5 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Thursday November 3rd at dawn, 8 military jeeps with around 25 soldiers and one bulldozer arrived at Um Alfagara. The bulldozer immediately began to demolish six pylons built for bringing electrical wires from the nearby village of Attwani to Um Alfagara. The bulldozer worked a couple of hours, guarded by the Israeli Occupation Forces until the six pylons were torn down and destroyed.
Destruction in South Hebron village – Click here for more images
Um Alfagara is a small village with 150 inhabitants in the South Hebron Hills on the edge to the Jordanian dessert and beside a large area declared to be a permanent closed military area used as a shooting practice range by the Occupation Forces. There is no access to water except from the wells belonging to the villagers and no electricity except from the electricity provided by a small windmill producing just about enough for the villagers to charge their phones.
A new project for bringing electricity is the latest attempt to ease the life for the villagers who mainly stand the poor conditions in their village in order to protect their land against land grab both from the Israeli Occupation Forces and from the settlers in the neighboring settlement Ma’on. The project received the second demolish order on the electric poles around one month ago.
A local coordinator in the area answered when asked why the Occupation forces demolished the pylons, “The occupation has tried for many years to make life as hard as possible for the citizens in the South Hebron Hills in order to force people to move to the major cities so that settlers can steal our land for good. The policy used against the inhabitants in the South Hebron Hills are very similar to the suppression of the Bedouin population”
The Israeli Civil Administration is planning to expel Bedouin communities living in Area C as soon as January 2012, claiming that the Bedouins do not have rights to the land on which they live and that all Bedouin construction has been done without permits. Demolition orders have been issued against most Bedouin structures. Um Alfagara lies in Area C, under full Israeli military and civil control.
Attwani the neighboring village, inhabited by around 300 Palestinians, managed last year in the month of Ramadan to implement electricity and running water. The water is brought in by the neighboring settlement and was finally approved by the District Coordination Office after some months, but the electricity pylons have been destroyed several times. Two pylons on each side of Road 316 have been destroyed many times, but since the villagers of Attwani rebuild the electric pylons every time, it seems that for a while the Occupation Forces stopped harassing the villagers and destroying their pylons until recently.
The electricity villagers seek is not only useful for getting light in night but also for charging phones and cameras that are essential for documenting the violation by settlers and the Occupation Forces. Though attacks by settlers have eased a bit, there is still a high risk factor of settler violence in the area of Um Alfagara and Attwani. The settlers from the outpost Havat Ma’on have a long history of violence. The last severe attack was June 2011.
Aida Gerard is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name changed).
5 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Only hours after activists from popular committees and youth movements throughout the West Bank formally presented the Egyptian ambassador, His Excellency Yasser Othman, with an appeal and a petition to open the Rafah crossing unconditionally and permanently, the Palestinians of Gaza learned that the crossing will in fact be closed for six consecutive days during the Eid holiday.
A petition was originally issued by Gaza-based civil society sectors including academics, students, workers, and youth. It was immediately supported publically by Egyptian revolutionaries and grass-roots organizations as well as renowned International human rights defenders such as Desmond Tutu and Richard Falk.
Despite assurances by the Egyptian ambassador that conditions at Gaza’s only lifeline to the outside world will improve in the coming days, it seems that the people of Gaza will continue to suffer from frequent and arbitrary closures on weekends and holidays. This closure comes while the Taba crossing to the Israeli city of Eilat as well as other Egyptian border crossings, airport terminals and seaports are closed for only one day for Eid al Adha and continue their activities throughout the year without interruption.
While Palestinians and their allies continue to struggle against the criminal Israeli-imposed siege, the frequent closures of the Rafah crossing by the Egyptian authorities compounded with the quota system that only allows a limited number of people to cross every day results in long delays and significant hardship. At times, students miss their school terms and workers lose their jobs while waiting for their turn to cross. Family members who hold foreign passports are still prevented from visiting their loved ones in Gaza.This severely hinders the freedom of movement of the Palestinians of Gaza, a basic human right under international law.
CALL TO ACTION
1. Organize a delegation to deliver the petition to your Egyptian embassy, consulate or representative office.
3 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The streets of Tel Rumeida are locked-down and divided; physically occupied by a forceful Israeli military. For the Palestinian community living in this part of H2, Israeli-controlled Hebron, military occupation is an inescapable intrusion into everyday reality. The existence of an estimated 500 Israeli settlers is facilitated by up to 4000 Israeli soldiers stations in Hebron. Grey, austere watchtowers gaze over streets in which Israeli soldiers and military vehicles are stationed at regular intervals, frequently stopping Palestinians as they walk through their own neighbourhood to demand they prove their identity. Those wishing to travel into H2 from Palestinian-controlled H1 must pass through metal detectors and checkpoints, where they may be arbitrarily harassed or detained by bored Israeli soldiers.
Movement around H2 is severely restricted. In some streets Palestinians are allowed to walk but not drive, forcing them to manually lug heavy supplies such as gas canisters and food. Even ambulances are not allowed to drive through certain areas. Palestinians are forbidden from passing through some streets by car or by foot; the main street linking north and south Hebron has been closed to Palestinians; turning a 5 minute journey into a 45 min trek through alternative roads.
However, despite the enduring hardship in Tel Rumeida, resistance to the Israeli occupation remains strong. The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’ is located on Palestinian land that is surrounded by four Israeli settlements – the closest of which is only metres from the rear of the building. It faces south Hebron, overlooking steep, dusty terraces, planted with olive trees and cratered by old archaeological digs of excavated Roman artifacts. The centre is a hub of nonviolent resistance and its existence is a testament to the spirit that exists in a beleaguered community under occupation.
The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’
The property that houses the centre used to belong to a Palestinian family who were forced to vacate the premises in 2004 by the Israeli authorities, who claimed that the owner’s Jerusalem identity prevented him from living in the area. The Israeli military took over the property in 2004 and turned the house into a detention centre, fortified with barbed wire.
The campaign to reclaim the house began in 2006. After local Palestinian activists had gained approval to rent the property from the lawful owner in Jerusalem, dozens of people, including local Palestinians and international activists, started to go to the house to re-occupy the land; maintaining a presence, removing the barbed wire and dismantling a military tent. The large numbers of people attempting to reclaim the property forced the Israeli military into negotiating and, with the services of an Israeli lawyer, the activists took their claim to court. After three months, an Israeli court ruled in favour of the protesters and the house was taken back by the Palestinians.
Palestinian control of the house remained perilous as the local Israeli settlers fought back. Badia Dwaik, the 38-year old Deputy Director of Youth Against Settlements (YAS) explains; “The settlers went crazy, they started to attack the house and us physically. Groups of 100-200 settlers came and made speeches full of lies”. The activists arranged a 24-hour presence at the house to protect it from attack or seizure by settlers. As Dwaik says, “It was tough and exhausting but we didn’t give up. The home became safer although the settlers still attacked; they burnt a sofa, stole a laptop and broke the gate a couple of times.”
As the Palestinian activists consolidated their control over the house, they started to consider how best to use the property to serve the community. It was agreed that it would become an educational centre for local people, run by volunteers.
The centre now trains people in Tel Rumeida to use photography and video cameras to record violence by settlers and the military, as well as documenting their daily lives under occupation. As local activist Tamer Atrash says, “The camera is our weapon.”The centre also offers English classes, painting, gardening workshops and shows films.
YAS (Youth Against Settlements)
The property also functions as the base for the Palestinian nonviolent activist group, Youth Against Settlements (YAS). Badia Dwaik is keen to stress the distinction that exists between the work done by the educational centre and activism by YAS, although both make use of the property.
YAS originated as a response to the repeated attacks by settlers on Palestinians in the area. As Dwaik says; “The main problem here is the settlements. They steal land and push us into a corner until we leave. We had to target them in our work as they use settlements as an excuse to continue the occupation and control the population. They divided the streets [in Hebron] and broke the social life with checkpoints and gates to protect settlers.”
In 1994 American-born Baruch Goldstein fired on Palestinians in Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque whilst they prayed, killing 29 and injuring a further 200. Atrash describes the massacre by Goldstein as a “turning point” in shaping the divided and fearful environment for Palestinians in Tel Rumeida today. After the attack, the Israeli military closed many of the Palestinian shops in the area and divided the streets. Hebronis now divided into H1 (under Palestinian control) and H2 (in which an estimated 40,000 Palestinians, and 500 Israeli settlers, live under Israeli control). As Atrash says, “The victims were punished.”
Dwaik continues; “It is an apartheid situation – the electronic gates, the checkpoints, the security – all happened after the massacre.” The Ibrahimi mosque now has separate spaces for Muslims and Jews; the Jewish section is the only synagogue in the world containing a Qu’ran.
YAS organize demonstrations against the checkpoints and the Israeli presence in the area. They run a program hosting internationals, who stay with local families that live close to Israeli settlements, to show them the impacts of occupation in Tel Rumeida. The group also organizes olive harvesting in the area, which is not just about economic necessity but is also a form of political defiance as settlers and the military attempt to disrupt Palestinian attempts to tend their own land. Crucially, YAS stages events protesting against the closure ofShuhuda street, the principal thoroughfare and shopping district in the area. .
Although YAS originated in Hebron, it now has groups and actions in Ramallah and Nablus. Overall the YAS has around 70 members and attracts hundreds to its demonstrations and actions. Dwaik says that older people are involved in the group’s activism, however they “focus on the youth as they have energy and they are the future.” The organization says that they welcome activists from all Palestinian political parties.
YAS adopts a strictly nonviolent approach to its activities and provides training in nonviolent resistance. “Nonviolence is more difficult to deal with than violence. You have to control yourself, it is not easy. We are already surrounded and occupied, it is not possible to carry guns. Nonviolence is difficult and may take a long time but violence would create a violent community” said Dwaik. Nonviolent tactics help to recruit Israeli and international peace activists to their cause and the strict adherence to nonviolent principles combats the Israeli narrative that Palestinians resisting occupation are ‘terrorists’.
Dwaik also points to several examples of successful nonviolent resistance in other countries such as Egypt, South Africa andSerbia- in which Otpor!, a nonviolent youth movement, played a significant role in the peaceful overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in 2003. YAS has established links with Otpor!, with the latter providing training to YAS activists in nonviolent resistance tactics.
Despite the work done by the educational centre and YAS, intimidation and harassment by the Israeli military and settlers continues. Attempts to pick olives on Palestinian land in the area a few days ago were disrupted by the Israeli security forces, who detained a group of Palestinians, confiscated their identity cards and filmed them for around 20 minutes. Soldiers pushed and shoved Palestinians and international observers and then unlawfully forced people who had been picking olives to leave the area.
On the same day, settlers walked onto the land and attempted to intimidate Palestinians as they picked olives. Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist Israeli settler, provoked outrage by standing on a Palestinian flag in the olive groves. A recently painted-over Star of David and anti-Palestinian graffiti remains visible on the rear walls of the building and the property’s water supply was deliberately cut earlier.
However, Dwaik claims that the work done in reclaiming the house and the subsequent success of the educational centre and YAS has helped reinvigorate the once divided Palestinian community in Tel Rumeida – “Now we have created a life here”. Atrash continues;, “We want our rights, we will never give up and we don’t use violence. We can prevent Israeli expansion in this way. The house is a living example.”
Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
1 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
We gathered on the road in front of the Agricultural College of Beit Hanoun, one side of the road a functioning school, on the other, only the remains of destroyed school buildings. For three years the people of Beit Hanoun have gathered here every Tuesday for their protest against the no go zone and the occupation. Members of the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun, townspeople, students who had taken the afternoon off of school, and the International Solidarity Movement, all marching under the same flag, the flag of Palestine, red, white, black and green, together. For three years we have marched together, every Tuesday for three years we have went into the no go zone.
Today was different though. Today we marched under another flag as well, the flag of UNESCO. Palestine has been admitted as UNESCO’s newest member. In honor of all of the countries who voted for Palestine, and in honor of UNESCO, we marched under their flag. Above all of this, floated a third flag, the black flag of illegality which flies over the Occupation. This flag is always present; it is just that not everyone sees it. It was acknowledged in Israel only in 1956, the Supreme Court of Israel referred to it for the first time after the massacre of Kufr Kassem on October 29, 1956. Forty nine Palestinian citizens of Israel, women, children, men, were murdered by Border Police as they returned home from their fields. The black flag was always there, it was just that most people refused to see it, many still refuse to see it, yet it is always there. You only have to open your eyes to see it.
We marched down the road toward the no go zone, toward the zone of death. We sang and chanted as we marched. As we got closer we saw that the flag we had planted weeks before was no longer there, it was toppled, it was on the ground. We went to the flag, Israeli soldiers had used it for target practice, they had shot the base of the flag in two. We picked up the flag, took it even farther into the no go zone, crossed a ditch, and replanted it. The olive grove which we had planted last month was still there, green from the recent rain. Sabur Zaaneen from the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun spoke, he praised UNESCO and the nations that voted to admit Palestine, he denounced the Balfour Declaration which was made in 1917 in support of the Zionist Movement. Shots rang out, five shots in total. This was the Israeli rebuttal to his speech, to our peaceful march against the occupation, the only language which the occupation speaks in Gaza, the language of violence and death. We walked back to Beit Hanoun, not in defeat, proud, we too had spoken, the steadfastness of our olive trees and marching contrasted with the bullets of the occupation.
Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
Palestinian youth join boats set to challenge Israel’s siege of Gaza
Irish and Canadian boats in international waters on their way to challenge illegal siege policy
Palestinian activists call for end to international complicity in Israel’s crimes
Support actions taking place throughout the West Bank and inside Israel
[Ramallah] Two civilian boats, the Canadian Tahrir (Liberation), and the Irish Saoirse (Freedom), carrying 27 people from nine countries, are currently in international waters making their way to the beleaguered Gaza Strip to challenge Israel’s ongoing criminal blockade of the territory. A Palestinian youth activist from Haifa has joined this renewed international mission to challenge Israel’s unrelenting stranglehold on Gaza via the sea. The message they carry is one of unity, defiance, and hope, in spite of Israel’s policies that have physically separated Palestinians from each other. The “Freedom Waves to Gaza” organizers chose not to publicize the effort in advance given Israel’s efforts to block and sabotage Freedom Flotilla II last July. The boats, which set sail from Fethiye, Turkey, are expected to arrive in Gaza on Friday afternoon, sailing from international waters straight into Gaza’s territorial waters without entering Israel’s waters. The boats carry symbolic cargo – $30,000 in medicines, along with a diverse group of passengers, all committed to nonviolent defense of the flotilla and Palestinian human rights.
“Israel has caged Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, prohibiting physical contact between us. We want to break the siege Israel has imposed on our people,” said Majd Kayyal, a Palestinian philosophy student from Haifa on board the Tahrir. Kayyal added, “The fact that we’re in international waters is already a victory for the movement. Israel’s siege of Gaza is untenable and it’s a moral responsibility to put an end to this injustice.”
Meanwhile, a statement signed by Palestinian youth urged the international community and the U.N. in particular “to take urgent action to protect this mission as well as to end its compliance with Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza.” They condemned the U.N. Secretary General’s previous declarations calling for aid to Gaza to go through “legitimate crossings and established channels,” despite the U.N.’s own admission that Israel’s failure to own up to its responsibilities has created an unprecedented crisis of human dignity.
Throughout the week Palestinian activists in the West Bank and inside Israel are organizing solidarity actions with the Freedom Waves mission, including a presence outside the UN compound (Tokyo Street, Ramallah) and rallies across West Bank towns.
This is the 11th attempt to break the siege of Gaza via the sea, with five missions arriving safely in Gaza between August and December 2008 and the remaining violently intercepted by Israel. On May 2010, Israel attacked passengers of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters, killing nine civilians and injuring over 50. Israel’s actions were widely condemned and led to protests around the world. Efforts to bring a second flotilla to Gaza were foiled by the government of Greece last July following pressure by Israel and Western governments, as well as by acts of Israeli sabotage.
Israel has intensified in the past days its aerial bombardments on Gaza, underlining the need for international initiatives of deterrence similar to this one.
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For more information contact:
+970-592-346-895
FreedomWaves4PAL@gmail.com
Note to editors:
For up to the minute information on the Freedom Waves flotilla: http://witnessgaza.com/
