Author: ISM Media - Page 419 - International Solidarity Movement

Gate of Dignity was built on lands of Beit Iksa north of Jerusalem

18 January 2013 | International Middle East Media Center

The Palestinian village of Beit Iksa overlooking Jerusalem just built a new village they called Bab Al-Karamah (Gate of Dignity) on their land behind the apartheid wall that Israel has built on their land and call on Palestinians and Internationals to join them in their popular struggle to hold on to their lands. The wall Israel is building on the village land would leave 96% of the village land inaccessible and behind the segregation wall.

Over the past 24 hours, the villagers built a mosque and set up 5 tens for dwelling on their land behind the wall. The head of the Beit Iksa village council Mr. Kamal Hababa stated that idea of building this village extension is to protect their legally owned lands and to be the second such village built to protect from growing efforts at transforming Arab Jerusalem.

Already the threatened village land behind the wall is 7411 dunums which amounts to half the total threatened lands of the eight Palestinian villages northwest of Jerusalem and 96% of the village land of Beit Iksa. Colonial Jewish only settlements built on Palestinian lands beyond the Green line in this area include Ramot, Neve Shmuel, Har Shmuel, and Givat Ze’ev.

The erection of Bab Al-Karama village comes shortly after Palestinian activists erected a village they called Bab Ashams to counter Israeli settlement construction in the area known as E1, located between Jerusalem and Jericho, which signals a new model in popular struggle against the ongoing expansion of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

gateofdignity2 — Night at Bab Al-Karamah. Photo: Abir Kopty

gateofdignity — Night at Bab Al-Karamah. Photo: Abir Kopty

Demonstration in Budrus following the fatal shooting of 16 year-old boy

17 January 2013 | PSCC and International Solidarity Movement, West Bank, Occupied Palestine

A demonstration will be held on Friday 18th January in Budrus to commemorate Sameer Awwad (16) who was shot on Tuesday 15th January with 3 live bullets. Awwad is the fourth to be killed near the Barrier in five days.

On Tuesday morning, while children were clearing out of their classes in the village of Budrus, Israeli soldiers who convened by the Barrier near the school shot and killed 16 year-old Sameer Awwad. According to eyewitnesses, Sameer was walking away from light clashes that had erupted by the Barrier when he was shot from the back with three bullets, from a distance of about 100 meters. One bullet hit his leg, another at the back of his neck and exited near his eyebrow, and the third entered his rib cage and exited from his chest.

Awwad was immediately transferred to Ramallah Hospital, where he was pronounce dead shortly after. He is the fourth Palestinian to have been killed this week by Israeli forces in the vicinity of the Barrier. Anwar al-Mamlouk, 21, was killed last Friday in Gaza , near the Barrier in Jabalya. On Saturday, Oudai Darwish from Dura near Hebron was killed in the South Hebron Hills, when trying to cross the barrier to find work in Israel. Another Plaestinian, Mustafa Abu Jarad, 21, was killed yesterday near the Barrier in Beit Lahia.

Meeting Samer Al Issawi in the holding room

16 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank, Occupied Palestine

By Neta Golan

After spending the night in the Russian compound detention center, known as Al Moskobia, I was taken to the holding cell in the court to await trail. Looking through the bars of the holding cell next to mine I was shocked to recognize Samer Al Issawi. I asked the young man standing near the barred door to tell Samer that I know him and that many others all over the world know his face, his name and his cause and are working to raise awareness and to support him.

When Samer heard that I had been arrested in Bab Al Shams he came up to the door to speak to me in person. He was too weak to stand without support and needed to lean himself against the door, but when he spoke he spoke with strength and passion. He sends his regards to all those who took part in Bab al Shams and says that this action has been giving him strength and pride and strengthens his resolve to continue with his hunger strike until his release. “I hope this model will spread and many similar villages will be created around Palestine. I hope to see Bab Al Muhabeh (the gate of love) Bab Al Huriya (the gate of freedom) and Bab Al Salam (the gate of peace).” Samer reiterated his resolve to continue his hunger strike until his release despite his deteriorating condition. “I will join you all on the outside soon,” he said smiling.

According to Dr. Daud Abdullah, Samer was Born in December 1979 and is now battling for his life. Long years of imprisonment, deprivation and torment have taken their toll. Still, he continues to resist with the only weapons left available to him; an undaunted spirit and an empty stomach. His resolve is never to succumb to what he regards as Israel’s racist policies.

“Shortly after his release in October 2011 as part of the exchange for the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shailt, Samer was rearrested; this time the pretext was that he broke the condition of his release by visiting the West Bank. He faces another twenty years behind bars to complete the original sentence.

Whether he survives or not, Samer Al-Issawi has placed before the free world its moral, legal and political duties toward the Palestinians in Israeli jails. They may be “disappeared”, but they’re not forgotten. The newly-recognised State of Palestine is no less culpable. It must take the lead by activating the 2012 Baghdad Declaration at the UN for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal status of the Palestinians in Israeli occupation jails. That should be followed by similar action within the International Criminal Court.”

On the 16th January, the day I met him, Samer had a court hearing in Jerusalem in which his appeal was denied. The occupation authorities set another hearing on 5th February at Ofer military court to decide his case.

Israeli military attacks funeral in Beit Ummar

by Team Khalil

16 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Ummar, Occupied Palestine

At around 2:30 pm the Israeli occupation forces violently attacked a funeral in Beit Ummar using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.

The funeral of Masouza Alja’ar, an elderly woman who died of natural causes, was attacked by the Israeli army with large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. For over three hours the town was rocked by the unprovoked actions of the soldiers. The youth of Beit Ummar defended their town as clashes broke out. Not until dusk, around 5 pm did the town return to normal. Tear gas canisters were fired at the residents forcing them to take refuge in their homes and inside shops.

Most funerals in the town of Beit Ummar are attacked by the Israeli army. The last funeral to be violently disrupted in the town was on 25th December, Christmas day. Again there was nothing out of the ordinary about this funeral so it remains unexplained why it was being attacked by the Israeli army. The violence spread to an area where there were also clashes between the Israeli occupation forces and people from the town, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kharmei Tzur.

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

Israel’s definition of a ceasefire

14 January 2013 | Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine

Just three days after the fatal shooting of Anwar Al-Malouk near Jabalia, the Israeli military has murdered another Palestinian civilian despite a supposed ceasefire being in place. Mustafa Abu Jarad, 20, was one of a group of bird hunters working on a plot of land in an area north of Beit Lahiya in the very north of the Gaza Strip, over a kilometre away from the border fence.

From the border, the Israeli army began firing heavily in their direction and immediately targeted Mustafa directly in the forehead. The group had thrown themselves onto the ground and when the situation calmed enough for them to move they realised that Mustafa had been hit.

The bullet went straight through Mustafa’s head leaving a massive exit wound. He was rushed to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip but was quickly transferred to Al Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital, due to the severity of his injuries. He arrived in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery to remove bone fragments from the remaining part of his brain and to relieve internal bleeding. Unfortunately, he had sustained a massive brain trauma and his prognonis was bleak. He died in the ICU a few hours after the operation as his family anxiously waited for news.

Mustafa’s older brother, Loay, was killed two and a half months ago whilst active with the Palestinian resistance. Mustafa had no involvement with the resistance himself. He was trying to earn a little extra income for his family whilst he completed his studies. The latest attacks increase the number of Palestinian casualties since the ceasefire announcement to more than 80, according to officials in Gaza.

To further flout the ceasefire agreement, several Israeli military vehicles were reported to have breached the border with Gaza this morning in an agricultural area east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to Ma’an News Agency. After continual violations of the November ceasefire, committed by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, the question remains:

When will the international community take notice – and furthermore take action – to prevent an escalation of bloodshed?

Note: This is extended information on a related article published recently.