Author: ISM Media - Page 392 - International Solidarity Movement

Night raids and arrests in Hares, Kifl Hares and Deir Istiya

1st May 2013 | International Women’s Peace Service, Salfit, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday night, at 21:40, an announcement was made over the mosque loudspeaker in Deir Istiya that settlers were planning an attack. Villagers were warned to stay wake and on watch for possible violence. At 22:45 IWPS began a night watch in Deir Istiya and learned that the Israeli District Coordination Officer had contacted Salfit municipality who in turn communicated to Hares, Kifl Hares and Deir Istiya’s councils that settlers were surrounding villages and to be on the lookout for possible attacks targeting the mosques from the illegal settlements of Yakir, Ariel and Revava. The men of Deir Istiya, Hares and Kifl Hares stayed up all night on the streets keeping watch over the village.
At 1:00, approximately 30 Israeli soldiers were seen along with two army vehicles on the main road outside of Hares. At 2:00 the soldiers entered the village. The 30 soldiers entered a house premises on foot and asked a 15 year-old for his 21 year-old brother by name. The brother of the young man stated the person they were looking for is a university student and not in the house. The military entered the home and forced the 10 members of the household to sit in one of the downstairs rooms as the soldiers searched the house four times. When the soldiers did not find the 21 year-old student they were looking for, they grabbed the 15 year-old brother who had answered their questions at the door. One soldier began to bind the boy’s hands and blindfold him but another stopped him, stating they would continue when they were out of sight of the family. The soldiers stated to the family that their son “had caused some problems” and they would return him in two hours after questioning. The soldiers left the family a handwritten note for the 21 year-old older brother to meet Captain Afiq at the Qalqiliya checkpoint at 9:00 on 9 May.

Captain Afiq came to the door of another house in Hares ordering the family to “count your sons” and then referencing one by name whom he wanted to see outside for “five minutes”. The 16 year-old was then blindfolded and handcuffed from behind. The arrested youth’s 20 year-old brother is currently serving a total of nine months in Megiddo prison (three months for a stone throwing charge, plus six additional months for it being his second offense). The entire 10 person household, the youngest being 12 years-old, were forced to stay in one room for two hours. The soldiers also broke the front gate and damaged the door by forcing it open.
Simultaneously, a 23 year-old was taken by the Israeli military for the second time. At 1:00 the mother of the household heard a noise, opened her window and saw an Israeli soldier jumping over the fence that surrounds her yard. Around 30 soldiers came into the family courtyard, some entered the house. The family of 11, with 9 children and a father with a neurological disorder who frequently loses consciousness, were pushed into one room. The soldiers had a slip of paper with one of the son’s name printed on it; the young man was woken up and brought to the next room where they would not let him retrieve his identification card nor would they allow him to dress. The soldiers blindfolded him and tied his hands behind his back while his mother attempted to give him clothing. This young man, who has previously been in prison for a year, was told that he was “again making problems” and will get a five year sentence.
Between 2:30 and 3:00 the army entered two separate houses in the village of Deir Istiya. The soldiers were observed entering from the illegal settlement of Yakir through the hillside olive groves. The soldiers took two minors outside and started questioning them about who was throwing stones and what the announcements from the mosque were. In one case the soldiers took the entire family outside and then searched their house while they were not present and then left. No arrests were made in Deir Istiya that night. Although a 22 year-old and an 18-year old were arrested in the village of Kifl Hares at 2:30 AM.

12- and 11-year old Palestinian children arrested after attack by settler children – Swedish activist also arrested, resisting deportation

28th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

UPDATE 2nd May 09.30 Full video of child arrests now available from Youth Against Settlements. Swedish activist Gustav is resisting deportation to highlight the issue of child arrests in Hebron which have seriously escalated in recent months.

UPDATE 29th April 20.00 Gustav, the arrested Swedish activist is currently being held in Givon immigration prison, having had his visa revoked by the Israeli authorities. He was beaten during his arrest and hit with a gun. Soldiers conducted two mock executions by pointing guns at his head, loading them and pretending to press the trigger. He was blindfolded and kept inside the military base in Hebron, where he could hear the crying of the arrested children next to him. He is now awaiting deportation back to Sweden by the Israeli authorities, for peacefully objecting to the arrest of two Palestinian children.

UPDATE 28th April 19.30 The two Heikel brothers were released around 18.30. Ahmed (aged 12) has had his fingerprints taken by the police and his younger brother Mouawieh (aged 11) was kicked in the stomach by an Israeli soldier.

UPDATE 28th April 18.30: The Swedish activist has now been transferred to Jerusalem. He is facing possible deportation by the Israeli authorities for trying to non-violently intervene in the wrongful arrest of two Palestinian children.
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28th April 14.00:Israeli military today arrested Ahmed Abu Heikel, aged 12, and his brother Mouawieh, aged 11, in Hebron after they were attacked by a settler child from the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah. One Swedish activist was also arrested after intervening in the arrests of the children.

12 year old Ahmad being protected by the headteacher of the Qortoba School as he was being arrested

At around 1pm Palestinian children were walking home from Qortoba school when they were attacked by the child of extremist settlers living in the centre of Hebron, who was accompanied by his two older brothers. The youngest settler boy started throwing sticks, beating Ahmed and hurling insults at him. As soon as Ahmed defended himself against the beatings, the settler children immediately called for soldiers at nearby checkpoints who came running. Eyewitnesses state that the Palestinian children were not violent. The settler children pointed out Ahmed and Mouawieh as well as their classmate Bilal Said, who were violently grabbed and pushed against a wall by soldiers.

A crowd of about 50 people quickly gathered, mostly Palestinian neighbours and classmates as well as international activists, journalists and settlers. The crowd, and especially the headmistress of Qortoba school, Noora Zayer, who was walking with the boys and witnessed the attack, insisted that the arrest was unacceptable. Bystanders and international activists managed to de-arrest Bilal, who then ran away. However Ahmed and Mouawieh were arrested; Ahmed is apparently being charged with assaulting the Israeli soldier who was called to the scene by the settler children and grabbed the Palestinian rather than the settler child.

A non-violent Swedish activist who intervened peacefully on behalf of the children has also been arrested and is being charged with assaulting a soldier. The two children and the Swedish activist were taken away separately in military jeeps. The Swedish activist is currently being held in Givat Havot settlement near Hebron city, whilst Ahmed and Mouawieh are being held in interrogation centres.

Gustav Karlsson being arrested. Photo credit EAPPI

The Israeli soldiers took no action against the settler children who had instigated the attack. The police summoned the youngest settler child who had attacked Ahmed and spoke to him in the presence of his parents for about half a minute, after which he was allowed to go back home without any repercussions. Israeli children living in illegal settlements across the West Bank are subject to civilian law, meaning they are not criminally liable when they are under the age of 14, whereas military law is applied to Palestinian children, who are deemed by the Israeli authorities not to be minors if they are over 12.

This is the latest in an escalating series of arrests of children by the Israeli military in recent months. Christian Peacemakers Team Hebron have compiled a report of these child arrests, which includes 27 children attacked and arrested outside of their school. The report is available here.

Video by Youth Against Settlements

Villages of Urif, Burin and Asira violently attacked by settlers

1st May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus, Occupied Palestine

By Team Nablus

Yesterday Israeli settlers from the Illegal settlement of Yizhar set fire to the fields of Asira al Qibliya, Burin and Urif as well as attacking the school and many homes in the villages, all while the Israeli Military and Border Police provided protection for them.

Settlers attack village residents as the Israeli army stand by . Photo: Activestills

The attacks were provoked by the stabbing of a settler from Yitzhar settlement this morning who died on the scene at Tappuah Junction near Nablus. This was the first Israeli to die in the West Bank since 2011. 9 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of this year and serious attacks by settlers regularly occur without punishment for the perpetrators. At around the same time as the settler was killed this morning, a man in Gaza was killed by a targeted Israeli air strike whilst he rode his motorcycle.

At 11.15am 50 settlers from Yitzhar, named by the UN as one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank, attacked the boys high school in Urif whilst lessons were in progress. Standing outside the school the settlers threw rocks into the school breaking windows. Two students were injured by the flying glass when it hit their head, another student was injured when a rock hit his foot. Around 100 students then fled the school by jumping over the outer walls whilst the other 100 students remained inside too scared to leave. They were then trapped in the school as the settlers continued to throw rocks at the school and into the car park and at cars when anyone attempted to leave.

The settlers simultaneously lit at least ten fires on the agricultural land surrounding the school. Within ten minutes of the attack the army arrived and began shooting tear gas into the school grounds and at locals who had arrived to protect the school. One student was hit in the head by a tear gas canister and taken to hospital for medical attention.

The fighting then continued on the land above the school where the fifty settlers continued to throw rocks at locals and Palestinians responded by throwing rocks in return. Around fifty army and border police stood between and around the two groups firing tear gas and sound bombs at the Urif locals. The army did not fire tear gas or sound bombs at the settlers. Settlers continued to throw rocks at locals and at international activists whilst the army tried to push the locals back, at times using pepper spray to incapacitate a number of people. Some scuffles between Urif locals and army broke out but no arrests were made.

The clashes continued until around 1pm when the settlers finally began to return to Yitzhar and locals were pushed back down into the village by the army using tear gas and sound bombs. A drone plane was spotted flying over the village at this time. The army continued to fire tear gas into the village for the next hour after the fighting had stopped. At least one local was incapacitated by gas inhalation and required medical attention. Around 3pm settlers approached the village from the other side and threw Molotov cocktails at machinery and lit fires on land near olive trees until they were driven back by locals arriving on the scene.

In the neighbouring village of Asira settlers set fire to 14 fields which destroyed large areas of land. 4 Israeli military jeeps entered the village and shot tear gas at the residents as they tried to protect their land. At the Tappuah junction school busses containing Palestinian children were stoned heavily by settlers. Around fifty settlers also attacked Burin during their rampage, attacking the village and setting fire to large areas of agricultural land.

The villages of Burin, Asira and Urif which surround the illegal settlement of Yitzhar face daily violence from its Zionist settlers. Palestinians are regularly injured, schools are frequently attacked, agricultural land it often set alight and residential homes are often damaged. The Israeli army also frequently raid the villages, often in the middle of the night, to search houses and make wanton arrests, often of children. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention collective punishment is a war crime.

Fields burn during settler attacks. Photo : Activestils

17 year old from Gaza shot in the leg by the Israeli army

International Action for Palestine | 28th April 2013, Gaza

By Rosa Schiano

Jamil in hospital - photo by Rosa Schiano — Jamil in hospital – photo by Rosa Schiano

Jamil Wael Risha, 17 years old, Palestinian youth of Gaza City, was injured on the afternoon of the 26th April by the Israeli army at the Jabalia border, North Gaza Strip.

International activists visited Kamal Odwan hospital to understand what happened to him and check his condition. Dr. Muin Almasri, director of the public relations department of the hospital, informed us that Jamil had been transferred overnight to Shifa hospital in Gaza City. “We suspected the need for vascular surgery,” he told us.
At Shifa hospital international activists met Jamil, who had been admitted to the orthopedic ward. Beside him was one of his brothers and his father Wael.

Jamil told us that usually on Friday he went with his friends to the cemetery that lies to the east of Jabalia, near the barrier separating Gaza from the territories Israel occupied in 1948. This Friday they headed to the cemetery after Friday prayers, around 15:00.

Suddenly they saw Israeli soldiers out next to two jeeps. Four soldiers, Jamil told us. So the boys, at the height of the separation barrier, started throwing stones at the soldiers. The Israeli soldiers started shooting heavily at the Palestinian youth.

Jamil hit a soldier with a stone, but the soldier responded by shooting and injuring him in his left leg at around 17.00, when he was transported by car to Kamal Odwan hospital. A nurse told us he could leave the hospital in a week.

An x-ray of Jamil’s leg shows the fracture and the presence of fragments of explosives inside of the leg. All the muscle had been damaged. The bullet used by Israeli soldiers was a dum-dum bullet, also known as an expanding bullet, which is prohibited by international law. The expanding or dum-dum bullet, expands inside the body causing fractures and huge damage to internal organs, bleeding and in many cases death. Despite the international ban on the use of these bullets, the Israeli army continues to use them.

Jamil's leg after having been shot - photo by Rosa Schiano — Jamil’s leg after having been shot – photo by Rosa Schiano

Jamil was asked by international activists if he felt fear when he goes along the border – if he was aware he was risking his life. Jamil said: “I am not afraid.” His family consists of 9 people, who he supports with his work.

The cease-fire agreement which began on the evening of 21st November after the Israeli military offensive “Pillar of Defense”, was supposed to mean that the Israeli army would stop firing on civilians along the border. The agreement allegedly said they would allow farmers in Gaza access to farm their land freely, at least to 100 metres, thus eliminating ‘the “buffer zone” of 300 meters, illegally imposed by the Israeli army.

The agreements also consented to the fishermen of Gaza reaching 6 nautical miles from the coast. These agreements have never been respected by the Israeli army, who continued to shoot at farmers and civilians in the lands along the border and attack fisherman even within 6 nautical miles from the coast. During the recent visit of Obama in March, an armed Palestinian group launched four rockets into southern Israel, missiles that have not caused any damage, but the Israeli authorities decided to cancel all agreements which had come with the ceasefire.
However, this means little change for Palestinian civilians, who despite the agreements, have constantly been victims of Israeli aggression. Since the beginning of the ceasefire in fact, there have been more than 90 Palestinian civilians wounded, and 4 young civilians killed.

Jamil, like many boys his age, was throwing stones at the soldiers. This is one way to protest against an illegal occupation, a siege against Gaza, that reduces Gaza to a prison. He was throwing stones from beyond the walls of this prison, in which he was wrongly detained.

The soldiers, however, do not mind the age of these kids, do not hesitate to shoot, even if they use live ammunition prohibited by International conventions.

Our governments and the international community should not remain indifferent to the use of illegal bullets, nor in front of the crimes that are committed for years against the Palestinian civilian population.
The international community should intervene by putting pressure on the Israeli government to cease these practices. One of the ways at the disposal of international civil society and governments to hold Israel to account is through the movement to boycott, divestment and sanction the Israeli State, until it abides by international law and grants Palestinians their basic rights.

This is a growing movement internationally that gives us hope for change in Palestine. Not to act is to be complicit.

Hopefully Jamil will be better soon without complications. To him and to his family, our solidarity and our affection.

12- and 11-year old Palestinian children arrested after attack by settler children – Swedish activist also arrested

28th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

Video by Youth Against Settlements