Author: ISM Media - Page 415 - International Solidarity Movement

The most violent settlement in the West Bank encroaches on Asira al Qibliya

27 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Asira al Qibliya, Occupied Palestine

According to OCHA statistics Yizhar is the most violent settlement in the whole of the West Bank with 70 recorded incidents in 2011 alone. Every week there is at least one attack by Yizhar settlers in the six affected villages.

Four months ago, settlers from Yizhar built a temporary outpost on top of a hill belonging to villagers from Urif. This continued until earlier in the week when Israeli authorities delivered maps to the village which showed that Yizhar had laid claim to 2 dunums of land. This was a massive understatement; they had in-fact seized the entire hill.

The land grab of this hillside seems to be all but complete; a shepherd who was working the land around the Yizhar outpost was recently beaten whilst tending to his sheep: the injuries he sustained were serious but not critical. In another incident, as the Palestinian owners of the land were walking along the road towards the hill this week, they were fired on by Israeli soldiers. Villagers want to challenge this latest land grab, however the law in this country is anything but just. The villagers are all too aware that if they resist they have only stones in the face of tear gas, stun grenades and the very real threat of being fired upon with live ammunition.

Harassment of the residents has also been on the rise. Currently at least once a week soldiers have been invading Asira in the middle of the night. They have been banging on villagers doors with the butts of their assault rifles, making sure people are disturbed in much the same way as has been reported in Urif as well as in Burin.

Yizhar a relatively small but very aggressive settlement in the north of the occupied West Bank. It is situated on a hill surrounded by six Palestinian villages which are all made to live in a state of constant fear.

Continued harrassment of the Nasser family in Madama

27 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Madama, Occupied Palestine

A month after unprovoked settler and army attacks, the victim of severe violence Mamun Nasser remains in Israeli prison. The arrest of yet another member of the Nasser family, Amir Nasser, shows Israeli army’s continued harassment in Madama.

On December 18th the notorious security guard charged with the protection of the illegal settlement of Yizhar, Jacob, attacked Mamun Nasser while he was tending to his flock of sheep in a hill outside the settlement. Mamun was handcuffed and beaten in front of his entire family, who desperately tried to intervene.

The Israeli army arrived on the scene, who responded by firing live ammunition on the Nasser family and others who tried to help, quickly ending their attempt to stop the vicious assault. One round passed through Mamun’s sisters clothing narrowly missing her while another one hit his brother, Amir, in the leg. His mother told us “They wanted to kill him [Amir]. I heard the officer giving that order. He was lucky that he was only shot in his leg.” Severely beaten, Mamun was then arrested and taken away by the Israeli military into custody. One month later he remains detained in Majdou Prison.

On January 23rd at 4 pm, the Israeli army followed up the harassment by raiding the Nasser family home in Madama, arresting Mamun’s brother Amir who was still recovering from the gunshot wound he received only a month prior. This is another episode in the continued harassment of villagers surrounding Yizhar which is described as the West Bank’s most violent settlement by the United Nations.

Video taken by settlers during the incident on December 18th

Big punishments for small hopes

by Haroun Zeitoun

26 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Burin, Occupied Palestine

This morning in Burin, the village that sits in the valley between the Yizhar and Bracha colonial settlements just south of Nablus, saw a small yet high-spirited group plant olive trees. The task was done within an hour and afterwards international activists were shown recently cut trees and, right on cue, the Israeli army could be seen on the periphery of Yizhar. Soon they drove down to investigate and three soldiers found people preparing tea next to rows of freshly planted trees.

Jump forward a few hours and Burin’s population found their access roads closed as soldiers shot tear gas and raided ten homes. Their stated pretext: searching for evidence for molotov cocktails they said were thrown at settlers. For the villagers, they know full well this is military jargon to describe their collective punishment for aspiring to a livelihood on land methodically being stolen from them.

Burin has in recent days been subject to night-time training by the army and the cover of dark has also seen 30 and 25 olive trees destroyed by settlers in separate incidents this week. It has been a target for such violence for years, with one resident recalling to activists today when the local mosque was burnt down in 1990 by settlers. The settlers have no
interest in being good neighbours and with an army base within sight from both settlements and Burin they are free to carry on as they please.

Haroun Zeitoun is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Beit Iksa’s residence standing strong after the forceful eviction of Bab Al Karama

by Team Khalil

26 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Iksa, Occupied Palestine

The people of Beit Iksa were joined by other Palestinian activists on Friday morning to make their way to the site of the recently demolished Bab Al Karama camp, bringing with them a number of young olive trees to plant for the future.

A large group of enthusiastic men, women and children made their way from the village of Beit Iksa to the hill top that hosted Bab Al Karama, in a convoy of vehicles while waving Palestinian flags from the windows. They gathered to pray alongside the ruins of the mosque, demolished alongside Bab Al Karama.

With over one hundred people to help, a number of olive trees were then planted around the hill top; which is classed as area C and in Israeli control. This same area was picked by the council of Beit Iksa for the site of the camp protest which was assembled the previous Friday and then destroyed by Israeli forces just two days later in the early hours of Monday morning.

The people of Beit Iksa are planning to plant more olive trees at the site every Friday. At this Friday’s demonstration of resistance the desire for a peaceful existence in the village shone from the faces of young and old alike.

Prayer alongside the ruins of the mosque in Bab Al Karama

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

Army incursion into Nabi Saleh

by Team Khalil

25 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Israeli occupation forces enter the village of Nabi Saleh during the weekly demonstration. Youth hit in the head by tear gas canister.

The Friday demonstration in Nabi Saleh this week was dedicated to the memory of Lubna Hanash, 22, and Salah Amareen, 15, murdered this week by the Israeli army.

At 12:30 the demonstration marched through the village with, as usual, the children of Nabi Saleh arm in arm skipping and singing along. The Israeli army broke up the demonstration with skunk water, tear gas and excessive use of rubber coated steel bullets. A stand off ensued with the shebab defending their territory. At 13:45 the Israeli army aggressively entered the village. Around 14:00 a youth about 16 years old was hit in the head with a tear gas canister. A Palestinian Red Crescent medic rushed to treat the injury. Two other people received minor injuries.

The demonstration aims to reach their natural spring, the use of which has been denied to the village by the illegal settlement of Halamish. The people of Nabi Saleh were shocked and dismayed by the news that on Tuesday 22nd January 2013 Israeli occupation forces began work on expanding the illegal settlement. Settlers accompanied by the Israeli army arrived at dawn, tearing up the land with bulldozers and trucks to set up fifty mobile homes on land that belongs to Nabi Saleh.

For a personal account from a resident of Nabi Saleh about the theft of the village’s land, click on the following link: nabisalehsolidarity.wordpress.com

Youth approaching Israeli soldiers on the road to the natural spring

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