Author: ISM Media Group

Palestinian and International Activists Remove Roadblock

by Palestine Solidarity Project

On September 21, 2006, in the village of Al-Jab’a, Palestinian and international activists partially removed an earth mound roadblock that separates the Palestinian village of Al-Jab’a from the Palestinian village of Surif.

In 2002, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) created the illegal roadblock to prevent the villagers of Surif and the villagers of Al’Jab’a from commuting back and forth by car. The roadblock consists of dirt, large stones, at least five massive boulders, and more than nine 2-5 ton concrete slabs and blocks. Presently, Palestinians seeking to reach their village from the neighboring village are forced to approach the barrier by car, unload their goods and crops over the roadblock, and repack them into a car located on the other side of the barrier. While this restriction is extremely difficult to navigate, there are multiple other problems. The barrier is built at the junction of a Palestinian road and a settler-only road leading towards the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, and in the opposite direction towards Bethlehem, Hebron or Jerusalem. This road leads towards many colonial settlements, and it is partially for this reason that Palestinians are prevented from crossing it via car.

Not only does the earth mound roadblock prevent Palestinians from traveling within the occupied West Bank, and farmers from transporting their crops from field to market, it also prevents local students from attending secondary school. Daily, students from the village of Jab’a must travel to Surif to study. They must make this long journey by foot because the roadblock prevents buses and service taxis from crossing the settler road to the adjacent village. In Jab’a, the school serves students until around age 11. When the students reach twelve years of age, they must go to the older children’s’ school in Surif. With the road block in place, this simple journey is grueling and slow.

Because of these crimes committed by the Occupation, the villagers of Jab’a and Surif, joined with international activists to demonstrate in front of the road block, on the shoulder of the settler-only road. The demonstrators marched from the village of Al-Jab’a holding signs reading, “I Dream of Freedom for My Children,” “Settlers Create Apartheid,” and “You Steal Freedom.” Upon reaching the roadblock, demonstrators held the signs for the view of passing settler cars, and, others began to remove the roadblock with shovels and their hands. The demonstrators used the shovels to carry away the dirt and used their hands to move the rocks. Using a metal pipe as a lever, the demonstrators were able to remove one concrete slab prior to the arrival of IOF soldiers and border police.

After approximately 45 minutes, IOF border police and soldiers arrived. Within minutes of the arrival of the first armored police jeep, it was joined by two armored military jeeps. In total, two border police and more than eight soldiers took positions to monitor the action. After a few minutes they approached the demonstrators with a statement written in Hebrew and two maps marked in pen, also in Hebrew. They explained that the road, the roadblock and the adjacent villages were “closed military zones,” and that internationals were not allowed to be present. After some questioning, this answer changed, and the activists were told that both Palestinians and internationals were not permitted to be present near the roadblock or the road. The soldiers informed the peaceful crowd that if they did not leave immediately, they would be arrested. After listening to the IOF’s threats, the demonstrators returned to work removing the roadblock. During this exchange with the IOF, several cars carrying colonist settlers stopped to shout insults or to inquire about the situation. Throughout the action, many settlers slowed to read the signs, and to occasionally shout profanities at the non-violent demonstrators.

After partially removing the roadblock, the Palestinian village committee decided to disperse and return to the village and the Palestinians and internationals marched back up to Al-Jab’a. This is the first direct action to be undertaken jointly by the Surif and Al-Jab’a local committees and PSP. In the future, the demonstrators hope to return to the roadblock and further open the road, allowing for the free passage of Palestinians from village to village.

For more information on the Palestine Solidarity Project, please contact palestine_project@yahoo.com or visit the website at: palestinesolidarityproject.wordpress.com

Israeli Colonist Attacks Continue Against Beit Ommar Farmer

by Palestine Solidarity Project

On September 20, 2006, in the village of Beit Ommar, activists with the Palestine Solidarity Project visited the farmland of Abu Jaber and his brother Abu Sameer. This is the third time that activists with the Project have met with the farmers to document damage done to their land by nearby Israeli colonial settlers.

Three months ago, international activists began meeting with Abu Jaber and Abu Sameer, though attacks on their land date back many years. These activists previously visited the farmers in July and August of this year. On September 15th 2006, five days prior to PSP’s visit, Abu Jaber and Abu Sameer’s land was once again attacked by settlers from Bat Ayin. These attacks have become more frequent as the olive harvest approaches, and presently, the land is attacked nearly twice per week.

Typically, when the settlers come to the land, they cut olive and plum trees, and grape vines. They uproot trees from the earth and throw stakes and plants into nearby bushes. Olives, plums and grapes are picked from the trees and stolen, while some crops are thrown to the ground to decay in the sun or to be eaten by illegally grazing settler livestock.

While at the activist’s last visit similar destruction was photographed, videotaped and documented, on this visit, the damage had increased. More plants had been destroyed, more crops had been stolen and more of the farming infrastructure had been removed and mangled.

For several years prior to the attacks in 2006, Abu Jaber and Abu Sameer have been attempting to litigate against this problem through the Palestinian Land Defense Committee, which joins Israeli and Palestinian lawyers to aid farmers in trouble. As of now, this attempt to seek justice through the Israeli court system has been fruitless. This experience is common for Palestinians seeking to have their grievances addressed through the legal system of the Occupation. The nature of the Occupation creates parallel and unequal legal systems for Palestinians and Israelis seeking to solve their problems through the court. Had Abu Jaber attacked the farm land of the Bat Ayin settlement, the Apartheid court system would have likely fined and imprisoned him, though when the situation is reversed, nothing happens and the racist nature of the Occupation courts is made apparent.

For more information on the Palestine Solidarity Project, please contact palestine_project@yahoo.com or visit the website at: palestinesolidarityproject.wordpress.com

Illegal Barriers in Hebron Region Destoryed

by Palestine Solidarity Project

On September 15, 2006, Palestinian and international activists removed large sections of a razor wire barrier erected on Palestinian land in the Al-Khalil (Hebron) region, and designed to isolate and bisect a village.

The fence was repeatedly cut, metal stakes removed, and the razor wire ripped to be rendered unusable. The activists worked in teams, sabotaging the fence in many strategic areas. By the end of the action, the activists had destroyed large tracts of the barrier, and created more than six entry and exit points in the fence. Each entry/exit point created spanned more than seven meters. Having accomplished their goal of opening the crossings, the activists returned safely without being observed by Occupation forces.

On September 17, 2006, for the third time in approximately two weeks, Palestinian and international activists carried out a successful direct action to remove illegal fence and razor wire barriers in the Al-Khalil region. The activists were able to open at least six entry and exit points in the razor wire barrier. The section of the barrier that was targeted was very near to an Occupation checkpoint, and the activists were able to complete their work prior to spotting soldiers en route on foot.

These particular barriers, both located in the Al-Khalil region, were chosen because of frequent requests made to PSP by members of the communities affected. The existence of these illegal structures restricts the movement of the Palestinian people and redraws the West Bank borders in the name of Israeli ‘security.’ The military claims that the barrier is necessary to prevent attackers from crossing into Israel. This fence is the preliminary installation of what will soon become part of the Apartheid Wall.

The route of the barrier has annexed some families by placing them on the ‘Israeli’ side of the barrier, isolating their homes from their villages. Many farmers in the villages have similarly had their land annexed; the barrier makes their land inaccessible. Now, with the fences disabled, the Palestinians are able to reach their homes, and farm land more easily. By destroying the fence in several locations, PSP was able to create access points for farmers and other travelers to enter and exit the area. This action was also designed to slow the progress of the Apartheid Wall by delaying the process and making it slower.

This is the third direct action undertaken by PSP in two weeks. PSP is a newly developed, Palestinian-led, non-violent movement to resist the Israeli occupation.

For more information on the Palestine Solidarity Project, please contact palestine_project@yahoo.com or visit the website at:
palestinesolidarityproject.wordpress.com

Updated 26th September.

Ynet: “Israeli army’s complicity with settlers must end”

Army must make law enforcement against settlers a policy backed by action

by Mooky Dagan , Thursday 21st September

For years human rights organizations have pointed out the complicity between the Israel Defense Forces command headquarters in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israeli settlers, nurtured by policies intended to facilitate the Judaization of the West Bank.

The army’s bond with the settlers leads to a policy of non-action as far as maintaining the law and the security of Palestinians, who are subject to constant violent harassment by their illegal neighbors.

While the IDF and the Civil Administration (which deals with civilian conflicts between settlers and Palestinians), dismiss these charges as nonsense, Colonel Yuval Bazak, who finished his tenure in the West Bank, admits to a conflict of interest and complicity in many violations of the law.

Among them: The failure to dismantle illegal outposts, the failure to prevent settler violence against Palestinian civilians or to prosecute the settlers; and non-cooperation with the Israel Police. Yet Colonel Bazak faces no sanctions for these lapses.

Problematic connection

As documented in a comprehensive report by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, the close bond between the settlers and the army has serious implications:

The army does not give sufficient support to police investigations, and thereby sometimes undermines them. Often the army refuses to provide the escort necessary to conduct investigations at the scene or inside the settlements.

The army does not deploy forces permanently in known friction areas, where a permanent presence could improve the situation immediately. The security constraints within which the IDF operates must not be used as an excuse not to protect the civilian population.

The soldiers on the ground are not aware of their law enforcement powers and obligations. Settlers have provoked and attacked Palestinian olive harvesters while soldiers on order to guard them did nothing to stop or detain the settlers until the police arrived.

The Civil Administration conducts a biased policy in favor of the settlers in cases of land disputes. The common practice is to demand that a Palestinian complainant present expensive measurement papers to prove his ownership. Under an unbiased policy, the settler suspected of trespassing on land that isn’t his should be the one required to present the necessary documents.

Ideological offenses, by definition, involve violence justified in the offender’s mind as a means to achieve larger, collective goals. It is difficult to fight such ideology-backed violence without taking harsh measures — which would be possible only by severing the ties between the IDF and the settlers.

The IDF must make law enforcement against settlers a policy backed by action. The defense minister must instruct the Central Command that law enforcement is a military objective and that commanders will be evaluated as much for their success in maintaining the law as for preventing terrorism.

Mooky Dagan is a member of the human rights organization Yesh Din’s steering committee.

The Independent : “Gaza: The children killed in a war the world doesn’t want to know about”

by Donald Macintyre in Rafah, Tuesday 19th September

Nayef Abu Snaima says his 14-year-old cousin Jihad had been sitting on the edge of an olive grove talking animatedly to him about what he would do when he grew up when he was killed instantly by an Israeli shell.

He says he clearly saw a bright flash next to the control tower of the disused Gaza international airport, occupied by Israeli forces after Cpl Gilad Shalit was seized by militants on 25 June. “I went two or three steps and the missile landed,” said Nayef, 24. “I thought I was dying. I shouted ‘La Ilaha Ila Allah’ [There is no God but Allah].”

When Jihad’s older brother Kassem, 20, arrived at the scene: “My brother was already dead. There was shrapnel in his head. Nayef was shouting ‘Allah, Allah’. The missile landed about four metres from where Jihad had been standing. There was shrapnel in his body as well, his legs, everything. He had been bleeding a lot everywhere.”

Jihad Abu Snaima was just the most recent of more than 37 children and teenagers under 18 killed [out of a total death toll, including militants, of 228] in the operations mounted by the Israeli military in Gaza since 25 June, according to figures from the Palestinian Centre of Human Rights (PCHR).

Of these, the PCHR classifies 151 as “civilian”, although beside non-combatants and bystanders, that total also includes militants or faction members not involved in operations against Israel at the time ­ for example those deliberately targeted in Israeli air strikes because of their involvement in previous attacks. The Israel Defence Forces have always maintained that being under 18 does not automatically exclude a person from taking part in action against them.

The conflict in Gaza has attracted relatively little international attention, not least because for five weeks it was overshadowed by that in Lebanon. But the death toll has continued to rise.

Nayef, who was speaking from his hospital bed, has multiple shrapnel-inflicted cuts on his plaster-covered arms and legs. But he was lucky compared with Jihad. A school caretaker with a five-year-old daughter, Nayef insists the evening of Jihad’s death was just a family get-together. It is normal, he said, in this Bedouin community in the Al Shouka hamlet outside the southernmost Gaza town of Rafah to socialise at each other’s homes on a summer evening, and that he and Jihad were especially close.

“I was always with him. He was an innocent person, kind. He was talking to me about how he was going to inherit part of his father’s land and farm it and how he was going to get married and stay here.” Nayef added tearfully: “He was a boy who had hopes. He wanted to live his life.” He added: “What is my daughter going to think? She is going to grow up hating the Israelis.”

The family say there was no shelling in the area at the time either before or after the incident; and that they therefore presume Jihad and Nayef were targeted by a tank crew. They insist there was no activity by militants against Israeli positions on the day of the attack. “This is an open area,” said Nayef. “The resistance would not go there because they would be seen.”

By contrast, the Israel Defence Forces said, without specifying Al Shouka, that on 10 September it had identified and hit “two men” moving near its forces in southern Gaza crouching on the ground, and ” apparently planting explosives”. Nayef is adamant that on the night in question he and Jihad were merely pausing on an evening stroll to his own house.

The PCHR, which seeks to monitor every violent Palestinian death, does not only focus on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It has, for example, repeatedly condemned the killing and injuring of growing numbers of civilians, also including children, during mounting inter-Palestinian disputes in Gaza; shootings by Palestinian security forces themselves; attacks on Christian churches by Muslims protesting against the Pope; the injury of civilians, including children, by Palestinian-fired Qassam rockets which fall short of targets in Israel; and the kidnapping last month of two Fox TV employees which has deterred journalists from visiting Gaza.

But Hamdi Shaqqura of PCHR’s Gaza office ­ which accuses Israel of using repeated closures and destruction of the power supply to operate a policy of “collective punishment” in breach of international law in Gaza, argues that the excuse of “collateral damage” cannot justify the ” very high” death toll in the operations since 15 June. He adds: ” Israel’s forces have been acting excessively and disproportionately, and this explains the high figures for the number of innocent civilians killed by them.”

At the other, northern end of Gaza, close to the al-Nada apartment blocks between Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, Aref Abu Qaida, 16, was killed by an artillery shell on 1 August. Sharif Harafin, 15, said: “We had been playing football and we had just finished. I was carrying the ball. I was going to my home, and [Aref] was going to his home. I heard a loud boom and then I saw him cut to pieces.”

As his family displayed Aref’s shredded red baseball cap, Sharif said he saw his friend’s severed head on the ground, adding: “His chest was torn out by the rocket. People were collecting parts of his body. I was crying a lot.”

The IDF says that on 1 August it had fired and hit “a number of Palestinians” in “the area of Beit Lahiya” who had ” approached a number of rocket launchers placed in the area”. Both PCHR and local residents, including Mohammed Abu Qaida, 39, the dead boy’s uncle, say that, while three other civilians were wounded, the only other death in this incident was that of Mervat Sharekh, 24, a woman who was visiting relatives from Rafah and who died in hospital an hour later.

Although the area had been shelled before, and some residents had fled in response to Israeli warnings the previous week, Mr Abu Qaida said the area had been quiet on the day ­ except that Qassam rockets had been fired about four hours earlier from northern settlements more than a kilometre away from the flats.

The IDF said last night that, of those killed in Gaza, it had the ” positive identities of over 220 gunmen killed in fighting, and can confirm their affiliation with terror organisations”. The 220 figure ­ said to be “unbelievable” by Mr Shaqqura ­ coupled with another 20 dead which the military acknowledges as genuine civilians, is all the more strikingly at variance with PCHR figures since it produces a total exceeding the centre’s own records.

Mr Shaqqura said that, at the absolute minimum, the IDF figures do not take into account the casualties under 18 ­ which PCHR estimates at 44 and from which he said every effort is made to exclude the “rare” teenagers with militant connections ­ or eight women killed since 25 June. ” We do not believe their figures. We do not believe their investigations.”

The IDF said: “Since the abduction of Cpl Gilad Shalit by the Hamas and PRC terror organisations, the IDF has been operating in the Gaza Strip against terrorist infrastructure and in order to secure the release of Cpl Shalit. In the course of the operations, the IDF engaged in intense fighting with Palestinian gunmen, who chose heavily populated areas as their battlegrounds. The IDF takes every measure to prevent harm to civilians, often at a risk to its soldiers.”

The forgotten war in the Middle East

* 25 June: Palestinian gunmen from the Hamas-linked Izzedine al-Qassam brigades cross from Gaza into Israel and launch a raid on an Israeli military patrol. Two Israeli soldiers are killed, four wounded and one, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, is captured and taken back into Gaza.

* 28 June: Israel masses troops before launching a reoccupation of the Gaza Strip under the codename Operation Summer Rains. Civilian casualties mount as Israeli forces search the Khan Younis refugee camp for Cpl Shalit.

* 12 July: Mimicking the tactics of Palestinian militants, Hizbollah launches mortars and rockets into northern Israel from southern Lebanon to divert attention from a cross-border raid that ambushes an Israeli military patrol, killing three soldiers and capturing two others. The raid threatens to draw the whole Middle East into conflict.

* 13 July: International attention is diverted from Gaza as Israel launches a full military invasion of southern Lebanon in response to Hizbollah’s attack. The mounting civilian death toll across Gaza pales in comparison to Lebanon as Israeli jets pummel infrastructure.

* 24 July: As world powers frantically search for a UN-backed ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel increases its bombardment of the Gaza Strip in an attempt to force Palestinian militants to release Cpl Shalit. Under the codename Operation Samson’s Pillars, Israeli jets pound Gaza’s roads and buildings, including the power station.

* 14 August: UN approves a ceasefire for Lebanon after four weeks of fighting which has left approximately 1,500 Lebanese and 150 Israelis dead. International community continues to ignore the conflict in Gaza over fears that Lebanon could slip back into warfare unless a UN peacekeeping force arrives in the region.

* Mid-August-present: Israel continues to carry out air strikes and raids in Gaza. At least 33 civilians have been killed since the beginning of August, 10 of whom were under the age of 18.

Names of children under the age of 18 killed during the operations mounted by the Israeli military in Gaza since 25 June, according to the Palestinian Centre of Human Rights

Bara Nasser Habib, 3 (hit by shrapnel to the head and body, Gaza City, 26 July)
Shahed Saleh Al-Sheikh Eid, 3 days old (bled to death after airstrike, Al-Shouka, 4 August)
Rajaa Salam Abu Shaban, 3 (died of fractured skull in air raid, Gaza City, 9 August)
Jihad Selmi Abu Snaima, 14 (killed by a shell, Al-Shoukha, 10 september)
Khaled Nidal Wahba, 15 months (died of wounds from an airstrike, 10 July)
Rawan Farid Hajjaj, 6 (killed with his mother and sister in an airstrike, Gaza City, 8 July)
Anwar Ismail Abdul Ghani Atallah, 12 (shot in the head, Erez, 5 July)
Shadi Yousef Omar 16 (shot in the chest by IDF, Beit Lahya, 7 July)
Mahfouth Farid Nuseir, 16 (killed by missile while playing football, Beit Hanoun, 11 July)
Ahmad Ghalib Abu Amsha, 16, (killed by missile while playing football, Beit Hanoun, 11 July)
Ahmad Fathi Shabat, 16 (killed by missile while playing football, Beit Hanoun, 11 July)
Walid Mahmoud El-Zeinati, 12 (died of shrapnel wounds, Gaza City, 11 July)
Basma Salmeya, 16 (killed in Israeli airstrike, 12 July, Jabalia)
Somaya Salmeya, 17 (killed in Israeli airstrike, 12 July, Jabalia)
Aya Salmeya, 9 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Yehya Salmeya, 10 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Nasr Salmeya, 7 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Huda Salmeya, 13 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Eman Salmeya, 12 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Raji Omar Jaber Daifallah, 16 (died of shrapnel wounds from missile, Gaza City, 13 July)
Ali Kamel Al-Najjar, 16 (killed by Israeli tank shell, Al-Maghazi refugee camp, 19 July)
Ahmed Ali Al-Na’ami, 16 (killed by Israeli tank shell, Al-Maghazi refugee camp, 19 July)
Ahmed Rawhi Abu Abdu, 14 (killed by drone missile, Al Nusairat refugee camp, 19 July)
Mohammed ‘awad Muhra, 14 (killed by Israeli bullet to the chest, Al-Maghazi refugee camp, 20 July)
Fadwa Faisal Al-‘arrouqi, 13 (died from shrapnel wounds, Gaza City, 20 July)
Saleh Ibrahim Nasser, 14 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 24 July)
Khitam Mohammed Rebhi Tayeh, 11 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 24 July)
Ashraf ‘abdullah ‘awad Abu Zaher, 14 (shot in the back, Khan Younis, 25 July)
Nahid Mohammed Fawzi Al-Shanbari, 16 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 31 July)
‘aaref Ahmed Abu Qaida, 14 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 1 August)
Anis Salem Abu Awad, 12 (killed by airstike, Al-Shouka, 2 August)
Ammar Rajaa Al-Natour, 17 (killed by drone missile, Al Shouka, 5 August)
Kifah Rajaa Al-Natour, 15 (killed by drone missile, Al Shouka, 5 August)
Ibrahim Suleiman Al-Rumailat, 13 (killed by drone missile, Al Shouka, 5 August)
Ahmed Yousef ‘abed ‘aashour, 13 (killed by missile fire, Beit Hanoun, 14 August)
Mohammed ‘abdullah Al-Ziq, 14 (killed by drone missile, Gaza City, 29 August)
Nidal ‘abdul ‘aziz Al-Dahdouh, 14 (killed by rifle fire, Gaza City, 30 August)
Jihad Selmi Abu Snaima, 14 (killed by artillery fire, Rafah, 10 September)