Author: ISM Media - Page 410 - International Solidarity Movement

A settlements `bio-war` against the ancient city of Sabastiya

12 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Sabastiya, Occupied Palestine

Sabastiya is an ancient city located just 10 km north of Nablus, West Bank. It contains Canaanite, Israelite, Hellenistic, Herodian, Roman and Byzantine ruins as well as the tomb of John the Baptiste. The winding city streets along with its history make Sabastiya an ideal place to visit. Yet, as charming and beautiful as the old city is, the nearby Israeli settlement of Shafi Shamrom is making lives of Sabastiya’s residents very difficult: settlers uprooted olive trees, introduced wild boars into the environment to damage the land, and most recently, sewage has started leaking from the settlement flooding Palestinian fields.

In 2001 settlers uprooted and destroyed around 1000 olive trees, substantially damaging the land of several families. In 2006 the army put up a fence in an attempt to confiscate the land where the trees had originally been. Sabastiya’s farmers acted: they pulled the fence down in a defiant act of resistance and since that time there have been no further attempts to install it again.

The most recent and disturbing action on the part of illegal settlers of Shafi Shamron is pumping their raw, untreated sewage directly onto Palestinian fields. As the sewage is absorbed into the land, olive and apricot trees are rendered diseased and, according to the residents, “poisoned”. The flow of human waste begins from a pipe on the perimeter of the settlement, creating a sort of reservoir which then runs through the adjacent Palestinian fields, compelling each subsequent land owner to create a canal in order to drain the sewage water on to his neighbors land and further away.

Residents of Sabastiya are currently bringing legal action against Shafi Shamron in order to stop the settlement from dumping its sewage on Palestinian lands. The malodorous sewage running through the fields must remind a regular visitor of non-violent protests of a very effective strategy used by the army; the “skunk” water, which is chemical liquid smelling of excrement commonly sprayed on protesters. Settlers are evidently using a similar technique to make local residents’ lives even more difficult.

The Shali Shamron settlements sewage pipe

BREAKING NEWS: Internationals arrested and hospitalised for trying to plant trees in Urif

12 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif, Nablus, Occupied Palestine

UPDATE: All of those detained today have been released and the Brit who was pepper sprayed has been let out of hospital

At around 11am this morning, a group of internationals including three volunteers from the Michigan Peace Team travelled to Urif in Nablus. They were attempting to assist in planting olive trees at the top of the village near the school, an area which has been the scene of much of the recent troubles in Urif.

Despite being nowhere near the illegal Israeli settlement, Yizhar, Israel forces have a constant presence on the hilltop. One local resident said, “we always know when we are about to be attacked by settlers, because the army leave their position at the top of the hill“.

On arrival activists were immediately approached by the Israeli Occupation Force who were asking for internationals’ passports, the army then tried to arrest a Palestinian farmer.

The internationals tried to intervene but 6 including three from the Michigan Peace Team and 3 volunteers from the ISM were arrested. The three ISM activist currently in detention at the Ariel settlement are from America, Denmark and Finland; no Palestinians were arrested.

Two ISM volunteers were pepper sprayed which hospitalised one British volunteer.

Please stay posted for further updates.

Buildings demolished in Beit Awwa

by Team Khalil

11 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, West Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

Four buildings were demolished in Beit awwa, one journalist hit in the leg with tear gas canister and treated in hospital.

On the morning of Monday 11th February Israeli occupation forces bulldozers protected by soldiers entered the village of Beit Awwa. They demolished four buildings. A chicken house, an agricultural storage house, a well and a house seasonally inhabited in the summer. The buildings had demolition orders put on them eight months ago.

Residents of Beit Awwa said that the army came into the village and destroyed the buildings very quickly. The Israeli army then wanted to demolish two more homes but the people of Beit Awwa rushed to the homes and locked themselves inside, preventing the houses from being demolished. Residents said that concerning the two houses the soldiers said “We will be back next week.” Around fifteen homes in Beit Awwa have demolition orders on them.

Clashes then ensued with the residents attempting to protect their village from the Israeli army incursion. The army responded by firing large amounts of tear gas, injuring six people. One journalist from Palmedia was hit in the leg with a tear gas canister and taken to hospital. The other people injured were treated at a medical centre in the village.

Soldiers around the demolition site. Photo from Beit Awwa facebook page

Beit Awwa has the aparthied wall and settler only roads on three sides of it and a new settler only road is being built along the other side of it. In recent days there have been regular flights over the village and officials have been seen suurveying the land. On the 10th of February two black hawk Apache helicopter gunships circled the village. When this new road is built the village will be completely isolated from the rest of the West Bank. There is a large military base next to the village housing an anti missile battery. In January 2009 a sixteen year old boy was shot dead as he placed a Palestinian flag on the fence next to a settler only road by a sniper from the base. There is also very close to the village the illegal Israeli settlement of Nogo Hot.
Team Khalil

A child sits on top of her demolished home. Photo from Beit Awwa facebook page

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Families home destroyed for the second time in a year

by Team Khalil

11 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, West Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

Israeli occupation forces demolished a home near Idna, without warning or having issued a demolition order. The Family had their house destroyed one year ago.

At 10am Monday 11-2-2013 Israeli bulldozers arrived at Dir Baluda, near Idna and demolished the portacabin home that Mohammad Badoei Tomazi and his family had lived in for a year. Mohammad and his family of 8 including 5 children, 3 girls and 2 boys lived in a portacabin donated to them by the UN because the Israeli army demolished their house last year.

Mohammed Tomazi stands next to his destroyed home

At that time the army destroyed 2 wells belonging to the family said to be 2000 years old. There was no demolition order on the house and no warning was given to the family.

Mohammed is a farmer who has lived here for 19 years, his family grows crops of wheat, fool, courgette, cucumbers and lemons in the valley. The hillsides are covered in olive trees. There is excellent land in the valley for agriculture. A relative, lawyer, Dr Raid Tomazi said “There is not much land left here in Idna. They dont want anyone to build in the area at all, so nobody can take care of his land.”

Abdel Fatah Ahmad Tomazi sits infront of her destroyed home

About the soldiers Raid Tomazi said “Soldiers have no respect for international organisations.” He went on to say the soldiers said “We know this is supported by nice people, but we dont care for for anybody. Them or you, we dont care.” Mohammed said of his home and livelihood “It doesnt affect their security at all.”

Amongst the rubble of two homes, next to their fridge standing in the open air, with the food still inside, Abdel Fatah Ahmad Tomazi, Mohammad’s wife, sat stunned. When asked what the family will do now Mohammad gave an exasperated laugh, Raid explained “The family will stay here, sleep here, they have nowhere to go. It is too cold. They will hope to receive a tent or something from the red cross. Two of the girls went to university this morning, they do not even know yet.” Two of Mohammads daughters go to Hebron University, one studying to be a teacher, the other geography.

At 5pm volunteers from the PRCS (Palestinian Red Crescent Society) Brought an emergency tent, again donated by the UN. Mohammad enthusiastically helped pitch the tent in the gathering gloom of the February evening. He will stay on his land and tend the crops, but the open ended valley was getting very cold by then, and instead of their home the family have an emergency tent with no heating, for shelter.

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Thanks to your help Mamun Nasser, has been released from Israeli imprisonment.

11 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Madama, Occupied Palestine.

Thanks to your help Mamun Nasser has been released from Israeli imprisonment. Mamun had spent nearly two months in jails after he was violently attacked whilst working his land in Madama. The land he was working on is privately owned Palestinian land, which, unfortunately for Mamun, is next to the most violent settlement in the West Bank, Yizhar.

Mamun was last seen before his arrest by his mother. “I am really worried about Mamun. He was in really bad shape, covered in blood, his face was swollen and he was frothing from the mouth. I hope they give him the medical attention he needs”, she said.

Madama3 — Settlers and soldiers collaborating in the initial incident

Prior to the recent attack, the Nasser family were able to tend their sheep on the land near the Yizhar settlement. Around the beginning of December, settlers went before an Israeli judge claiming Mamun Nasser was grazing his sheep inside the settlement. Considering the high fence and military infrastructure surrounding the settlement, the judge deemed that to be impossible. Yizhar settlers have since then enacted a ‘price tag’ on the Nasser family, involving the destruction of a well and a wheat field. The Eid festival last year saw 20 of their olive trees cut down, to be discovered with the written message “Have a Happy Eid”.

This climaxed in the middle of December when Mamun was beaten and arrested on the charge of assaulting settlers. Once in custody he was tied and beaten with a truncheon by three Israeli soldiers. Members of his family suspect that the reason for detaining Mamun for so long was to hide the brutality of the assault, where he sustained blunt trauma injuries to his head, torso as well as having two teeth broken and losing another two of them. Two months later he is still unable to eat solid food.

In custody he was interrogated and provided only with paracetamol for his injuries. He went on a three day hunger strike in order to be taken to a hospital, which eventually succeeded.

SONY DSC — Mamun – free but banned from his land and so denied a livelihood

Mamun’s brother Hamid provided two video statements from witnesses at the Huwwara military checkpoint on January 18, but as usual he was ignored. Another brother, Amir, made a formal complaint about the assault to Israeli authorities and was subsequently arrested while grazing his sheep on January 20. He is still in Israeli custody. Since his arrest he has been subject to interrogations, causing him to lose weight. At the time of his arrest he was not charged with any crime. On January 24, the Nasser family home was raided and searched by the Israeli military, without a search warrant. During the raid soldiers viciously verbally insulted the family.

Initially Mamun was released to house arrest, barring him from entering the village and forcing him to sell his goats. On appeal, his lawyer was able to reduce this to prohibiting Mamun from going near Yizhar and Israeli military personnel. However, this is difficult as Israeli military vehicles routinely pass in front of the Nasser family home on patrols.

As a result of the attack, Mamun now suffers from chronic pain on the left side of his face and his right hand as well as headaches and problems sleeping. He is currently under medical supervision for a blood clot in his brain and has lost of sensation in his right hand. The arrests of the two brothers has cost the Nasser family 6000NIS in various associated fees, but thanks to your help we managed to raise 4000NIS for their release.

The Nasser family have lost exactly what the Israeli authorities wanted them to lose: access to their land near the settlement. Mamun was defiant but subdued, he said “For me to stay at home and not be allowed to graze my sheep, is not a solution”.

Mamun will return to court to hear an appeal against him on March 4. Amir Nasser will have his next be in court date on February 26.