Author: ISM Media Group

Days in the life around the Tel Rumeida settlers in Hebron

By Linus

These last few days around the illegal settlement of Tel Rumeida have been filled with constant interruptions and harassment in the lives of the Palestinians as annexation walls are constructed, soldiers continue putting up roadblocks and establishing checkpoints, and settlers continue to make life unbearable for Palestinians in this section of Hebron.

The Tel Rumeida settlement is home to around 30-50 settlers in Hebron. It’s home to one of the most violent and extremist factions of the settler movement. The area is also inhabited by more than a hundred Palestinian families, whose daily lives are a constant tale of harassment and abuse. The paved roads are frequently off limit to Palestinians who often are forbidden from walking in the street by the soldiers.

A long walk
Palestinian are forbidden from driving on many nearby roads. Those living in or around Tel Rumeida who are not Israeli must park their cars outside the checkpoints and carry any furniture, food or other supplies up and down the steep roads.

Three checkpoints are situated along the paved road of the small neighborhood. When entering Tel Rumeida, Palestinians must present the soldiers with ID and often becomes targets for casual delays and humiliation.

No ambulances (for Palestinians) allowed
Only ambulances for settlers are allowed inside Tel Rumeida. Yesterday, an elderly Palestinian had to walk with the help of two neighbors down the hill in order to reach her doctor.

New Wall blocks woman from leaving her home
Further intrusions in the lives of the Palestinians were made yesterday when a wall along the paved road of Tel Rumeida Street was constructed. Settlement leaders and the military said it was to prevent drivers from being shot at.

A Palestinian community leader in Tel Rumeida said that no gunfire has occurred along the entire street and that there has not been a single report of settler injuries.

As the wall was being built, an elderly woman living nearby found it had obstructed her from being able to get to and from her home. After the Palestinian community leader in Tel Rumeida had discussed the problem with a soldier, it was decided that the builders should leave an entrance to the house. That decision was revoked five minutes later, but recalled again when women and children blocked the entrance. Right now there is an entrance with a width of 1.5 meters and all in all around 45-50 concrete barriers with a width of 1 meter and with a height of more than 2 meters were raised.

Settler kids, stones and fire
A small field with trees and grape vines was set on fire today. It was located in the yard of a Palestinian family. The son of a neighbor to this family identified the perpetrator as being one of the settler kids. The family managed to put out the fire with a garden hose and the fire brigade arrived when there was almost no fire left. Even if the fire would have been bigger, the fire brigade wouldn’t have been able to help to their full potential, since they are not allowed to come fully equipped to this area. A woman from Christian Peacemaker Team reported that this was the third fire in ten days.

A group of settler kids, one of them identified as the same kid who set the field on fire, started to throw stones a couple of hours later at some Palestinians working on the roof of a house being renovated. The reason for renovating the house is that the house was damaged by some settlers earlier this year. ISM and TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) arrived to the scene and had to take cover as the settler kids continued to throw rocks and glass bottles and also started to spray water at the house from their balcony. The police were called, but never arrived. When the stone throwing ended, a group of foreign activists and citizens approached the police with photos and were asked to make a CD of them for officers to have a look at.

And finally…
And as I write this, the checkpoint at the base of the hill is being strengthened with more soldiers and the military controlled area around it is being expanded.

Incursion into the village of Bil’in

Nina, Phil

About 4 am, Abdullah woke us up and said there were soldiers in the village. Both of us went up on to the roof to listen to the phone conversation he was having people in one of the houses. It was down the road that is close to the construction and had been invaded. The soldiers told the people that shabob were throwing stones from the roof and, if they caught them throwing stones again, or even caught them near the wall, they would come back and burn the house down.

About ten minutes later, someone else called and said the soldiers were now at the supermarket, which is quite a ways into the village. We got in the car, drove down to the supermarket, and got out to talk to the soldiers.

However, when they saw us, they began to walk away very quickly, back toward the wall construction. We walked behind them, following them past the house that had been invaded, and they then disappeared down the road.

The villagers are more comfortable having internationals in Bil’in, because there appear to be fewer invasions into the village while we are here.

Does anyone care?

by Ash

The demonstration of Bil’in last Friday was a direct message to the UN, I think that message was “The UN is blind to see the crimes against Palestinians and cannot rule against the Israeli government, because Israel is shutting everyone up”.

16 Internationals and Israelis (the number of the security council members of the UN) were at the front line of the demonstration, blindfolded, with Israeli flags over their eyes, strips of tape over their mouths, and UN posters attached on their shirts. As soon the demonstration reached the barbed razor wire where the Israeli military was standing fully geared, the 16 Internationals and Israelis played catch with a ball painted with the color of the Palestinian flag.

One of the farmers of Bili’n managed to stick a sign “this weapon kills peace” on a soldier’s weapon. Eight soldiers rushed after him, but the demonstrators stayed calm and continued chanting and singing. After about 15 minutes, one of the local coordinators decided that the message had been conveyed, and then the demonstrators took a side road, which leads to the construction site.

The Israeli army fired sound grenades and teargas into the crowd. I was running backwards to avoid being hit with the teargas canisters. A 61-yearold woman was shot with a teargas canister on the back of the head and taken to the ambulance. I was standing behind a group of demonstrators watching some of the Israeli army dragging some protestors on the ground after we were pushed back.

A group of seven soldiers were in the village firing rubber bullets at children who were throwing stones. But no stones were thrown for at least 15 minutes after the soldiers started to fire tear gas. Later they began firing live ammunition. I told a friend of mine we should go to the place where the soldiers were shooting to see what’s happening; we decided to go together!

Two soldiers were firing live ammunition at kids inside the village, I immediately shouted in Hebrew “Don’t shoot!” We walked quickly towards the soldiers and blocked them from shooting; we were standing with both hands on the back of our heads. While passing some phrases in Hebrew to my friend, one of the soldiers took an aiming position at the other side and shot a round of live ammunition at the children.

After 10 minutes, the rest of demonstrators were pushed back into the village where I was standing, as the soldiers fired teargas and sound grenades. More soldiers arrived. I went to the ambulance for treatment, because I had inhaled teargas, and came back after 10 minutes to sit on the ground with the rest of demonstrators, blocking the Israeli army from proceeding inside the village.

While we were all sitting on the ground, the army used their shields to attack the demonstrators. One soldier grabbed my shirt and said, “You are next”. Four soldiers rushed between the houses to arrest some children and occupied a rooftop of one under construction to shoot rubber bullets. I volunteered to join a group of Internationals and Israeli activists to go to the sight and try to stop the army from shooting.

The demonstration lasted for more than three hours before the committee against the Wall called it off for that day.

What came to my mind after that day is, would the UN know that the Israeli army used force and illegal ammunition against peaceful demonstrators? Would the UN know that the Israeli government did not comply with the ruling of the International Court of Justice to stop building the Wall? Would the UN know that nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in peaceful protests against building the Wall in their villages? Would the UN know that Israel is building ghettos?

Does anyone care?