16 June 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta
What began as a joyous Eid celebration turned into a tense invasion for the residents of the small Palestinian village of At-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, on Sunday afternoon, June 16. Children, cousins, and extended family members were playing in the yard of Mosahb’s home when an Israeli military jeep sped up to the house, a short distance from the nearby Ma’on settlement.
The security video shows soldiers jumped out of their vehicle with guns drawn, causing panic among the children playing in front of the house. The soldiers ignored the frightened children and stormed toward the house, attempting to force their way inside. The family, led by Mosahb, quickly emerged, only to be met with threats of arrest for Mosahb and his brother.
The situation dissipated as international human rights activists, who were in the area, rushed to the scene. The local community also gathered in support, holding many eyes on the aggressive soldiers. After a short while, the soldiers retreated, justifying their combative actions by claiming they were responding to reports of someone taking pictures.
This incident is the latest in a series of harassments faced by Mosahb’s family and other villagers in At-Tuwani. Residents report an increase in such confrontations since the expansion of the Ma’on settlement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The harassment has intensified further since the events of October 7, creating a constant state of terror and fear among the villagers.
Despite the community’s resilience and international support, the ongoing presence and actions of settlers and the military continue to disrupt the daily lives of At-Tuwani’s residents, highlighting the broader issues of settlement expansion and military occupation in the region.
Today was the anniversary of Israel’s colonial occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Thousands of right wing colonists marched through East Jerusalem – terrorising Palestinian residents and shopkeepers. Racist Security minister Itamar Ben Gvir was among them.
I was in Jerusalem this afternoon, and saw the police, armed with baton rounds, automatic weapons and tear gas, closing off Jerusalem’s old city to make way for the flag draped settler mob.
We arrived in the late afternoon to the hamlet of Um Dhorit in Masafer Yatta – to stay with a family who have been steadfastly staying in their home despite countless acts of violence from the settlers of Avigail intended to push them out. That violence has accelerated sharply since October 7th.
Last week Israel’s far right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the outpost of Avigail to award it with legal status. The colony of Avigail was set up in 2001, on stolen Palestinian land. It remained technically illegal under Israeli law until last week when the settlers and Smotrich celebrated the creation of Avigail as a ‘legal’ settlement (still illegal under international law).
But the colonists of Avigail are not content with what they have already stolen. The settlement is constantly expanding – and the settlers are using intimidation and violence to try to force Palestinians out of their homes. They have established a new outpost just a few hundred metres from Um Dhorit, and are using it as a staging post for attacks on the community.
This evening, as the settler mobs attacked people in the city of Jerusalem, the settlers of Avigail had a party at their new outpost to celebrate Israel’s past and present campaign of colonisation.
As always – their colonisation is based on violence and intimidation. To give just one example, the settlement of Avigail has stolen four wells belonging to Um Dhorit. Settlers can regularly be seen bathing in the wells which they have stolen from the Palestinian residents.
On top of that, settlers have come in the night and poured gasoline in Um Dhorit’s remaining wells, in an attempt to render life unlivable for the people here.
For the Palestinian residents of Um Dhorit the act of remaining in their homes is a form of steadfast resistance. This steadfastness (‘sumud’ in Arabic) in the face of colonisation is what connects together people resisting in isolated hamlets across rural Palestine – it is a sense of collective struggle that is rooted in community, belonging and the land. It remains brave and resilient in the face of the occupier, despite the violence and coercion people face here daily.
Three Palestinian men were martyred and more than five Palestinians were wounded during the Israeli occupation’s invasion of Tulkarem.
The city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank has witnessed dozens of incursions by the Israeli occupation forces recently. Since 7th October, the number of martyrs of the city of Tulkarm has risen to 109, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
On 16th May, Israeli occupation forces stormed the city of Tulkarm around 1:00 AM. The Israeli occupation forces stationed themselves in the city center on Nablus Street, where the occupation vehicles, accompanied by a D9 bulldozer, stormed the Gulf Exchange store. Israeli occupation forces completely destroyed the store and confiscated its money safe under the pretext that the exchange store transferred money to Palestinian organizations described by Israeli occupation forces as terrorist organizations.
The Israeli occupation forces also deployed snipers throughout the city in buildings and on the roofs of Palestinian homes. These snipers killed three Palestinian youths and wounded more than five other Palestinians.
The Palestinian martyrs are: Ahmed Mubarak, 26, from Tulkarem camp; Imad Dabbas, 22; and Mohammed Yusuf Nasrallah, 27.
Funeral processions started from Tulkarem’s Martyr Doctor Thabit Thabit Governmental Hospital amid angry national chants condemning the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the residents of Tulkarem and the massacres in the West Bank and Gaza.
The families of the martyrs bid a last farewell with a state of great sadness and sorrow.
2024 (rolling) | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied West Bank
As the Israeli occupation continues its genocidal war in Gaza and Western governments fail to take decisive action to end their complicity in the massacre, the mass movement around the world in solidarity with Palestine is growing stronger and larger. Students have occupied numerous university campuses around the world, often facing a brutal repression by police called by the same university complicit in the Israeli apartheid. Demonstrations have continued and pressure to boycott and divest from the occupation regime are mounting.
This post will cover the situation on the ground in the West Bank, with direct witnesses from Palestinians and international activists.
Illegal settlement expansion in Masafer Yatta
Settlers’s trucks working on recently established illegal outpost. @ISM.
In the community of Um Dorit in Masafer Yatta, settlers from Avigail established a new outpost three months ago on the community’s land. ISM is part of a 24 hour protective presence in Um Dorit alongside Israeli comrades.
The settlers have placed vehicles on the hilltop, the closest is just 50-60 metres away.
This is just the furthest extent of the settler expansion. Since October 7th, the settlers of Avigail have been expanding fast across the hilltops overlooking the Palestinian hamlets of Sha’b al Boton and Um Dorit.
The settlers use the new outpost as a staging post for attacks on the community. Settlers come and throw stones at the people, come at night and vandalise fruit trees and vines and pour petrol down the village well. The people in Um Dorit have had their vehicle torched several times overnight.
Right now I am sitting on sofas overlooking the outpost and watching the settlers construct a barn on the nearby hilltop, while truckloads of hay arrive. A week ago, armed settlers barged into the family’s living space and sat arrogantly on their sofas. Settler militia members – who have been kitted out with military equipment and uniforms – come frequently to the community to harass and intimidate.
Settlers also pushed one of the families out of their home after October 7th, and the family had to move to Yatta temporarily, when they returned it was ransacked and largely destroyed.
Meanwhile, in nearby Susiya, settlers started a fire a few days ago in olive groves just metres away from a family home. The fire was luckily extinguished quickly, but it could easily have spread and set fire to the houses.
Settlers invade family house in Masafer Yatta
The settler-soldier who entered on May 14. @ISM
The account from international activists who were present when a family house was invaded by settlers on May 15, in Masafer Yatta.
The family here was violently displaced by settlers after Oct 7th, their home destroyed, wells poisoned, and car burned twice. It is difficult to convey the level of surveillance they experience at all times since returning to their home. Settlers surround them with their illegal outposts. New Israeli flags pop up illegally marking territory. Settlers harass them on a daily basis.
On May 14, we were here an armed settler soldier with a semi-automatic longarm walked onto the property. He looked at the family’s well and pet the family puppies. They often try to befriend the dogs so that they are less likely to bark if the settlers come to harass the family at night. The settler spoke into his radio and then stared at my comrade in a threatening way for several seconds. His face was covered. He was dressed in military fatigues but walked or held his gun as if he were untrained. He was most likely given the military fatigues for harassing Palestinians, and thus made de facto military as a reward for his violence. He was likely gathering information for some kind of plan regarding stealing or damaging more of the family land.
The following day was Nakba day, a significant day for Palestinians. Four settlers, all teenagers or young men, walked onto the property and into the family home. They looked into each room, most likely to collect information about the location of rooms and cameras for reconnaissance. Then they sat down on the patio and rolled themselves cigarettes which they then smoked in front of the family. The whole incident was scary since we didn’t know what they were going to do. The father of the family called the police, but the settlers left before anyone arrived.
Eventually the military arrived instead of the police, but they did not take any step regarding the incident.
Weekends in Masafer Yatta
May 11 – Saturdays are usually really busy in the occupied West Bank as it’s the holy day for settlers. They like to observe their Sabbath by terrorizing Palestinians.
We observed settlers grazing their sheep on Palestinian land which has been recently designated as a firing zone. To support the family, we joined them from the top of their driveway and waited for the police to respond to their call about the settlers. This is the same driveway a bulldozer used to gain access to and destroy a home just a few days ago. On our way there, we spotted two armed settlers skulking in the olive tree groves, watching us. When we reached the family, myself and one comrade stood by and documented settlers in three different parts of the valley so cavalierly shepherding on stolen land with impunity. The police arrived, made a report, and then went to remove the settlers (a rare event).
We thought it was over and done with until an armored vehicle pulled up to the top of the driveway again. Five soldiers got out and one was pointing at me, telling me to come over to them. My comrade and I responded and walked toward them and they demanded our passports. We refused, as the only legal entity with authority to see our passports are the police. Unluckily for us, the police were coming down the hill from the other direction and the army stopped them for backup. The police officer got out and started yelling at us for our passports. He took them and walked away and the soldiers told us we weren’t allowed to record. It was just my comrade and I and I was scared. They held us and our passports for a while and I stayed on the phone with an Israeli activist who coached me through how to handle the situation. At one point, the police demanded that I go fetch “the other tourists” and I told him there was no one else, and he said “if you don’t get them, I’m coming in and getting them myself” and it was super threatening. I swore it was just us over and over again.
They didn’t give us a reason for detaining us. We didn’t know if they were a part of Ben Gvir’s new task force that targets foreign activists. We didn’t know anything and it was terrifying.
When he finally returned our passports, he gestured widely to the valley and the illegal settlement next door. He said “you’re not allowed to go over THERE!” I was like… “uhhh.. ok, wasn’t planning on it” because why would I want to go to the settlement?
They got in their vehicles and drove away and my comrade and I took a back way out through some trees and rocky terrain.
I got back to the house we stay in and started looking through my footage when I noticed one of the soldiers that detained us was wearing an NYPD hat. How does that chant go again? “APD [NYPD], KKK, IDF, they’re all the same!”
Free Palestine 🖤🇵🇸
The 2 videos show the settlers grazing with Palestinians gathering to watch and documents; and then the police speaking to the settlers and them returning to the settlement. The settlement is clearly visible with non native trees planted around it.
06 May 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Worldwide
Student encampment in support of Gaza at City College of New York campus. Credit: David Dee Delgado/Reuters.
From Palestine to the Freedom Flotilla to College Encampments, Resistance is Growing: An ISM Communique
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Human rights defender, Bassam Tamini, has been issued another six-month administrative detention, joining hundreds of Palestinians being held indefinitely without charges. Tamini and his daughter, Ahed, have been strong critics of settler violence in the West Bank. This recent extension is just another tactic to quell dissent and silence Bassam’s advocacy for Palestinians in the occupied territories.
As we look to how brutally police responded to the college encampments, we are reminded that repression is everywhere. And as we are watching Palestinian activists like the Tamini family endure, Palestinians are cheering on young people from the other side of the world who are calling out their government’s complicity in genocide and their college’s refusal to join the BDS movement to divest from Israel.
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stands with these students risking their academic future, and sometimes their lives, to demand a free Palestine.
Just as we stand with the Freedom Flotilla’s righteous efforts to bring hundreds of doctors, teachers, lawyers, and international human rights advocates from over 40 countries to break the siege of Gaza by sailing across the Mediterranean with 5500 tons of desperately needed humanitarian aid.
We have the right to stand with Palestinians resisting extinction by Land and by Sea.
The International Solidarity Movement continues to host activists in the occupied territories to serve as a protective presence–as advocates and witnesses– against the violence of settler colonialism. Because of this work, we are often deemed incendiary. Similarly, President Biden released a statement claiming the student encampments are violent and destructive and Israeli newspapers published the names of Flotilla participants, painting them as terrorists. But we come together through a diversity of tactics grounded in freedom and resilience reaching across continents and international waters for the sake of our humanity.. and yours.
Consider this a formal invitation to students involved in the encampments, the hundreds of flotilla activists setting sail, and everyone working towards a just peace in Palestine. We are all in this together and there’s nothing quite like being here on the ground, so, come summer, consider spending some time in the West Bank with us. We promise it’s an education you won’t get on campus.
