Author: Yara

Al Baqa’a: The struggle of a family in the shadow of illegal annexation

by Alistair George

17 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

“The Israelis hope that that the young people leave, the old people die, and then they can confiscate the land and the houses” says Sami, an activist working in Al Baqa’a, a windswept valley situated a few kilometers east of Hebron.

Atta and Rodni Jaber at their house in Al-Baqa'a, near Hebron

The Jaber family’s experiences of living in Al Baqa’a are similar to many other Palestinians in the area, in that their ordinary family faces extraordinary pressure on a daily basis from the Israeli military and nearby settlers.

Rodni Jaber is the mother of three daughters and a son.  Dressed in a bright pink jumper and a floral headscarf, she is cheerfully voluble and keen to tell her family’s story.

“We have had our house demolished twice, this our third house on the land.  We lived in a tent for six months and after that we got a court decision to live in this area within 150sqm, so we started to build this home.”

Rodni and Atta Jaber work as farmers growing grapes, raspberries and tomatoes in the milder months and radishes and turnips in the winter.  Neat lines of cauliflower grow next to their stone house situated halfway up the hillside facing west towards Al Bwayre and the illegal Israeli settlements and outposts of Al Bwayre mountain.

The family owns 31 dunums of land (1 dunum = 1000 msq).  Despite having papers dating from the era of the Ottoman Empire proving that the family owns the land, their house still has a demolition order in place.

“We went to the court, and we have a postponement by the Israeli military to destroy this house”  says Rodni.  “We are not here legally – by Israeli law – but they let us live here for the moment.”

Around 900 Palestinians live in Al Baqa’a valley.  Many of the houses in the area are subject to demolition orders as the Israeli authorities and the settlers attempt to make life impossible for the Palestinians in the area to expand Israeli settlements.  Local residents and activists claim to have in their possession a map on which red lines outline areas in Al Bwayre and Al Baqa’a valley that have been designated by Israeli engineers as places for the construction of 500 new housing units for Israeli settlers.  Much of the land is currently inhabited by Palestinians and will need to be cleared to make way for the proposed development.

In addition to experiencing house demolitions and harassment from the military, the Jaber family has been subjected to repeated attacks by Israeli settlers from nearby Al Bwayre and Qiryat Arba settlements and various outposts.

The Jaber family's house in Al-Baqa'a Valley

The family’s house and land was attacked by settlers around a month ago.  The Israeli military arrived in jeeps but declined to intervene as the settlers attempted to set fire to the house.  Rodni Jaber explains:

The soldiers were there just to protect the settlers.  The settlers told us to leave the house and said ‘this is our land’ .  They even began to complain to the soldiers asking them to kick us out of the house saying that ‘the land is for Abraham and not for them’, putting pressure on the soldiers…They [the settlers] tried to burn the house and I began to push them to stop, I even called the Israeli police to come and see what the settlers were doing.  All the family fled as we were afraid of being burned in the house.

They failed to set fire to the house.  This was just one incident in a long line of attacks on the family over the years; “I lost a baby [because I was attacked by settlers]. I was 4 months pregnant at that time and they attacked me and I lost it.  I have been attacked many times by the settlers and I have been in hospital many times.

Nine or ten years ago an ‘operation’ happened on the highway here by the Palestinian resistance against the settlers.  After that, the settlers gathered in Qiryat Arba and came here.  They broke the door, entered the house and burned it…I left without shoes and wearing my pajamas.  The settlers kicked my family out for three days….The soldiers then occupied the house for 40 days.  We got a high court decision to return – when we came back to the house everything was broken.    At that time settlers also went to my brother’s family [who lives near the house] and they shot him in the stomach – he survived but he has a plastic stomach now.

Al Baqa’a residents live under full Israeli civil and military control in Area C, so how do they protect themselves when the soldiers stand-by and facilitate settler attacks on the family?

Rodni stated that  “The chief of police has been to the area and said ‘If something happens just call me’.  We got a paper from the DCO (District Coordination Offices) saying that the Israeli soldiers have to protect this house.  We got this when we were attacked in 2001.  But they don’t do anything – it’s just paper…Most of the Palestinian people in this area are from my family so we try to protect each other.  If they attack a house they try to go to the house to protect it.”

A cousin of the family was attacked last week as he rode a donkey in the valley; settlers hit him on the head with metal piping.  He was hospitalized and his wounds were stitched up, luckily he was not badly injured.

How does the family cope with the psychological pressures of the constant threat of attack?  Rodni smiled and stated, ” I am very strong…and if something happens I think ‘Al Hamdillilah’ (By the blessings of God).

If the family’s experiences are often terrifying and brutal, they are also occasionally absurd.  In 1998 Rodni’s son Raja’ was born.  A few days after his birth, settlers attacked the house; one settler made a complaint to the police that someone called ‘Raja’ had put a knife to his chest, threatening to kill him.

“After that [several days later] the soldiers came to arrest my son – who was 40 days old” said Rodni.  “They heard about my son ‘Raja’ and they came and asked ‘where is Raja’.  I showed him my son who was 40 days old, I showed them his birth certificate because they didn’t believe he was Raja’.”  But the incident did not stop there as Rodni said, ”

They said that Raja’ should come to the court – at the age of 50 days I had to take him to court.  They said ‘where is the defendant Raja’ I showed them my son… the judge ruled that when he reaches 16 years old he will have to come to back to court!”

Surely when the case comes to court and it becomes apparent that Raja could not even sit up or support the weight of his own head at that time of the incident, let alone threaten to harm anyone, the situation will go beyond parody.  Rodni laughs and agrees it will be extremely embarrassing for the Israelis but the ruling still stands; Raja is 12 years old now and in four years time he will have to go to court and explain his role in the incident.

As Rodni talks, her husband Atta returns from work, wearing a woolen hat against the Autumn chill.  He talks eloquently about Palestinian history and recounts his memories of Al Baqa’a Valley during the Six Day War in 1967.

“I was five years old when they occupied the West Bank, I still remember that day.  The Israelis bombed the people and the Jordanian army here and they killed maybe 150 people in that time.  Everybody had put white keffiyehs out as white flags to show that this is a peaceful area.”

A ruined house destroyed by the Israeli military in Al-Baqa'a Valley

As well as talking about the area’s history and the threat from settlers and the Israeli military, Atta described the mundane challenges of daily life in Al Baqa’a valley.

” We have a lot of problems in this area; there are no schools to send our children, we don’t have any clinics or hospitals.  We don’t have water – the settlers have water 24 hours a day.  We connected pipes to the settlement after we had submitted a lot of applications with the Israeli administration and water companies.  In 1998 we applied to the company to have water but Israel prevented this.  Under the Geneva Conventions it says that you are responsible for those that you occupy, but they want to transfer us from this area even though we have been the owners of the land for hundreds of years.”

Atta and Rodni refuse to be daunted by the problems they face.  When asked about what the future holds for their family, Atta evades directly answering the question and replied in broader terms.

“It is not just my future, it is about all Palestinians’ future.  Their tragedy and suffering becomes greater everyday.”

Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

 


Freedom Riders: “I felt like I was witnessing history”

by Ben Lorber

 15 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Earlier today, 7 Palestinian activists were arrested as part of the Freedom Rides attempt to board segregated buses going from the West Bank into occupied East Jerusalem.

Freedom Riders - Click for more images

Palestinians, Israelis and ISM activists waited at a bus stop outside the illegal settlement of Psagot, while four settler buses pulled up and drove away, refusing to open their doors. Israeli police and occupation army surrounded the activists, while a group of settlers massed to observe. Finally, a bus took the activists aboard, and the bus made its way to Hizmeh checkpoint, trailed by army jeeps and police vehicles.

At Hizmeh checkpoint, occupation forces stopped the bus, refusing to allow it to pass. During this time, border police attempted to enter the back of the bus and violently drag one Palestinian off the bus. When both attempts failed, border police commandeered the bus, and forced it to park by the side of the checkpoint.

After about half an hour, border police entered the bus, and forcibly dragged the six Palestinian Freedom

Riders off of the bus. “When they pulled them out of the bus, it was not gentle,” said ISM activist Crystal. “A girl next to me was almost crying.” Activist and lawyer Huwaida Arraf was rendered unconscious by the forcible removal.

The Palestinian activists were arrested and taken to Atarot prison, on the grounds that they had entered Jerusalem illegally.

Later that night, ISM activists held a demonstration outside of Atarot, demanding that occupation forces release the prisoners.

“I felt like I was witnessing history,” said ISM activist Wajed.

Ben Lorber is an activist with International Solidarity Movement and writer with Alternative Information Center.

Freedom Riders: I witnessed six Palestinian activists demand freedom

by Holly

16 November 2011 | Carbonating Change

Yesterday I witnessed six Palestinian activists demand freedom, justice and dignity as they defied Israel’s apartheid policies when the group successfully boarded settler-only buses and attempted to enter East Jerusalem, where they were eventually brutally dragged off and arrested by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF).

At the press conference and in the lead up to the event, the activists described how they had taken inspiration from the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the heroic actions of Rosa Parks. Drawing on the struggles of African Americans who fought against segregation and inequality in the Unites States, and South Africans who battled against apartheid, the Palestinian Freedom Riders aimed to draw the world’s attention to the similarity of the struggle faced by the Palestinian people on a daily basis.

However, it must be recognised that the formation and continued policies of Israel’s apartheid state have far superseded the actions of both the Jim Crow South in the U.S. and the white supremacists in South Africa. Only last week when visiting Ni’lin, I was told of how when the wall was being built (which stole 30% of Palestinian land from the people of this small village), the IOF imposed a four day curfew on the village. This was enforced night and day, and if the people tried to leave their homes, tear gas and sound bombs were fired relentlessly into the narrow streets.

In South Africa, the white settlers sought to dominate the native population by incorporating them as inferior citizens in a state under exclusively white control. Zionism is founded upon a similarly colonialist ideology, but goes further in its attempts to establish a Jewish demographic through an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from their land.

Unlike in the American South of the 60s, you will not see signs around the settlements or at the checkpoints stating “No Palestinians here” – Israel manages its PR machine far too well for such overtly racist statements to be witnessed by the other “democratic” countries which fund its existence. Similarly, Palestinians are technically allowed to ride “settler-only” buses and drive on “settler-only” roads, something repeated by the Israeli media and the settlers who came off the buses yesterday.

But the segregation, inequality and the denial of Palestinian’s rights to enter their own land is implemented in a far more covert way by Israel. Whilst Palestinians may be able to travel on the buses and roads, these buses lead either into the internationally recognisedillegal settlements, or into East Jerusalem where Palestinians are forbidden to enter. East Jerusalem is the intended capital of a future Palestinian state, yet Israel has denied the majority of Palestinians access to the city without a permit, which are almost impossible to obtain.

As a result, Israel has been able to continually expand the settlements in East Jerusalem, particularly in the highly contentious area of Sheikh Jarrah, and this has lead to the annexing of Palestinian populated areas in the city so that it is surrounded by Israeli settlements, systematically destroying the possibility of having a Palestinian controlled capital.

As I hope is becoming evident, the Palestinian Freedom Riders movement is not simply about the segregation of buses, the problem here is much larger. Palestinians face an apparatus of military control over Palestinians that needs to be dismantled, along with the settlements themselves.

The Israeli government will continue to defend their denial of Palestinians into East Jerusalem and the segregation of settler buses and roads because of the “security” threat from suicide bombings, their continual excuse and reasoning behind the occupation of Palestine. However, Israel’s colonialist project and abhorrent treatment of Palestinians began long before the first suicide bombing took place, and the continued occupation will do nothing to deter the desperate and destructive acts of suicide bombers.

However, the violence that has blighted the region for many years was far from the minds of anybody who witnessed the Palestinian Freedom Rides yesterday, as they took part in a determinedly non-violent resistance that attempted to demonstrate the popular, direct action movements which have been been gaining momentum in Palestine to resist Israeli occupation.

Yesterday’s action was a well orchestrated media circus, with hundreds of journalists swarming around the riders trying to get the best shots and interviews for their stories. However, in order for the Freedom Rides to have a true impact on Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, they will need to engage the wider Palestinian community and encourage these acts of civil disobedience in the next waves of the Freedom Rides. I have every faith that the activists involved in the initial wave will continue tirelessly to do so, facing arrest by the Israeli forces and attack by the settlers at every turn.

Furthermore, the onus is now on people around the world not to co-operate with the apartheid policies of the Israeli regime and to take action against them, starting with the boycott of companies – such as Egged and Veolia who run the settler buses – who profit from Israel’s illegal apartheid system.

This protest was not about the UN Statehood Bid. It had nothing to say about armed struggle. Instead, this is one of the most inspiring acts of people power I have seen since arriving in Palestine. The Freedom Riders are demanding that their very basic human rights are upheld in accordance with international law, and to demonstrate that they will continue to engage non-violently to win the freedom, justice and dignity for which the Palestinian people have struggled for so long.

Holly is a volunteer with International Solidarity Mvoement.

 

 

 

 

Al Qasab demolished as hundreds of Israeli soldiers watch

by Guillaume and William

15 November 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
This morning, on Tuesday 15th  November, national day of Palestine, three houses in Al Qasab near Jericho were destroyed by the Israeli military.

 During the early morning, between two and three hundred Israeli soldiers entered Al Qasab with bulldozers and destroyed the houses. The village is in Area C; under full Israeli administrative and military control.

 The Fakhori family had some time to move some furniture and belongings outside before their house was destroyed as they were present when the Israeli military arrived.  The two other families were absent and didn’t have the chance to salvage any possessions.  They returned to find their homes reduced to rubble, with all their belongings inside.

 No one in the village was informed of the reason for the demolition and no prior warning or legal order was delivered. One of houses was built just two years ago and the family had a permit to build  from the Israeli administration.

 The three families must now find a roof to cover their heads tonight. One family is able to move in to his father’s house, but  it is not known what the others will do.  Naturally, the victims are distraught.  They asked us ‘Who will pay for this?’ but they are under no illusions; they know that neither the Israelis or the Palestinian authorities will provide them with any help.

Guillaume and William are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

Jerusalem: Explosions, arrests and violence as Israel clears way for settlement activity

by Alistair George
13 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Three Palestinians were arrested and others were detained, beaten and pepper sprayed by the Israeli military in Al-Walajeh yesterday, as villagers attempted to prevent the detonation of explosives used to widen the route for the separation wall on the village’s land.

Previously, large explosions on 3 November2011 in the village had sent large rocks several metres into the air, damaging nearby houses and trees and endangering life.  The explosions have damaged the foundations of nearby properties.  Yesterday, protesters attempted to peacefully prevent a similar explosion from taking place.

Explosions, violence, and arrests in Al Walajeh – Click here for more images

At around 8am yesterday morning, villagers from Al-Walajeh, near Jerusalem, were working on an UN project to enlarge the village’s graveyard at the Western side end of the village.  They discovered that the Israeli military and contractors were laying charges to explode rock and widen the path for the construction of the separation barrier on the village’s land.  The barrier will completely encircle Al-Walajeh if completed. Access will be gained via a tunnel and checkpoint, manned by the Israeli military and open for a limited time each day.

A man from Al-Walajeh, who gave his name as ‘Abu Sultan’, explained that  he “was the first to arrive at the scene– 10 days ago the officer of the DCO [District Coordination Offices] told us that they were not allowed to make any more explosions, and that if they tried we should stay on the land and prevent it – so the DCO should stand with us.”

Abu Sultan tried to take the dynamite from the ground but was pepper sprayed and detained for over 3 hours before being released. Another villager, Mustafa Odeh, was beaten and arrested by soldiers.

Another man, who did not want to give his name, was also pepper sprayed when he attempted to peacefully prevent the soldiers laying the charges.

“The soldiers told us to leave and they pushed us as if we were sheep.  Without warning, they grabbed pepper spray and sprayed my eyes and mouth. I was taken to hospital where they washed my eyes and gave me oxygen.  The soldiers prevented the ambulance reaching me, two men had to carry me…It still burns [five hours later] on my face and around my mouth, and  it is difficult to breath. I am very upset and angry.  I’m an old man and the soldiers are young boys, it is very disrespectful behaviour.”

After the men discovered the military laying charges, villagers gathered to demand that they cease their agenda. By 11:00 AM a crowd of around 30 Palestinians and several international observers and journalists had gathered at the site of the charges.  At 11:20 AM approximately 20 Israeli soldiers and contractor security guards began to roughly push and barge the crowd up the hill, away from the site.

Protesters voiced their disapproval but offered no physical resistance; however, the Israeli military became increasingly violent.  After attempting to grab and arrest some Palestinian protesters, several people tumbled down a steep verge; one Palestinian, his face streaked orange with pepper spray, was arrested, while another fled the scene.  The military deployed pepper spray and began to strike the peaceful demonstrators.

Sheerin Alaraj, a popular resistance activist from Al-Walajeh was pepper sprayed and blood ran from a cut on her face.  A 38 year old woman, ‘Nadia’, was pepper sprayed in the face and was also taken to the hospital after losing consciousness.

The Palestinian academic Mazin Qumsiyeh was also on scene filming the protest.  He was arrested and dragged to a nearby military vehicle by the Israeli border police.  A witness, who did not want to be named, stated that “Mazin was filming with his video camera and the soldiers wanted us to retreat.  They could have asked us to retreat but they just singled him out. It was intentional.  I was next to him, doing the same thing, and they didn’t want to arrest me.”

An Al-Walajeh resident, who gave her name as “Fadwa,” said that the Israeli soldiers “have to be more human and understand our feelings, they can’t just cause explosions.  They said that the explosion today would be small, but you can’t trust them.”

After soldiers had cleared the area, they fired two tear gas canisters across the valley where only some women and small children were visible.  At around 12:30 PM they detonated a single charge, sending a cloud of rock and debris high into the air.  Bulldozers then began work to clear the shattered rock for the path of the wall.

Residents of Al-Walajeh said that although the explosion today was relatively small, it was still carried out within a few metres of the village’s graveyard and several olive trees.  Previous explosions have damaged foundations of nearby houses.

A resident, who lives near to the proposed route of the wall, said that the explosion on 3 November 2011 endangered life in the village as the blast sent large rocks a distance of several hundred metres.  Some rocks were around30 cm long, weighing several kilograms;

“Stones fell right beside my uncle’s house.  When they make explosions it’s like an earthquake, the house shakes.”

Four explosions had taken part in this area of Al-Walajeh in recent weeks, and there have been explosions to clear debris for the wall in other parts of the village.

A woman from Al-Walaja, who did not wish to be named, said that the explosion on 3 November threw large rocks several metres into the sky.

“Stones fell onto my house; the children were in the house and were very scared.  Plants and olive trees were damaged on my land.”

The DCO (the Israeli body responsible for coordinating administrative activities in the occupied territories, including construction) was unwilling to provide a reaction to yesterday’s incident.

Following the Six Day War in 1967, much of Al-Walaja’s land was given to the nearby Israeli settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, which are considered illegal under international law.  A 2011 report by the UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) revealed that private investors announced plans in 2004 to build an additional settlement called Givat Yael, consisting of 14,000 housing units.  This settlement would expropriate around 60% of the territory of the West Bank part of Al Walajeh.

Israel claims that the separation wall is necessary to prevent attacks on its territory.  However, in its detailed analysis of the Israeli legal justification of the wall, the International Court of Justice  found that the conditions necessary to justify the movement restrictions imposed by the Barrier were not met.  Work began on the wall in Al-Walajeh in April 2010 and has progressed at a furious pace, with significant sections of concrete, several metres high, now in place.  Residents estimate that, at the current rate of construction, the wall will be completed in 2012. Rather than following the Green Line demarcating the West Bank, the proposed route of the wall in Al-Walajeh cuts deep into the village’s land.  According to the UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), between 4-5000 dunums (1 dunum =1000 square metres) of Al-Walajeh’s land lies outside the route of the wall.

If the wall is completed, and the village is entirely encircled in concrete walls and metal fences, the restricted access to the village will drastically curtail normal life in Al-Walajeh as over 2000 inhabitants will be prevented from travelling freely to work or to access essential health and education services.

Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).