9th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine
UPDATE – 8pm: 8 martyrs and close to 100 persons injured at today’s demonstration in Shijaia
Palestinians demonstrating in GazaIsraeli forces as seen from GazaPalestinian man shot in the stomach by Israeli forcesInjured Palestinian carried to an ambulanceInjured Palestinian carried away
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UPDATE – as of 6 pm today: From Osama al Jaro, Public Relations head at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza: 6 dead, 60 injured, 11 injured under the age of 18. Israeli forces are using exploding bullets, fired at the chest and head.
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The situation in Gaza this Friday has taken an even more dramatic turn, when this morning a large group of young people were demonstrating in support of Jerusalem and against the occupation, near the border of the Strip, in Shishaia.
The unarmed rally was cowardly and violently attacked by Israeli snipers, killing at least four people and injuring more than forty. In some cases the gun shots were fired directly at the heads of the demonstrators.
Also in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, another rally was brutally repressed, this time two adolescents, 15 and 19 years old, were killed and the number of injured is around twelve.
This is cruelty towards the unarmed young people, exercising their right to protest against the brutal actions of the illegal Israeli occupation, as the Gaza Strip is surrounded by military turrets, tanks, drones and fences equipped with high technology. Therefore the Israeli soldiers, from their hidden and protected distance, set about to kill unarmed and defenseless Palestinian adolescents in cold blood – just for the pleasure of killing.
10th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
As a part of the recent surge in violence, there has been an escalation in random ID checks and detentions across occupied al-Khalil,(Hebron) In the full Israeli military controlled H-2 section of al-Khalil this afternoon, several young Palestinian men were detained, interrogated and one was beaten during nearly five hours of interrogation.
At the Shuhada Street checkpoint at around 2:oo pm, a 17 year old Palestinian man was put into a small metal box where Israeli forces placed a large stone against the door to trap him inside. There is very little ventilation in the small space where he was contained and the sweltering afternoon sun only exacerbated the issue.
Israeli forces detained a young Palestinian man in a small metal box and trapped him inside by placing a stone against the door.
After approximately 30 minutes, an Israeli military jeep arrived at the checkpoint and half a dozen Israeli soldiers and border police surrounded the box and two went inside, presumably questioning the young man while one studied a laminated poster depicting Israeli forces captured photos of dozens of young Palestinians they wish to arrest before the teenager was finally released.
Israeli forces look over a poster of photos of young Palestinians they wish to arrest while detaining young man in metal box.
Detention of Palestinians occurred several times throughout the day. At around 3pm, also at the Shuhada Street checkpoint, Israeli forces detained, and subsequently marched to the Shuhada Street military base for interrogation, a 19 year old Palestinian man from the Abu Eisheh family. The young man was given the ambiguous explanation that he was being taken for questioning regarding an issue with settlers.
His father, an advocate for Palestinian’s arrested in H-2 Israeli military controlled al-Khalil, came as close as Shuhada Street segregation allowed to speak to Israeli forces across from the military base about his son’s arrest. The elder, who is helpful in communications during Israeli military detention of Palestinians due to his fluency in Hebrew, was told by the soldiers that they “knew him” and asked if he “thought he was the boss or the big king of al-Khalil” due to his concerned interventions during criminal detentions. Israeli forces were heard saying to ignore him because he “is an Arab,” and Israeli police completely disregarded him and international solidarity activists requesting information on the status of his son.
Nearly five hours later, the young man was released and spoke with ISM international human rights monitors about the violent treatment he received during his interrogation, which after five hours ended in his dismissal, another pointless instance of harassment and incursion into the daily lives of the occupied Palestinian people. “The soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed me during the entire five hours they held me. They kicked me again and again and hit me in my face.” Several bruises were visible on the young man who wished only to have his raw and cut wrists photographed.
19 year old Palestinian man detained, handcuffed and blindfolded for five hours shows the injuries to his wrists during Israeli military detention in al-Khalil
Violence continues to sweep like wild fire across the occupied Palestinian territories. Many Palestinians were injured today in demonstrations and confrontations with Israeli forces.
7th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Yesterday night, October 7th 2015, a large group of settlers harassed, insulted and physically assaulted Palestinian residents and internationals in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), injuring several.
Around 08:00 pm, more than 50 settlers from the illegal settlements within al-Khalil, most of them children and teenagers, accompanied by a few adults, marched around the Palestinian neighbourhood of Tel Rumeida, chanting insults and hate-speech, calling for the death of Arabs. The group was not only chanting racist abuse, but also demonstrated a high level of violence and aggression towards the Palestinian residents of the neighbourhood.
After marching through the streets loudly chanting, they attacked Palestinians right outside a shop, running towards them and beating them, and hurling rocks at Palestinian youth and internationals documenting these violent assaults. Instead of intervening, Israeli forces watched these attacks happen at first just to point their loaded guns at Palestinians that just a few seconds before were standing in a hail of stones, threatening to shoot. Two persons were injured with stones thrown by the settlers, a Palestinian youth in his hand and an international in his chest. In the meantime, the settlers openly picked up more stones and rocks from the ground, attacking families that opened their main gates to find out what the shouting was about. Again, instead of preventing or stopping attacks by the settlers, the army violently pushed Palestinians to move back into their homes, yelling at them. All complaints made by Palestinians against the attacks by the settlers were ignored by the soldiers. But not only the settlers, also the Israeli soldiers violently attacked several Palestinians and beat them.
Many families rushed into their homes upon hearing the yelling, locked their doors and then had to watch the settlers chanting abuse at them from behind their windows – protected only by the metal grids installed in the past due to frequent settler attacks. Soldiers, in the best case, are standing idly by. Last night, they were pointing their guns at children and women watching in fear from the roof of their houses – the one place farthest away from the settlers down on the street; and soldiers were banging on the door of Palestinian family homes, while the group of settlers are aggressively chanting and threatening the familieswhile standing right behind the soldiers.
When the march proceeded down the hill towards Shuhada checkpoint, where over two weeks ago the Israeli army ruthlessly gunned down and killed the Palestinian student Hadeel al-Hashlamoun, more than two dozen activists from Youth Against Settlement arrived to document the racist abuse and attacks against Palestinians. Israeli forces that by then finally arrived, immediately stopped the Palestinians and isolated them in an alley, preventing them from going anywhere. The group of settlers on the other hand was allowed to keep on chanting racist abuse and burned Palestinian flags, cheering and clapping. Israeli soldiers were getting their guns ready, facing the Palestinians that were clearly upset when their flags were being burned, but did not do anything to stop the flag-burning.
In order to allow for the greatest possible space for the settlers to move around and keep on chanting, Israeli forces pushed back the Palestinians, with one soldier threatening an international that he would ‘break his face’ if he didn’t move right away. Settler children and women also attempted to break cameras of internationals, blocking them from documenting the events and spit at them.
Infamous, aggressive settler Anat Cohen repeatedly attacked an international observer while she was standing right in front of a police car with two policemen inside, that did not even bother to get off the car and instead just kept watching from inside. Soldiers did at no point try to prevent Anat Cohen’s attacks and instead ordered the internationals to go back up the hill, which at that point was not safe with settlers still roaming the streets. The settler woman both tried to grab the international observer’s camera and attempt to punch her in the face without soldiers intervening. When the international observer was ordered by soldiers to move towards the Palestinians detained on the other side of the road, Anat Cohen pushed her as she was passing in front of the police car, and her daughter kicked the her in the stomach. Soldiers still did not intervene and refused to take a complaint about this attack, forcing her and another international to leave.
This incident again illustrates the power settlers hold over the Israeli army. Even when attacking Palestinians – or internationals that enjoy a greater protection than any Palestinian – settlers enjoy the protection of the Israeli army.
Last evening, most Palestinian families, did not go to sleep, staying up late scared of what might happen during the night. Unfortunately, this incident in al-Khalil is only a case in point in a long record of settler attacks, that recently have been escalating not only in al-Khalil, but throughout the occupied West Bank.
8th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine
Wednesday 7 October ’15 Surda Ramallah
Palestinian civilians joined by International solidarity activists will gather tonight, Wednesday 7, October ’15, at the home of the bereaved family of Muhannad Halabi, which is threatened by demolition in retaliation for the fatal stabbing of two Israeli settlers in the Old City Jerusalem on Saturday 3 October ’15.
Muhannad Halabi, who was a 19 year old student, was killed by the Israeli military at the scene of the stabbing. A home of his family in the village of Surda, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, was ransacked on Sunday morning and the family was violently attacked by the Israeli military and Muhannad’s uncle sustained a head wound requiring five stitches in the raid. Occupation forces are expected to carry out a revenge demolition of the family home.
Revenge demolitions of the houses of Palestinians accused of attacking Israelis, as a means of collective punishment, has been Israel’s long established practice. To further the retaliation, Muhannad’s body is being held by the Israeli government and refused return to his mother, who has been hospitalized three times due to grief and anxiety.
Following a series of new measures announced by Benjamin Netanyahu the retaliatory house demolitions have been moved forward. On October 6th two houses were blown up which were former homes of two Palestinians who carried out attacks against the Israelis last year.
Marie, an international activist from the US staying in the house stated: ‘Punishing a family for something that one of their members have done, is just not acceptable. This is illegal and should not happen in any country which respects human rights and considers itself democratic’.
‘We have to be present at this horrible and violent miscarriage of justice, whose only aim is to humiliate and make destitute even more innocent Palestinians living under a brutal Israeli occupation’, added Dezeray also from the United States.
Operation Dove concerned about the ongoing escalation of violence in the West Bank
Tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have arose in recent days after two Israeli settlers were shot dead near Nablus on Thursday October 1 by suspected Palestinian attackers. Since the shootings, there has been an upsurge of settler attacks against Palestinian people and their properties.
Clashes have broken out across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a result of ongoing confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli armed forces over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Palestinian religious authorities claim that the continuous and repeated tours of settlers on the al-Aqsa mosque are a provocation and violate the sacredness of one of the holiest places for Muslim worshippers.
Israeli police informed they are restricting access to the Old City of Jerusalem after a Palestinian man killed two Israelis in the historic neighborhood. Only Israeli citizens, Old City residents, tourists, businesspeople working in the area and students studying there will be allowed to enter, as police declared in a statement on Sunday.
A large number of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers were reported across the Southern Hebron Hills area during the weekend.
On October 3 at around 10 pm a group of settlers reportedly stormed al-Birkeh (nearby Yatta), and assaulted an unarmed elderly Palestinian park guard (65 years old), locals said.
On October 3 at night, as Maan News reported, a group of settlers smashed the windows of a car belonging to a Palestinian doctor, Imad Abu Iram, near the Zif village, in southern of Hebron.
On October 4, at about 2 am, Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of As-Seefer. After taking down the fence dividing the village from the settlement of Metzadot Yehuda – which surrounds the Palestinian village – the settlers started throwing stones to houses and tents. The attack took place in the middle of the night thus scaring all the local families and damaged a car, an aluminum canopy and solar panels. On the day after the attack, the children of As-Seefer, were too afraid to cross the checkpoint to go to school, and decided to stay at home.
In the early morning of October 4, settlers from the Mitzpe Yair illegal outpost closed down the road from Birr al Idd to Jinba with a roadblock preventing the Palestinian teachers to arrive on time to Jinba School.
On Monday October 5 in order to re-open the road, Palestinians and Ta’ayush Israeli activists removed the roadblock.
On October 5 an army jeep turned up at the At-Tuwani village at 11.25 p.m. and threw 4 stun grenades thus scaring Palestinians in the middle of the night.
On Thursday October 6, at around 2:00 a.m. settlers raided the village of As-Sefeer for the second time in three days. Settlers threw stones against houses and families who were sleeping outdoors, injuring a 12 year-old child of the Abu Qpeita’s family who was taken to the Yatta Hospital. Settlers also damaged again the solar panels of the village.
OD is registering a very fast escalation of settler and Israeli military violence in all the West Bank.
Such violence against Palestinian civilian population cannot be considered as “war against terrorism” neither cannot be justified with Israeli security needs, but is the direct consequence of the Israeli Occupation.
