AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– A Palestinian woman was hospitalized with serious injuries in her head after a group of Jewish settlers attacked her near Yatta village, south of Al-Khalil.
An eyewitness said that 40-year-old Samiha Nawaja was attacked by a group of masked Jewish settlers from the nearby settlement of Susiya.
He said that Israeli occupation soldiers escorted the settlers away from the scene of the incident back into the settlement after Palestinian citizens came to the yells of the woman.
Malek Ghannam, working with the Palestinian Red Crescent, said that the woman was taken to a clinic in Yatta then to a hospital in Al-Khalil in view of seriousness of her injury.
Jewish settlers have recently escalated their attacks on inhabitants of the eastern areas of Yatta in a bid to terrorize them away from their land. Some of those attacks were documented by camera.
Name: Izat J. Date of Incident: 10 March 2012 Age: 16 Location: Hebron, occupied West Bank Nature of Incident: Settler/soldier violence/detention
On 10 March 2012, a 16-year-old boy from Hebron is attacked by an Israeli border policeman and then detained at Kiryat Arba’s police station after his family’s mule cart is stolen by settlers.
“I live in the old city of Hebron, about 100 metres from the Ibrahimi Mosque [burial site of Abraham],” says 16-year-old Izat. “There is an Israeli checkpoint about 30 metres from us, and the settlers who live in the settlement of Kiryat Arba use the street in front of our house to go to the shrine.”
At around 11:00 am on Saturday, 10 March 2012, “my mother looked out the window and saw around 10 settlers stealing my father’s mule cart,” explains Izat. “There were soldiers at the checkpoint and in the street but they stood by and did not intervene.”
Izat rushed outside and saw that the settlers had left the cart in the street near the soldiers. His father was arguing with the soldiers because he wanted to take the cart back to the house, but the soldiers would not allow him until the settlers were finished with their Saturday prayers. “That could be at around 8:00 pm,” says Izat, “so I started arguing with the soldiers and I told them we would not leave without the mule cart.”
A border policeman standing at the checkpoint suddenly approached and started beating Izat. “Without any prior warning,” says Izat, “he started punching me in the face and knocked me down. Then, he kicked me hard in the head, chest and legs, and called me ‘Arab trash ‘ and other names. I was shouting in pain and trying to get up, but he kept kicking me while I was still lying on the ground. […] My mouth was bleeding.”
Another police officer arrived at the scene and ordered the policeman to stop beating Izat. “Why did you hit the boy? It’s against the rules,’” the officer said to the policeman. “After that they tied my hands behind my back very tightly with two plastic cords. It was very painful. They did the same to my father and my cousin,” says Izat.
Izat, his father and his cousin were taken to the police station inside the settlement of Kiryat Arba. Their hands were untied and they were taken for interrogation. “The interrogator asked me about the incident and I told him about the settlers and the argument we had with the soldiers,” recalls Izat. “I also told him that the policeman had beaten me hard. […] The interrogator said he had spoken to the border policeman who assaulted me, and that the policeman said that I had pushed and insulted him first. I told him that was not true; that the policeman assaulted me as soon as he arrived at the scene, before we even spoke.”
After interrogating Izat, his father and his cousin, the interrogator told them that the three of them were under arrest until the following day. “He said we were under arrest based on the statement of the border policeman, who accused me of insulting him and pushing him first,” says Izat.
Izat’s father begged the officer to let Izat go so he could go to the hospital. After consulting with his superior, the officer agreed to release Izat on 500 shekels bail. “I was taken to ‘Alia Hospital,” says Izat. “They gave me first aid and treated my wounds. Luckily, I did not have any internal injury. I only sustained bruises to my head and shoulders, and an injury in my mouth.”
Izat’s father filed a complaint against the border policeman who assaulted Izat, and was released later that night. His cousin, however, was detained in Etzion interrogation centre for eight days. Izat’s trial in a military court has been scheduled for September 2012.
10 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The Israeli army enforced a system of extensive closures, detentions, and violence against Palestinians and internationals activists during the Jewish holiday of Passover in Al Khalil (Hebron).
The army closed off the busy Beersheba road to allow Jewish settlers to visit the tomb of Othniel Ben Knaz inside of Palestinian controlled Hebron. Under the Hebron Protocol the city is divided into two parts; H1 is under complete Israeli military control and H2 is under the control of the Palestinian Authority, although the Israeli army frequently violates the protocol by entering P.A. controlled Hebron.
The closure of the street involved forcing Palestinians to close shops, restricting Palestinians from passing through the main checkpoint into H1, and blocking off the road with military jeeps, soldiers and an attack dog. Palestinians trying to access their road and return to their homes were met with violence by the Israeli army, who shoved and pushed several people. International activists who tried to intervene during the assault of a Palestinian by Israeli soldiers were violently kicked, hit and dragged by the army. An Italian, Canadian and a Dutch woman were slightly injured and a Palestinian-American activist was violently arrested by Israeli soldiers, who choked her and smashed her head into the army jeep during the arrest. She was released after several hours.
The army also imposed severe restrictions of Palestinian freedom of movement all throughout H2 , detaining, and body searching dozens of Palestinians at checkpoints in the area. Two men were detained until 1:45 am at Checkpoints 55 and 56 near Beit Haddasah settlement. Both were held for three hours. The house of the Sharabati family near checkpoint 55 on Shuhada street was raided by Israeli soldiers just past 10 PM. The soldiers forced the family to remove the CCTV cameras on their windows supplied by Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem to record settler violence and army violations.
Paige is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
10 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Poverty is pervasive in Gaza. After 44 years of occupation, and six years of siege the economy is in tatters. Exporting anything is basically impossible, farming is crippled by the no go zones which encircle Gaza leaving over 30% of agricultural land off limits, the fishing industry has been devastated by the 3 mile limit on fishing imposed by Israel. Gaza survives on the tunnels. All this being said, as a Palestinian friend once proudly told me, no one starves in Palestine. This is true. Palestinians have created an amazing network of charity organizations that help to blunt the worst effects of the occupation. Today, in Khan Yunis, we saw this network at work.
The municipality of Khan Yunis teamed up with the Ethar Initiative to provide a day of fun for local children from poor families. Ethar is a volunteer group which works to help disadvantaged children and families; they provide opportunities for women to make money to support their families as well as sponsoring days like this one. Today about 80 children from several local school were brought to the Municipality building of Khan Yunis for a party. The celebration started at ten o’clock. First, was singing, children volunteered eagerly from the crowd to have the chance to come and sing in front of everybody. Then the children moved on to games, blind man’s bluff, musical chairs, an apple eating contest, and games with balloons. The winners of each game were rewarded with a goodie bag containing coloring books and school supplies. In the end though, who won didn’t matter, all of the children were sent home with a goodie bag.
Days like today remind us that the people fighting the occupation aren’t just politicians and those that go to demonstrations. Farmers who continue to farm their land despite harassment from settlers, fisherman who continue to fish despite being shot at by the Israeli Navy, and volunteers that work to provide the children with some happiness amongst the problems that surround all fighting the occupation. The Naqba, the Naqsa, the occupation, two Intifadas and the massacre of Gaza have not broken Palestinian steadfastness. This steadfastness wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of volunteers who work to provide so much of what the occupation tries to take away, hope, joy, and whatever small moments of pleasure that can be seized.
Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
Two days ago, we visited Deir Yassin, or to be more specific, what remains of Deir Yassin, with Zochrot, an Israeli organization dedicated to educating the Israeli public about the nakba. The tour was organized in commemoration of the Deir Yassin massacre.
We walked along the main street of the village (now Kanfey Nesharim Street), and passed the few homes still standing, where many people were massacred.
The girls school, built in 1941, still stands. What used to be the city center is now a bus station. As for the homes, they are surrounded by a fence and have been incorporated into the Kfar Shaul mental hospital. After passing the homes (hospital), we walked by the remains of the Palestinian cemetery and ended the tour in the grove behind the hospital.
In April 1948, the town was attacked despite its peace treaty with the Jewish community. The killings at Deir Yassin are regarded as one of two pivotal events that led to the exodus of around 700,000 Palestinians from their towns and villages in 1948, along with the defeat of the Palestinians in Haifa. News of the killings, amplified by Arab media broadcasts of atrocity, triggered fear and panic among Palestinians, who in turn increasingly evacuated their homes.
55 young children were orphaned as a result of the massacre. 31-year-old Hind al-Husseini found them near the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem’s Old City. On 25 April, two weeks after the massacre, Hind founded Dar Al-Tifl Al-Arabi at her family’s mansion which catered to Deir Yassin orphans, and later to orphans from all over Palestine.
