt to Destroy the Olive Trees

By the ISM Media Team

On Friday the 22nd June, Two human rights workers (HRWs) were alerted to a fire in part of the olive groves near Tel Rumeida. The size of the affected area is approximately one hectare and belongs to a local Palestinian man. According to one TIPH worker, the owner is one Ferial Abu Haikal and her husband (not sure of his name).

A local Palestinian fire crew dealt with the blaze, and perhaps half-a-dozen Israeli soldiers plus some locals were at the scene assisting.

When the HRWs arrived at approximately 12:15, the blaze was almost entirely extinguished, but flames continued to flicker in places and there was still a substantial amount of smoke. In general, the trees in the grove did not appear to be too badly affected, but the entirety of the surrounding area was turned to a black carpet of scorched grass. At least three trees were seriously damaged.

At 12:30, the Israeli soldiers asked the human rights workers to leave the immediate area; the HRWs agreed to the request, but stayed in the area to monitor the situation.

Having left the scene, the HRWs spoke with a relative of the owner the land. The relative explained that four years ago the Tel Rumeida settlers had set the same piece of land alight. Tel Rumeida settlers have also previously set alight ancient olive trees, which are of particular value to local Palestinians.

At the present time, the nature of the blaze is unknown, though there is footage, filmed by the Abu-Heckel family, of Israeli settlers standing in front of the fire when it first started. Israeli soldiers said that the fire started with the sun.

Later, at 3:00, a group of internationals were doing a tour through the olive groves when the discovered an olive tree still on fire. They called Israeli soldiers to put out the fire, but when the soldiers arrived they told the internationals to go away because it was too dangerous. Two internatioanls then ran to their home to get bottles of water, but when they returned the Palestinian firefighters were present with a fire hose. The internationals assisted the firefighters and helped put out the fire on the tree. This tree, and one other was seriously damaged by the fire and not have a chance to survive. One other tree was moderatly damaged.

In speaking with Jamil Abu Hekel, he confirmed that he was able to film his family’s land on fire. He advised that the land is shared between 6 family members, and that the piece of land which was burned has been burned down now every year for the last 5-6 years. in previous years, there used to be grapes on the field but they were burned down some 10 years ago.
One of the trees that were burned was over a hundred years old, it has been burned a lot of times, but somehow it has always managed to survive.

In real terms the cost of Palestinian land is set by how many Olive trees there are on it, however this doesn’t take into consideration the sentimental and emotional attachment many Palestinians feel towards the Olive trees as part of their cultural heritage and history. The burning of these trees attacks not just the financial capacity of Palestinians in the area but also attacks their culture and history.

HRWs Attacked with Rocks by Settlers

By the ISM Media Team

At approximately 5:00 pm, two international HRWs (Human Rights Workers) walked through the olive groves of Tel Rumeida and noticed that a young settler boy (probably between the age of 10-12) was following closely behind them. After a couple minutes passed, the HRWs stopped walking to allow the settler to pass, as they were uncomfortable with him following at such a close proximity. When the boy reached the HRWs, he shouted at them to “Go!” among other various things in Hebrew. The boy was then joined by about five other young male settlers, and they began to hurl dirt and large, heavy stones directly at the HRWs. The stones hit one of the HRWs’ camcorder, as well as various places on their bodies. The HRWs called over a nearby Israeli soldier, who proceeded to come over but do nothing to prevent the settlers’ violence despite the continuing aggression by the children and the rock throwing. The first boy then physically attacked one of the HRWs. The soldier then told the HRWs to leave the area. They followed the soldier’s instructions and began walking away. About two minutes later, the settler children reappeared (there were now about ten of them) and began throwing huge stones from all angles at the HRWs. The children invaded an abandoned Palestinian home and continued their stone throwing. They managed to strike the HRWs multiple times again. After about five minutes, the children evacuated the house and returned to their settlement.

A third HRW on her way to support those being attacked asked a policeman to come, but he refused. The HRWs and others who had then joined them attempted to call the police, but they did not answer. The two attacked HRWs returned to Tel Rumeida Street and asked the two soldiers at the top of the hill to call the police. The soldiers initially refused, but finally conceded after numerous requests. After approximately thirty minutes, the police arrived and took the attacked HRWs to the police station in the Kiryat Arba settlement to make a complaint. An additional HRW complained to the policemen that they did not immediately attempt to catch the violent settler children. Eventually two of them proceeded to walk towards the Tel Rumeida settlement, but after a few minutes one of them left to remain inside his vehicle.

Bil’in: Excessive Aggression by IOF against demonstrators continues

By the ISM Media Team

At 1:30 on the 22nd June 2007, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered together for the 124th demonstration against the Apartheid Wall being built and the expansion and occupation of the nearby illegal Settlement of Mode’in Illit. The demonstration began with chanting in both Arabic and English by the demonstrators as they marched to where the wall has been built. Both peaceful and civil, the demonstrators were initially met with quiet from the approximately 20 soldiers who were stood around twenty meters from a section of barbed wire lying in the road to restrict access. The demonstrators initially held their position at the barbed wire, chanting and shouting, however after a period of relative calm from the Israeli soldiers, they suddenly started firing sound grenades and tear gas at demonstrators who had been peacefully protesting against the wall and settlement. Some demonstrators were only ten meters away from the army with hands raised to show peace and non-violence, when they began to fire the sound grenades and the tear gas. It was clear from these gestures that the demonstrators had come without violence; however the Israeli army chose to deliberately ignore this. The demonstrators made efforts to retreat back to a safe distance however the Israeli military continued to fire sound grenades and tear gas canisters at the protestors. Many demonstrators were still holding their hands in the air and walking away from the soldiers however the soldiers continued to fire at them. A Canadian lady, known as Beth was walking away from soldiers at this time when she was shot in the back of her leg with a tear gas canister. The Israeli army showed complete disregard for demonstrators who were retreating or people not directly involved in the demonstration.
The IDF continued to move forward along the road despite the retreat by the demonstrators and they continued to fire rubber coated steel bullets, tear gas and sound grenades. When a group of six female Palestinian and international activists attempted to confront the IDF over the use of violence against children, they were met with aggression and physical violence at one point attempting to arrest a Palestinian lady whose only crime was to voice her opinion. Children as young as ten were being targeted by the IDF with rubber coated steel bullets for throwing stones at heavily armored military jeeps. Attempts were made by activists to defend the children, yet soldiers continued to fire and forcibly hit, pushed and dragged female activists for their attempts to prevent the violence. The Soldiers had complete disregard for the activists who were acting without violence and continued to fire despite a HRW being directly infront of the soldier. It was with only good fortune that the HRW was not hit.
During the protest two further Palestinians were arrested, one of whom, Iyad Burnat of the popular committee is still being held. He was detained initially by two soldiers without apparent reason. He has since been shown photo’s of a man throwing stones, which the soldiers have claimed was him, despite this not being the case. He is currently in Offer prison awaiting a trial.

Um Salamona: Tree Planting met with violence by IOF

By the ISM media team

At approximately 10.30 am a group of about 60 Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals gathered near the Palestinian village of Um Salamona to support Palestinian farmers in their protest against Israeli Apartheid Policy and to help them plant olive trees inside the nearby olive groves. Although these olive groves are part of Palestinian farm land, the farmers are not allowed to enter them since this area is supposed to be separated by the illegal Israeli Apartheid Wall.

As the group of peace activists and Palestinians approached the area of the upcoming Apartheid Wall, about 40 soldiers and border policemen came down the hill to prevent them from going further. The Palestinian land owners asked the soldiers to let them go on to their land. The soldiers either ignored or refused their requests and kept blocking the way. Some Palestinians then started to plant about 20 olive trees on the side of the road, while the rest of the group unsuccessfully negotiated with the border police and soldiers and chanted against the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

On several occasions, the soldiers and border policemen used unprovoked violence against the peaceful demonstrators. Numerous people were pushed to the ground, kicked and beaten. A group of three settlers, standing behind the soldiers, were watching the proceedings and seemed to enjoy the humiliating actions directed at the demonstrators. One border policeman stole the pick of a Palestinian farmer and refused to hand out his property until the end of the demonstration.

Close to the end of the peaceful protest against the robbing of Palestinian farmland and the building of the Apartheid Wall, the Israeli soldiers arrested two Israeli activists and used physical violence to take them to the police car.

El-Farra: Palestinians must have hope to move forward

by: Mona El-Farra, SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

As a physician from Gaza, I have treated far too many Palestinians wounded by Israeli troops. Now a day has come that I thought I would never see.

Throughout our 59-year struggle to obtain our freedom, we Palestinians debated strategy and tactics. Political factions competed for popular support. But never would I have believed that we would turn guns against each other. What brought us to this point?

In 2006, Hamas won free and fair elections on a platform that promised clean and efficient government. But Israel and the West meddled with our democratically elected choice by imposing devastating economic sanctions. How would Americans feel if a foreign power expressed its dissatisfaction with your elected government in this way? Our economy and our livelihoods have been destroyed, reducing many of us to poverty.

At last, we exploded with a desperation born of decades of oppression, lack of opportunity and loss of hope. We brutalized each other over the crumbs of power. The shame is ours — but the responsibility is shared between reckless Palestinians and external powers that turned the screws on our people.

Israel might have removed its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in September 2005, but it still controls Gaza from the sea, air and land. The borders are mostly closed according to the whim of Israel, transforming Gaza into an enormous open-air prison for its 1.4 million people, half of whom are children. Too many of these youngsters suffer from the stifling effects of violence and hunger. Their future is dangerously circumscribed by the chaos and uncertainty that envelops us.

To thrive, Palestinians need access to the sea and to commerce. Most importantly, our people must be imbued with a sense of hope.

Sanctions imposed after the election of Hamas made hard lives harder, but we must not forget that even under the “moderate” leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas we did not control trade in and out of Gaza.

“There is a seeming reflex,” United Nations peace envoy Alvaro de Soto said in a report, “in any given situation where the UN is to take a position, to ask first how Israel or Washington will react rather than what is the right position to take.”

Washington’s bias toward Israel is significantly responsible for the appalling situation in which we find ourselves.

Yes, we Palestinians must accept blame for our perilous situation. However, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr has correctly declared, “If you have two brothers, put them in a cage and deprive them of basic and essential needs for life, they will fight.” The fact that we would sink to this level is perhaps the surest sign of the terrible damage meted out to us over the years by dispossession and occupation.

When one is in a hole, it is imperative to stop digging. If we are to win our freedom, surely it will not be done with one brother digging the grave of another. The violence, therefore, must stop. That is our first responsibility as Palestinians and we must meet it immediately. And the United States and the international community must end the sanctions that deprive us of our basic needs and our hope for a better future.

The Israeli leadership brandishes our plight as evidence that we cannot govern ourselves nor be trusted as “peace partners.” White South Africans similarly claimed that black South Africans were incapable of self-governance. In the last years of apartheid, more than 250 blacks were killed in black-on-black violence each month. Yet decency and equality eventually prevailed in South Africa. Apartheid was vanquished and the world learned that black-on-black violence was an outgrowth of apartheid — not an indication that black South Africans were incapable of self-rule and undeserving of rights.

We, too, have the right to be free. But we must first free ourselves from fighting over the scraps of power.

Like oppressed people everywhere, we yearn for our rights. Out of this ugly period, we must promote a new vision of equality for all peoples living on this land, regardless of race or religion.

El-Farra is a physician in the Gaza Strip. She is slate to speak tonight at 7 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3208 Exposition Blvd.