Author: ISM Media - Page 12 - International Solidarity Movement

Second Friday of Ramadan at Qalandia Checkpoint

22 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Qalandia checkpoint

Women performing mid-day prayers outside Qalandia checkpoint. @ISM

Palestinians perform Friday mid-day prayer outside of Qalandia checkpoint this morning while held at gunpoint by Israeli occupation soldiers, after being forcefully denied their right to enter Al-Quds to pray at Al-Aqsa.

People trying to enter were again met with an intensified militarisation of Qalandia checkpoint of heavily armed occupation border police, some of them masked, and vehicles.

Israeli occupation forces at the checkpoint. @ISM

While the Occupation Force officially has announced that men above 55 years, women above 50 years and children below 10 years from the West Bank are allowed to enter, today numerous people in the applicable age group were denied entry by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) claiming that “too many” had entered.

Close to 12 noon, IOF completely shut the checkpoint entrance.

In resistance, and under surveillance and held at gun point by IOF border police, denied women gathered in front of the closed gate to perform the midday Friday prayer, joined by a group of men.

One of the women stated: “We will pray here, what else can we do? Allah will understand that this is the closest we can get to Al-Aqsa”.

She had come from Al-Khalil with a permission to enter, but was denied entry at two attempts, and so was her 66 year old father; IOF told both that “too many” had entered.

Another 60-year old man who had been denied was told that now he had to apply online a week prior.

As the women were praying, a masked IOF border police officer shouted to disturb the prayers, while another masked officer made dance moves towards the prayers. During the IOFs surveillance of people trying to enter, a border police officer was observed removing the safe on their gun.

A large amount of Palestinian medics were present wearing fluorescent vest saying: “Don’t shoot me, I’m not a target. I am a health care provider”.

IOF dancing and disturbing prayers. @ISM

IOF closing Qalandia checkpoint. @ISM

IOF soldier removing safe from gun. @ISM

Deceptively “quiet” first week of Ramadan in Jerusalem: a result of restrictions at Qalandia checkpoint

19 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank/East Jerusalem

Stories from Israeli and international press extoll a safe and unencumbered celebration of the first week of Ramadan for the thousands of Palestinians with Israeli or Jerusalem ID cards, who were allowed entry to Al-Aqsa in most cases with minimal delay.

Unfortunately, Palestinian Muslim prayergoers from the West Bank encountered conditions very different from the story distributed by the press.

Instead of open access, the vast majority of Muslim Palestinians were denied entry to Jerusalem at a heavily militarized Qalandia checkpoint—the largest, most-trafficked access point out from the West Bank. This resulted in a chaotic scene of delay, frustration, and service taxis offering early long-distance rides home to Palestinians who traveled from far away for prayer, only to be immediately rejected at the gate.

After much debate in the executive branch of Israeli government, it was recently announced that only Muslim men over 55, women over 50, and children under 10 would be granted passage through Qalandia. These parameters exclude more than 90% the West Bank population—and, of course, all of Gaza. For comparison, the Ramadan 2023 restrictions on passage from West Bank permitted all men over 45, and all women.

But the constraints and confusion did not stop here; even among those who met the age requirements, West Bank residents could not enter through Qalandia unless they had been previously approved for a special entry ID.

Regarding his exclusion under the entry ID restriction, a Palestinian man in his early 60s shared: “They told me I needed a special permit. But no one here knows they need this permit. And even when you apply, they use any reason to deny you.” Absence of this “entry permit” was used as an excuse to turn away thousands of prayergoers on the first Friday of Ramadan. Another man denied entry (he was twenty days shy of 55) added that those standing outside Qalandia represented only a small fraction of those rejected, because “mostly everyone don’t bother to try. With the [Gaza] war, people don’t feel like celebrating. They don’t think they will be let in.”

For many Palestinian Muslims, praying at the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered a special religious responsibility.

A group of women who had been banned from meeting this responsibility staged a protest Friday morning outside Qalandia. Together, standing meters away from heavily armed IOF soldiers, these women gathered and chanted—in the shadow of the wall, 10 kilometers from Al-Aqsa, as close to the Dome of the Rock as Israeli authorities would permit them to stand.

Photos and videos @ISM.

Masafer Yatta: Israeli Settlers Burn a Family Car in Um Dhorit

17 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

Last night, illegal settlers burned a family car in Um Dhorit, in Masafer Yatta. They snuck onto the family’s land and set fire to the family only car in an attempt to make it irreparable. On previous occasions, the settlers have stolen the license plates, slashed all the tyres, ripped out engine components, smashed all the glass and mirrors and destroyed the interior. This car was in working order before the 7th of October.

In the recent months following the 7th of October and the subsequent spike in settler violence in the West Bank, multiple members of this family have been arrested and held in administrative dentition where they were subject to physical abuse and starvation over false accusations of stone-throwing. The house has been persistently raided and attacked by the occupation army and settlers during the day and at night.

Settlers have entered the property on multiple occasions and proceeded to trash the family home, cutting electrics and breaking water pipes and water butts, destroying the vegetable garden and fruit trees and poured petrol into wells.

Settlers attempt to make life here impossible, hoping to force the Palestinians to leave: cutting off all water sources is a common tactic used by the settlers.

The family live isolated at the edge of the firing zone 918 within the Masafer Yatta region, surrounded by settlements and outposts and is at constant risk of attack and forcible displacement. Despite the army and settlers’ efforts to remove them from their land, still they stay strong and hope to remain.

Violent arrest of Palestinian women in Susiya, Masafer Yatta

13 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

Israeli soldiers arresting a Palestinian woman. @ISM

Today in Susiya (Masafer Yatta), on the third day in Ramadan, a large number of IOF soldiers and armed settlers arrested a Palestinian woman and an Israeli activist, shot live ammunition in the air and pointed guns to prevent documentation.

The IOF and settlers came and arrested the woman while she was picking akkoub in a place where the army said it is legal to do so.

As Israeli and international activists arrived to observe and document, an Israeli activist got arrested and handcuffed for filming. Eleven armed soldiers and settlers guarded the area of the two detained and started to point guns and shoot live ammunition in the air to force the rest of the activists away from the area and prevent them from filming. IOF threatened to detain anyone who would get nearer calling their situation an “operation”.

IOF arresting an Israeli activist. @ISM

After keeping the detained for a long time on the ground in the burning sun, they took both the Palestinian woman and the Israeli activist in a big white van and drove off. A few hours later, the woman was released and the Israeli activist taken to a police station.

The IOF brought in seven vehicles including a green army jeep, a police jeep and four vans and a large number of soldiers and police for the “operation”.

A large amount of soldiers and military vehicles were present at the scene. @ISM

The palestinian woman was picking Akkoub, a wild plant that Palestinians have been picking and using for cooking for decades. Akkoub is amongst the wild plants and herbs that the occupation force has made illegal for Palestinian to harvest under false accusations of over-harvesting; yet another fraction of the ethnic cleansing of all aspects of Palestinian life, culture and history.

The Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria, chaired by MK Tzvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), convened for a debate on the “Inflammatory activity by activists in Judea and Samaria whose center of life is not in Judea and Samaria.”

The following was published on March 12, 2024 Knesset News on the official website of the Israeli parliament:

Twenty-Fifth Knesset, Second Session, Summer Recess

Knesset News: Judea and Samaria Subcommittee Chair MK Sukkot: Those who create violence are radical left-wing anarchists who harass IDF soldiers and heroic settlers; MK Michaeli: Outrageous attempt to present an opposite and completely false reality

The Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria, chaired by MK Tzvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), convened on Tuesday for a debate on the topic of “Inflammatory activity by activists in Judea and Samaria whose center of life is not in Judea and Samaria.”

At the start of the debate, Subcommittee Chair MK Sukkot said, “We are still in the midst of a fierce war. In order to win the war, we have to do many things—to fight on the military front, to take action on the diplomatic front, to settle, to pray. For the military victory to arrive, we have to remove everything that interferes with it. We can’t win without fighting against those who are doing everything they can to interfere with our justified war.

“That is the reason we have convened today, in the middle of the war, to discuss the issue of the anarchists. So much unnecessary verbiage has been uttered in the past about ‘settler violence,’ but people have not yet dealt here, in this House, with those who truly create a great deal of severe violence in Judea and Samaria—radical, anarchist left-wing activists who harass the IDF soldiers and heroic settlers. This is a scourge, and we are here to deal with it. I believe that after eradicating this malady, we will be one important step closer to the important victory,” said MK Sukkot.

MK Gilad Kariv (Labor): “For any person who employs violence, the law enforcement agencies should provide a response. But that is completely unrelated to the pointless political debate that is being conducted here. It’s clear to everyone that this debate is not serious. The committee chair’s introduction attests to the purpose of this debate. It is not to discuss a problem that exists on the ground, but rather to turn around the reality and continue to obscure the real phenomenon on the ground, which is that radical parts of the settler public, which are a numerical minority among [the settlers], have cast off the yoke of Israeli law.

“If there is a phenomenon that should be dealt with beyond the war against terrorism, it is the violence of these fringe elements, which receive a tailwind from the establishment that is not willing to look reality in the eye. The human rights activists perform an important role, and if there is anyone that is interfering with the IDF it is the extremist elements among the settlers,” said MK Kariv.

MK Ariel Kallner (Likud): “Our war over this land in general and Judea and Samaria in particular is [facing] a pincer movement. On one hand, the vicious Arab terrorism, operating on a daily basis, and on the other, we have this problem of anarchists, fringe elements from Israel and around the world, who come to the region in order to stir up the situation on the ground. These people are antisemites, for all intents and purposes, and supporters of terrorism.”

MK Merav Michaeli (Labor): “There is a basic misunderstanding here. I have news for many people—this is not inside the State of Israel; Judea and Samaria is not part of the State of Israel. There is a world of sovereignty, a legal world, and in this world, Judea and Samaria is not part of the State of Israel. There are elements who are trying to create activity on the ground, as if this were part of the State of Israel’s territory, and they are causing significant harm not only to the Palestinian residents but also to the security forces on the ground. I am talking about nationalist criminals.

“You are conducting a debate that is designed to create a psychological manipulation against a public that is fighting for the image and values of the Zionist State of Israel. Nationalist crime threatens the State of Israel, and the security forces say this constantly. This is an outrageous attempt to present an opposite and completely false reality, which is being done by the same violence that you are backing,” said MK Michaeli.

MK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit): “The State of Israel is engaged in an existential struggle over our very life here, and there are people who, in an insane and delusional manner, enable a phenomenon that could not exist anywhere else. These people come here under the guise of tourists. We have to create a body that will take the lead on eradicating this phenomenon, which has very dangerous ramifications and aspects for the security of the State of Israel’s citizens. Such a phenomenon would not be permitted in any sane country.”

David Elhayani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council: “There is an organized, financed and orchestrated group of people, the sole purpose of which is to create flashpoints of friction in order to inflame the situation on the ground and besmirch the State of Israel. Since October alone, there have been 70 incidents of friction. Each such incident compels the security forces, instead of guarding the settlers in this sensitive period, to scurry between the flashpoints of friction.”

Cmdr. Avishai Mualem of the Judea and Samaria District Police said that as far as he was concerned, there was no difference between lawbreakers, regardless of gender, religion, race or nationality. He said, “Since October 7 there are statistics showing a 50 percent decrease in Jewish nationalist crime versus last year—270 from the start of the warfare until today, versus 527 last year. In 2023, 63 administrative orders were issued, including 16 administrative detention orders, against right-wing activists, for attacking Palestinians and torching Palestinian vehicles.

“Since the start of the war there has been an increase in the number of cases and complaints by Palestinians and anarchists; 191 cases were opened, of which 90 proved to be false complaints, in the southern Hebron hills sector. Most of the complaints are deliberate complaints from radical left-wing organizations which are situated in Tel Aviv and announce that there is violence by right-wing activists. In the Jordan Valley sector, we are talking about 70 incidents, of which 50 percent proved to be false complaints,” said Cmdr. Mualem.

After the open part of the debate, the committee conducted the classified portion, in which the committee members heard additional data, mapped the gaps and examined courses of action for expanding the tools for coping with the phenomenon and strengthening coordination between the different agencies.

Subcommittee Chair MK Sukkot announced that he intended to conduct a follow-up debate within the coming month.