Author: Yara

Gaza: Planting the symbol of Palestinian livelihood

12 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

The zone of death, what Israel calls the buffer zone, to the north of Beit Hanoun isn’t shrinking but is a little less dead.  For the last three years, the only life that has managed to survive here was a few scraggly plants that somehow manage to survive the IOF’s regular bulldozing of the land.  These plants have been joined every Tuesday by a devoted group of activists from the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun and the International Solidarity Movement.  Israel had managed to wipe out all traces of what used to be here, houses, sprawling orchards, fields of vegetables, and grazing sheep. For two weeks the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative decided to leave behind something more than Palestinian flags when they went into the buffer zone.  They left behind a grove of olive trees.

We gathered this Tuesday, the 11th of October, to tend to this grove, the only reminder of what used to be here, before Israel destroyed everything.  There were about 20 of us, one van, and one tuk tuk to carry water.  We set out for the zone of death at eleven A.M.  Usually, we march down the road into the zone of death, but today, we were carrying water for the trees, we rode.  As always, the tension increases as you get nearer the zone of death.  You never know when the soldiers will shoot.  The IOF threaten to shoot anyway within 300 meters of the border, but they aren’t very good at measuring distance, the soldiers shoot people up to a kilometer away.

We reached the edge of the dead zone, passed out giant green jugs of water, and started forward to tend to our trees.  It isn’t an easy walk, carrying a heavy jug of water over ground that has bulldozed too many times to count.  It is made easier though with the knowledge that we are going to only grove of olive trees that exists in the buffer zone, the twenty olive trees that we have planted over the previous two weeks.  The olive tree has always been an important symbol in Palestine, it is not just the universal symbol of peace, but it is also a symbol of the tie to the land that the people here feel.  This is their land, they will not abandon it.  The ethnic cleansing of the Nakba and Naqsa will not be repeated.  We pour the water on trees. Every tree gets some water.  Sadly, one of the trees appears to be dying.  We give it extra water.

We finish watering the olive trees.  We admire our work, what we have accomplished.  We have returned life to the buffer zone, not just for the short time when we are here for the demonstration, now there is a 24 hour presence here.  The next time Israel decides to bulldoze the zone of death the driver will not be able to tell himself that he is bulldozing nothing, that this was a land without a people.  He will know he is bulldozing someone’s olive grove; his bulldozer is crushing peace.  Before we left Sabur Zaaneen from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative spoke for us all, “The popular resistance is stronger than the occupation; we will continue the struggle until the occupation ends.”

We will continue the struggle until Palestinian olive orchards can grow on all the land of Palestine.

After decade of demolitions, Susiya shepherd will continue to herd

11 October 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On 10 October an Israeli army jeep filled with Israeli soldiers and a representative from the District Coordination Office (DCO) drove down the dirt track roads from the neighboring military base towards the small village of Susiya. The purpose of this visit was to serve yet another demolition order, the third since late August this year, to Muhammed Musa Muranam and his family.

Muhammed Musa Muranam and his wife pose with a demolition order issued against them

Muhammed has been formally notified by the Israeli authorities that he does not have permission to stay on his land and that he must tear down both his own home and his livestocks’ shelter immediately. If Muhammed refuses, the army will return with their bulldozers to complete the demolition.

Muhammed and his wife live permanently in their tent home in Susiya. if the tents are demolished his family, and their livestock will be homeless. Muhammed has documents proving that the land has been in his family for several generations.

On 11 October 2011 Muhammed told an ISM volunteer that he is determined to stay in his home, and that he will continue herding his sheep for as long as possible.  Muhammed is unwilling, and perhaps unable, to contemplate his family’s future if his home is destroyed.

Susiya has a long history of demolition orders dating back to 1991. In 2001 the whole village was demolished by Israeli army soldiers and their bulldozers. Caves, tents and wells were all destroyed leaving approximately 70 people homeless. The last demolition in the village of Susyia was four months ago. At this time six family homes were demolished (all from the Jabur family). Two of these families have now built and live in temporary tents, the other families have relocated to Yatta. The court case is in relation to these demolitions is ongoing.

It is unclear at this time whether Muhammed will return to the Isreali courts to challenge the demolition order; understandably he has little faith in the Israeli justice system.

Seven school children injured over tightened “security” measures in Tel Rumeida

11 October 2011 |  International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Tightened security at Tel Rumeida checkpoint cause an impromptu demonstration by the schoolchildren, resulting in seven injured children, and injuries to the headmaster. Teachers of Tel Rumeida’s school were told they must begin to pass through metal detectors and present their bags for search, despite the permission they have had for the past 7 years to pass through a separate gate. The rules have also been changed for those suffering heart complications, and pregnant women, who carry permits that normally would allow them to avoid the metal detectors. The children of the school emerged, chanting slogans and holding posters. Finally, the children exited the checkpoint to be with their teachers, and began classes on the sidewalk. Seven children reported injuries and six went to hospital. The head master of the school also reported injuries from soldiers aggressively handing her.

In Tel Rumeida, Hebron, around 7:30 Tuesday morning, the teachers of Tel Rumeida’s boy and girl school of grades 1-10 refused to submit to checks, instead beginning a silent demonstration by remaining outside the gate where they were refused entry. 9:00 am, the school children marched out of the school to the inward side of the checkpoint, demanding their right to education. Israeli military soldiers at times pushed the children. An Israeli police man grabbed two girls, about 12 years old, and dragged them out through the checkpoint, causing an uproar. He continued to grab outspoken children and pull them out of the checkpoint. Seven children ended up in the hospital with injuries from aggressive handling by soldiers. Some were pushed against a stone wall. A female settler drove through the demonstration, aggressively pushing both adults and children with her car. She drove around, and returned to drive through again. Many of Tel Rumeida’s inhabitants claimed that she pushes pedestrians with her car on a regular basis while driving through the streets that Palestinians can only walk on.

 

Demonstration of teachers and students in Tel Rumeida - Click here for more images

Before the children emerged from the school, a soldier was asked why restrictions are enforced only on the Palestinian residents, despite the violent reputation of the settlers. He replied, “I also don’t agree, but I have a mission to protect the Jewish people. I don’t want to be here.” Their batallion was newly transferred to this area, and soldiers said that their commander had come the day before and changed the rule. As the kids began the demonstration, the head of the school health department, Mohammed Abutherei was detained in a police jeep for at least half an hour because he was unable to control the over 100 children. “Police threatened that if I did not control the students, Tel Rumeida would no longer have a school” said Abutherei.

For the past seven years, teachers, those with heart complications, and pregnant women have passed through a gate without a metal detector.

Several of the teachers exclaimed that they will continue to hold classes on the street until the checkpoint’s rules are reverted. More protests are being planned.

House Demolition: Jab’a resident insists he will rebuild again

10th October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank.

On 10th October 2011 at 5am Israeli forces demolished a family home in the village of Al Jab’a, about 15 km southwest of Bethlehem.

The owner, Sheikh Nasri, was farming his land at the time of the demolition. Nasri, 50, had been constructing the house for his family of ten children whilst living in a nearby rented property. He had applied for a building permit, which was still pending. Villagers reported that a Demolition Order had not been presented.

Al Jab’a has a population of around 800 and is near the illegal Israeli settlements of Batayim and Nahal Gebaot. In an interview with ISM volunteers, Sheikh Nasri explained that the location of his village is a cause for daily struggle; they are refused access to much of their farm land by the military and endure prolonged assaults from the settler community. When Shieikh Nasri’s 15 year old son attempted to farm their land, soldiers arrested him, and he was detained in an Israeli prison for over 6 months. On another occasion soldiers refused to allow Sheikh Nasri and his pregnant wife to pass through a check point to get to the local hospital – she was forced to have her baby at home without medical care.

 When asked what he plans to do next, Shiekh Nasri remains defiant:

I will build it again, and if they take it down again, I will do it again. And I will do it again. If I die, my son will do it. If my son dies, his son will do it. Until we all die. That’s what I’m planning to do… To stay here, plant the land, build houses and die here. We have no other place to live.

The Israeli wall plan will result in Al Jab’a being besieged by the wall from the north, east and west and bypass road number 367 from the south, effectively isolating it from the rest of the West Bank. Villagers reported that 10 other houses are currently at risk of demolition.

 

Israeli military fires canisters straight at protesters in Nabi Saleh

8 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Israeli military forces fired tear gas canisters directly at protesters and international observers during the weekly demonstration at Nabi Saleh yesterday, 7 October.  An international activist  sustained a minor wound to the leg after being struck by a tear gas canister fired directly from a distance of around 15 metres by the Israeli military.

Although it is permissible to fire tear gas canisters in an arc to disperse demonstrations, it is forbidden to use them as weapons by firing them directly at protesters. Firing tear gas canisters directly at protesters and at close range turns the canisters into a missile that can maim and endanger life.  According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, “Firing of this kind has already resulted in injuries, some grave, to dozens of Palestinians and Israeli and foreign citizens”.

Protests have taken place in Nabi Saleh, a village 20km north-west of Ramallah, every Friday since 2009, when settlers from Halamish, a nearby illegal Israeli settlement, took control of the Ein Al Qaws natural spring belonging to Nabi Saleh and prevented Palestinian access to the spring and the surrounding land.

Yesterday’s demonstration started in Nabi Saleh at 12:30pm as around 50 protesters marched out of the village via the main road.  The Israeli army fired several rounds of tear gas canisters in an arc towards the peaceful protesters as soon as they were in sight, deploying a gun mounted on a truck which is able to fire multiple canisters in quick succession.  Several people suffered severe gas inhalation, with one female protester carried to a Red Crescent ambulance.

After the initial barrage of tear gas canisters had ceased, many protesters regrouped and attempted to continue the peaceful demonstration, whilst some youths spread out across the hills and threw stones at the military.  The Israeli military responded with rubber bullets, tear gas and foul-smelling ‘skunk water.’  At one point, two Israeli jeeps sped towards protesters; soldiers jumped from the vehicles and deployed sound bombs in an apparent attempt to make arrests.  However, they made no arrests and were forced to retreat swiftly under a hail of stones.

As the afternoon progressed, the Israeli military gradually pulled back to a watchtower and small military complex near to the intersection of the main road which passes the Israeli settlement and the road leading up to Nabi Saleh.  As protesters and international observers neared the watchtower, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters directly into the crowd in an attempt to hit protesters and cause maximum harm.  An international activist received a glancing blow and was cut on the leg by a canister.  The wound was relatively minor but would have been much graver if the canister had directly hit the activist.

The number of protesters dwindled as dusk fell, with mostly children remaining. Some protesters continued to throw stones, whilst the Israeli military continued to fire rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, which became difficult to see in the fading light.  The protest ended around 17:45.

A report published in September 2011 by B’Tselem details how Israeli security forces violate the right to protest at Nabi Saleh as the military prevents demonstrators from reaching their natural spring, a main source of water for locals, and through “declaring the demonstration illegal at the outset, sometimes even before the procession begins.”  The report also outlines the harm done by the Israeli military to the inhabitants of Nabi Saleh through the disproportionate handling of the demonstrators which “intimidates hundreds of villagers and forces them to remain in their houses for many hours, making it impossible for them to lead a normal life.  The massive amounts of tear gas fired penetrate the houses close to the main intersection in the village and the occupants are unable to escape”.