Author: ISM Media Group

Demolition at Beit Izja

Demolition at Beit Izja/Givon Hahadasha
from ICAHD, 3 May 2007

This morning, Thursday 3rd May 2007, the IDF, Border Police guards, Private Security Guards, a contractor and some labourers arrived at the home of Abu Samir (Muhammad Sabri Ghanayem) to take down the fence around his house and replace it with a higher and more solid one. Abu Samir lives on the outer edge of Beit Ijza village, on what is effectively now part of the Givon HaHadasha settlement. His house was built in the early 90’s (Pre-Oslo) with permission from the relevant authorities at the time (ie. Bet El – Civil Administration Office) and therefore, after several court hearings, the Supreme Court had ruled that the house may NOT be demolished.

The arrival of the workers and the security forces this morning alarmed Abu Samir and his three sons, and they went out to try to stop the workers. Clashes ensued between Abu Samir’s family (including his elderly wife) and the security forces and one of his sons was seriously injured and taken to Ramallah hospital. Meanwhile Abu Samir and the other two sons were arrested for obstructing the work.

I arrived on the scene after they were already taken but I was assured by the many IDF Officers present that the construction was simply to create a higher fence, on top of a one-metre high concrete wall, to create more security for the residents of the area, in what is a very ‘delicate’ situation.

In the meantime, I have tried to contact the Israeli DCL to check on Abu Samir and his sons but I have not heard back from them yet.

Thanks to all of you for your interest today, and I will keep you posted with any further developments.

For more info, contact:
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein
angela@icahd.org

Israeli Soldiers: “Death to Arabs”

“Death to Arabs”
by ISM Hebron, 28 April 2007

Next to Rian Mosque, a new Palestinian school is under construction, Jab al Rachme Girls High School. At 3pm on Saturday, the guard saw a squad of Israeli soldiers enter the building and go upstairs. When they left, the guard discovered that they had written “Death to Arabs – Arabs must die” in Hebrew in permanent marker on one of the new white boards. The construction manager did not inform the police as from experience he said he had no expectation that they would respond.

Israeli forces detain Palestinian men
1st May 07

Yesterday a Palestinian Human Rights Worker, Issa Amro, was detained for over an hour at the checkpoint near Abraham’s Mosque. He was abused, forced to lift all his clothes and show bare skin. The soldiers then tried to get him to empty all his bag into the dirt. he called out to a passing Palestinian friend and asked him to call International human rights workers (HRWs) for support. The soldiers called him back and tried to stop him but he left anyway and came back with 2 HRW’s. The soldiers were much less abusive once they realized they were being watched and recorded. Eventually they let him go.

The next day, the same soldiers were at Checkpoint 56 on Shuhada St. They recognized the Palestinian who had gone for help and as a punishment they detained him for over an hour. They took his mobile phone from him and erased all the photos of the previous day’s abuse.

Roadblock went tumbling down the gorge

The roadblock went tumbling down the gorge
by Kobi Snitz, 3 May 2007

Today, villagers from Ras Karkar, Budrus, Beit Likya, Bilin, Deir Ibzia and other villages marched towards an intersection on the main road to Ramallah which until 7 years ago used to serve about 15 villages in the area. The part of the road which is blocked connects the Palestinian villages of Ras Karkar and Deir Ibzia and does not lead to Israel or to a settlement. Because of the obstacle, the villagers were forced to drive about 45 minutes along an alternate road instead of 15 minutes along the direct route to get to Ramallah. Two weeks ago the alternate road was also closed making the trip take and hour and a quarter and cost about 15 shekels instead of 3 – 5. In response, the villagers decided to open up the main road which has been closed by concrete slabs.

At a demonstration, along with Israelis and Internationals, the Palestinian villagers faced off against a group of soldiers who seemed eager to provoke a violent confrontation. The organizers of the demonstration decided not to grant their wishes and managed to prevent a confrontation. After asserting their right and ability to stay on the road the demonstrators decided to head back. Along the way back, when the concrete slabs blocking the road were reached, they were grabbed by the crowd which tried to push them to the side. The blocks seemed immovable at first but with some ingenuity and shouts of “Allah Huw Akbar!” the blocks were finally rolled away and tumbled down into the gorge.

For the first time in 7 years, car were able to drive up from Ras Karkar directly to Deir Ibzia and were still passing through when the demonstrators left.

Israel is working on the creation of16 tunnels which would create an ‘apartheid’ road network for Palestinians in the West Bank. Many existing main roads are reserved for settlers and Israelis, linking settlements to each other and to Israel. This forces Palestinians into circuitous travelling routes.

For a map of the existing Apartheid road system in the West Bank, click HERE.

For more information contact the head of the Ras Karkar village council Rezik Nofal 0599-258358

Denial of Dignity, Denial of Entry

Eccerpts from by Nadia’s journal 3 May 2007

What happened to me yesterday is something I couldn’t imagine possible, not because I didn’t think I could be refused entrance into Israel. There always was a possibility I would be interrogated, but not in the way they did.

I landed in Tel Aviv at 7 am, and handed my passport over to passport control. After less than 2 minutes, three men came up saying they were waiting for my arrival. They took me plus all my stuff to a big room, where more than 20 people started checking every single thing. First, they took my mobile and wrote down every phone number and name that was in it, checked my SMS, plus the latest calls I had made and received, then checked pictures on my camera.

After that, they checked my body, my clothes, my hair, and my ears, even my nails.

One guy introduced himself as Sami (i don’t remember the last name). “I am Sami, from the Ministry of Defense. I have been waiting a few days for your arrival, I will work on you today, and we will put everything on the table. I will be hard on you, because I am not a nice person. I am mean, which is why they chose me for you. You are a special person, Nadia, and you will get the toughest security system we have. If you collaborate with us we will help you”.

Sami took me to a room very far from the main center of the airport. The office has the logo of Ministry of Defense. One woman was with us all the time (according to him, it was to make me feel more comfortable. He told me “I know Arabs girls don’t want be alone with a man. We respect you, don’t worry”.

First of all, he took several pictures of me, then opened a file in his computer. He started asking me about my family, phone numbers, professions, number of children, addresses, everything. He took copies of my credit card, saying he must check the previous activities on it, then took copies of my ID, driver’s license, the pictures of my family I have with me, all while writing down who is who.

After all this he started asking more questions, “I am not here to check on what you did in Nablus, or if you worked or not, or if you stayed longer than the permitted time, or if you did anything illegal. There are people already working on that. My job is to check about TERRORIST ACTIVITIES YOU CAN BE INVOLVED IN. For that we need to check on the people you are related to, because WE KNOW that you know five people, terrorists, the worst people here. We know they are your close friends. If you give us their names (despite the fact that we already have it) you will enter Israel. If you collaborate with us, we will help you Nadia.”

Then, the show started.

He started with people listed in my mobile, one by one, the 163 numbers I have. Who is he/her, how did you meet this person, are you in touch with him, and on and on. Every single person in my mobile (the Palestinian numbers and Jordanian numbers) was checked on his computer, and every person’s picture came up on the computer. I saw Sam’ s picture, Anita’s picture, Yusra’s picture, Sumaida’s picture. At one point, he asked me about people in Balata and Askar Camp, people I’m supposed to know, so he was waiting for me to mention them.

He told me that he’s been checking on me for months. “Many people you know in Nablus were interrogated, and almost all of them gave us the same five names we’re looking for, saying you are a very close friend to them. Many people in Nablus know you Nadia; we contacted all of them. Now you must start speaking.”

I didn’t know who they were looking for, as you can imagine. The guy then called someone by phone asking for more things, and immediately, new pictures of people showed up on his computer. He then asked me about most of these people, many I had never seen. Some of them, however, I did know, and their numbers were in my mobile.

I told him that I can’t be blamed for what someone else did or didn’t do, that I don’t know what he’s talking about. He continued saying that I was not telling him the truth, because he already knew the truth, and I will not enter Israel ever again, if I don’t collaborate with him by providing him with more details.

After he checked my mobile again, he asked me why, with 163 numbers on it, only 13 are from people in Jordan, while all the rest are from Palestinians. “How is possible, Nadia, that a woman like you, smart, good looking, attractive, doesn’t have more relationships with people in Jordan? What are you planning to do, why do you insist you want to enter Israel, how are you related to these terrorists? They asked you to make something, didn’t they, they asked you for money, and they asked you to get married to them, what are you planning to do with them as soon you enter here? We know the truth, but he want hear it from you, and again, if you don’t collaborate with us we cannot helping you.”

After a few minutes another guy, Amir, entered the room, and he looked at me and told me, “Stop lying, you are hiding something, and we know it, you have bad friends and your relationship with them makes you related to their activities, I don’t trust you, and you will not enter Israel because of that”.

After he left, and I was alone again with Sami, I started crying, like a baby, and I told him that I want this interrogation stopped, go ahead, send me back to Jordan, because I don’t know what they are looking for, and I am not involved to anything.

Sami sat next to me and kindly told me “You are a nice person, a strong woman I can see that, well educated, so don’t make mistakes, this is your opportunity to tell the truth, we will help you, give me the other three names, and don’t cry anymore. Why are you so nervous, why this is so important to you? I don’t understand, and if I don’t understand, I only can think the worst about you… I WILL NOT LET YOU ENTER IF I DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING, BECAUSE I WILL BE RESPONSIBLE, WHEN YOU BLOW YOURSELF UP IN TEL AVIV”.

The interrogation continued, he made copies of all the pictures I have and started writing down next to each person their names, then looking in his computer. He said, “Nadia, maybe you have clean hands, but if any person has put their hands in dirty water, your hands will be dirty, and your hands are already black”.

Finally, he told me “Your situation here is not good, you have a strong connection with bad activities. This world is not safe any more, because of MUSLIMS (Nadia, remember what happend on September 11 because of Muslims). You are a big risk to the security of the Israeli people, and all of the visitors in this country. Israel is a democracy, one of the best countries in the world, not like the Arab ones, and we work hard to prevent any terrorist activities, and you are not helping us with our mission.”

He left me saying, “My team will decide now about what we will do with you, but I don’t think you will be able to enter here again. You are a risk to yourself and others. You can do whatever you want, go to COURT, if that’s what you want to do. But, if you do, I will be happy to go there personally and make sure YOU WILL NEVER ENTER HERE AGAIN.”

This interrogation lasted from 7:20 am until 4:15 pm. Downstairs the Chilean consul was waiting for me. I was allowed to speak with him and go out with security to smoke a cigarette. I never saw Sami again, he didn’t come back to tell me the results of the meeting, but the people from security had already told the consul I was not allowed to enter Israel, even before the interrogation was ended.

They asked me to go again to the checkroom where they again checked all my bags and me, then put me on a plane back to Amman at 7 pm.

I will finish writing this by saying to all of you that I did my best yesterday. I think nobody is really ready to face something like that, at least not me, because I am not used to being treated as a terrorist. I feel sorry for all the people who are related to me, now these people have all their names and phone numbers; they can check on them because of me. I feel like the worse collaborator in the world, and I am so sorry for making the life of others harder than it already is.
The Palestinians face enough injustices since the day they were born.

Salaam to all
Nadia

ACRI Successfully Challenges Movement Restriction in Jordan Valley

Association for Civil Rights in Israel Successfully Challenges Movement Restriction in Jordan Valley
by Association for Civil Rights in Israel, 2 May 2007

In response to ACRI`s appeal to the Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, in December 2006, demanding the cancellation of the directives banning all Palestinian residents of the West Bank from entering the area of the Jordan Valley (with the exception of those Palestinians whose registered address is in one of the communities in the Valley), the Defense Ministry examined the claims made by ACRI and have decided to cancel the movement restrictions by the end of May 2007. From then on, all residents of the West Bank will be allowed to enter the Jordan Valley subject to undergoing security checks.

ACRI`s intervention laid emphasis on the fact the prohibition on Palestinian movement in the Valley, which violates the basic rights of the Palestinian population, has never been authorized by a written order. The directives are enforced by the Israeli security forces through IDF checkpoints on the main roads, mobile checkpoints, earth mounds, and the destruction of roads and paths to make them inaccessible to vehicles, and prohibit Palestinian vehicular and pedestrian movement and entry in the area of the Jordan Valley. This area comprises large tracts of agricultural lands which are the primary source of income for thousands of Palestinian families, many of whom do not live in the closed Jordan Valley area and are therefore denied access to their lands. ACRI further stressed that while the Palestinian population is prevented from entering the area, Israelis are permitted in the area without any restrictions whatsoever. The sweeping ban therefore constitutes discrimination against Palestinians on the basis of national origin, in addition to violating basic human rights and isolating the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank.

ACRI welcomes the Defense Ministry`s decision to cancel the sweeping and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinian movement in the Jordan Valley area. It is the responsibility of the Israeli authorities to ensure that this decision is implemented by all the relevant security bodies, and to ensure that such illegal restrictions are not reintroduced in the future.