Author: Yara

Hebron rally: “Like everyone else, we want to be free”

21 Wednesday 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A huge rally for Palestinian statehood surged through the streets of Hebron all day Wednesday, mobilizing thousands and culminating in prolonged and sustained Israeli military attacks on Palestinian civilians in the narrow and crowded markets of the Old City.

The demonstration began at 10:30 AM around the Hebron Municipality area, also called Baladiya Square. After an impassioned speech, a large crowd carried Palestinian flags, pictures of Mahmoud Abbas, and signs saying ‘UN 194’ and ‘No Veto’ through the streets of Hebron. As they neared the Israeli checkpoint at the entrance to Shuhada Street, which blocks off the tiny island of Israeli settlers at the center of town from the rest of Hebron, armed policemen and riot squads from the Palestinian Authority blocked the pathway of the protesters at Beer Al-Saba’ street, imploring them not to continue. The face-off between protesters and PA lasted a few minutes, after which protesters broke through the line of policemen and began to stream down the street towards the checkpoint.

Moments later, Israeli soldiers positioned in front of the checkpoint, fired volleys of tear gas into the crowded downtown Hebron street. Protesters, along with the throngs of civilian bystanders who were simply going about their Wednesday morning, ducked into the shops that lined Beer Al-Saba’ street, or jumped into service taxis to avoid the gas.

Said an international activist, “It was chaotic, nobody knew what to do. There were taxi drivers and businessmen and store employees running around, trying to get away from the tear gas.”

The crowd then dispersed, and made its way back to Baladiya Square and the Hebron municipality, away from the borders of the Israeli-controlled H2 district of Hebron. There, under enormous banners that read ‘UN 194’ and ‘Palestinian state’, thousands of people paraded and danced in the streets, circling the square in huge groups, chanting and cheering. Trucks unloaded free bottles of water throughout the massive crowd, and men and women, boys and girls, young and old rejoiced together sharing a common hope.

“People here are united,” said a senior resident of Hebron at the rally, “because of one common belief, which is shared by all people over the world at all periods of time- that occupation is bad. We are here under the sun because we love freedom, like everyone else in the world, and we want to be a free people. This is a part of the same thing that has happened in Egypt and Tunisia and elsewhere. We want to be ruled by nobody but ourselves.”

As waves of demonstrators began to spill out from Baladiya Square into the surrounding streets, however, the Israeli military was ready with tear gas, riot shields, gas masks and sound bombs, to make sure the crowds stayed far away from the Old City and its marketplace, which the Israeli military determined was too close to the Israeli settlement for comfort.

As the march began to trickle into the crowded Old City market, Israeli soldiers and PA policemen rushed in to block off sections of the market, determined to control and disperse the demonstrators.

From approximately noon to 3 pm, rounds of tear gas cascaded through the streets of the Old City, scattering crowds of frightened Palestinians in a stampede that swept up men, women and children in its frenzy. Shopkeepers scrambled to scoop their merchandise up out of the streets before the onslaught of protesters and policemen; they bolted their doors shut when tear gas threatened to creep into their shop, only to open their doors again and peak outside when the gas had dissipated. By 1 PM, nearly all shops in the Old City were closed, and the streets, which usually bustle with commerce until the evening, were deserted, save for the soldiers and demonstrators, who ran in waves after each other down the corridors of the market.

For nearly 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon, a game of cat-and-mouse ensued between young Palestinian males and Israeli0 soldiers- over and over again, the former threw stones at and ran from the tear gas of the latter, as the Israeli military swept through the Old City, enforcing a complete lockdown of the area and scattering crowds of demonstrators, who repeatedly gathered and marched to show the resilience of the Palestinian people.

“This is crazy,” said a Palestinian bystander after a brutal round of tear gas. “The people here in the market need to buy and sell their things. The Israelis have no right to do this. It is chaos here. This is mad.”

In between the Israeli military and the Palestinian people stood the policemen of the PA, mostly siding with the former as a second arm of oppression against the Palestinian people.

Said a bystander, “the Palestinian Authority should be helping us, not hurting us. I saw one of them hit a man with his stick, and I saw another one throw a stone at a boy. What state will we be if these are our guardians?”

One demonstrator insisted that “our protest is peaceful today. A few shebab [young men] are throwing stones, but we are gathering peacefully to show that we are strong, that we are a strong people and that we deserve a state. Many people do not agree with [Mahmoud Abbas’ proposal at] the UN, but regardless we all gather here to show that we are strong, and that we are together.”

The strength of the people of Hebron, who came out by the thousands in support of Palestinian self-determination, and the brute force of the Israeli military, who, in response to a peaceful demonstration, did not hesitate to bombard a civilian market with tear gas for three hours, clashed today in a volatile eruption that set the scene for what will surely be a tumultuous weekend in the West Bank.

Gaza: 29 years later, Palestinians march forward

22 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

For three years the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative and the International Solidarity Movement have marched into the buffer zone north of Beit Hanoun.  Tuesday, September 20th was no different.  We gathered near the agricultural college, and at 11 AM we marched north into the buffer zone.  There were about thirty of us.  The sun was hot, but spirits were high.  Over the megaphone we played Bella Ciao and chanted for a free Palestine.

As we crested the hill nearest the buffer zone we were greeted with a new sight.  The tower in the wall closest to where we protest had been covered with netting used to hide snipers.  We could see the dust of tanks rising from behind the wall.  This did not deter us.  We marched into the buffer zone.  We were propelled both by the horrors of the past and hope for the future.  Twenty nine years ago the world was just learning of the massacre of Sabra and Shatilla.  Thousands of Palestinian refugees were slaughtered in these two camps by Lebanese Phalangists with the support of their Israeli allies.  This massacre will not be forgotten.  Today though, was also a day of hope.  The Palestinian Authority was going to the UN to seek recognition of the Palestinian State.  Hopefully this new initiative will help to bring 44 years of occupation and 63 years of Nakba to an end.

We advanced to about 50 meters from the wall.  We stood along the ditch which scars the buffer zone.  Sabur Zaaneen from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative spoke of his hope for the future, that the Palestinian people would finally know the justice that has so long been denied to them.  He vowed that “we will continue the peaceful popular struggle until the occupation ends.”

As we chanted against the occupation a window on the tower began to open so that the soldiers could shoot at us.  We marched back through the buffer zone and into Beit Hanoun.  Hopefully, somewhere, someone, heard us, heard our calls for justice, freedom and peace.

Hebron: “We have been waiting over 60 years for this”

21 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Atta and Rudaina Jeber’s farm is situated upon a hill. The area is called Sheik Sherah, in the Beca’a Valley in the outskirts of Hebron, or Al-Khalil.  Atta’s family has owned the land since the Ottoman Empire was in power, and he explains that he is part of about 19,000 Palestinians who originally settled the hills when they came from the lands now called Jordan, some 800 years ago.

He will also show you the caves where many of his ancestors were born.  It is in this part of Palestine where the Israeli settlers have fought so aggressively in recent years to invade Palestinian lands especially where Atta and his brothers live on two hills now fractured by two large settlements, Gryet Arba and Givat Ha Harsina.   Atta and his brothers and cousins have been petitioning the State of Israel to recognize their deeds to the land since 1986. Instead, in 1982 Israel had already confiscated thousands of dunams to build a highway which links Jerusalem in the north to southern towns like Hebron which bring settlers in.

To date they have confiscated about 7,000 dunams  and bulldozed the  fruit orchards of the families.  The confiscation of the land, however, was kept a secret from the Palestinians, Atta said.

“They wanted to bring strange people from different countries,” he said.

According to Atta, the Israeli judge in Beit Il himself is a settler.  This struggle has cost the Palestinian families thousands of dollars in legal papers, and lawyer fees, only to give people like Atta and his brothers reprieves of three days or one month or a year, but never a clear permit to remain on their property. Sometimes the families don’t get the permits to keep their houses.  When that happens, “You don’t know when they (Israeli Military) are going to come. Sometimes it is about 5 AM, and they come with many soldiers, and they tell us to get out.”

Atta’s two houses were bulldozed twice in the past 10 years.

“My family has been petitioning the Israeli government for a permit since 1983 and we have spent thousands of dollars in legal fees. They do this until you don’t have a cent left. Every time you go to the high court it costs us $1,800 dollars. When they take over our houses, they demolish them and then rebuild for settlers.”

Both Atta and Rudaina were born in 1962, but like the rest of the Palestinian farmers, their weathered faces show the hardship they have endured since the 1967 Israeli-Arab war.  They were both seven years old when the Israelis first bulldozed their fathers’ homes.

Rudaina’s brothers then joined the resistance with the P.L.O. One brother spent 16 years in an Israeli prison; her other brother spent three years, and the other spent one.  At one point, an uncle and his three sons spent five years in jail.

Atta laughs at the pain. This is life for the families.  Their four children go to school. When they are not fighting in court to keep their property, they till the soil, separating the mineral rich dirt from the rocks. They built terrace farming where they grow abundant eggplants, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables which they sell in the marketplace. Their white grapes are abundant and their fig trees bend with fullness.  Over the years the families have built an extensive irrigation network for their crops and they have a well that has also gotten them in trouble with the State.  The well was also bulldozed once.  Within the last 10 years, 13 cisterns of all the families have been destroyed.  Atta’s irrigation system was also destroyed.  But again, the family rebuilds and fixes what the settlers and the Israeli Military destroy.  And now, the family must buy their drinking water from the Israeli district authority which sells them their  own water.

“They try to steal our humanity,” Atta said, when asked by a visitor to explain what the Palestinians want.  He waves his hands, “I’m asking the world to support us in our struggle for humanity.  This is all we want. We don’t want help from the world. We have minds and muscles. We have a rich mind. We don’t want a million or a billion dollars. We are not beggars.  We have been waiting for over 60 years for this. I can support myself and my family,” he looks down at his wife who is busily making stuffed grape leaves for supper, and he gazes with pride at his daughters nearby working on a computer.

When asked where he learned his English, he proudly states that he worked in an Israeli hotel  for 12 years and pointed to a hotel management certificate on the wall. He added that he also speaks some Spanish and German.

Atta and Rudaina have three daughters and one son all of which go to school in Hebron.  One of them comes to us with a huge sunflower and breaks it in several parts. Together we pick the seeds and crunch them in silence occasionally looking down the next hill at a gas station across the road in what was also once family land, where the settlers are amassing.

Rumor around the town all week has been that there would be trouble with the settlers. They are incensed that the United Nations this week is considering a petition by Palestinians to declare them a legitimate state.  Whenever there has been trouble in any part of the Occupied or Israeli territories, the settlers from the two illegal settlements descend upon the Palestinian families.  They have entered Atta’s house and set fires then afterwards prayed.  “They are a very religious, you know,” Atta said as he crushes a cigarette butt in an ashtray.  The irony is not lost on the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) observers.  In Hebron in August the Israeli military arrested 200 men when the attacks in Eilat occurred.

Today especially there is talk of problems in Hebron particularly in the old city. Everyone is on high alert. Abuses by the Israeli military happen daily especially at night and around the checkpoints.  Atta looks out in the distance and sees a white car approaching.

It is Rabbis for Human Rights activist, Rabbi Arik Acherman. The family is elated. Rudaina and her daughters serve dinner. Both the Rabbi and Atta are on the phone connecting with other Palestinian leaders as they eat.  By now about 50 people have amassed at the gas station. In the distance we can see several armored cars and dark figures that turn out to be soldiers.  Some people carrying Israeli flags begin walking toward the lands of Atta an his brothers.  A regiment of about six soldiers begin to ascend up the road, but stop at a large boulder below the house.

Lara, Atta’s youngest, clutches her father waist. He strokes her head tenderly, looks over and says she is afraid.  Meanwhile, Rudaina retreats to a corner of the terrace and begins to pray.  Rabbi Acherman sooths the family and observers by explaining that he has spoken to the Israeli military, and they have told him that the settlers would be allowed to go onto state land but not unto private property.

Evening has descended upon this human drama.  Rudaina comes out of the house, nervously looking towards the valley.  She takes out an automizer inhaler and breaths in.  After about two hours, the settlers begin to disperse. Only an SUV with a very,very loud speaker and a glowing menorah defiantly blasts music to the wind.  The observers wondered if the driver’s hearing will be permanently damaged by the blasts.  Only the soldiers behind the boulders can be seen. Eventually, even they disappear down the road and into the night.  Rabbi Acherman takes his leave saying he has to get back to his family in Jerusalem.  The children gleefully guide the ISM observers down the hills around to a waiting taxi.  They kiss and bid the ISM observers goodby. The last words they hear are al hamdulilah, Praise be to God, and ma’ al salama,[go] with Peace.

For now, at least.

“Holy water” in Qusra attracts violent settlers

18 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

While farming their land in the village of Qusra, 50 year old Fathalla and his three sons were attacked by a group of armed settlers on the morning of September 16th. The attack came amid recent increase of settler violence in anticipation of the UN vote on recognition of Palestinian state.

Fathalla and his three sons were working in a fig orchad, when one of the boys heard someone breaking the lock on their well. They saw 9 armed settlers, three of them with M-16 and the rest with pistols and a dog. The Abu Reida family decided to hold back the settlers until Israeli military arrived. Following a similar incident, Palestinians reported settler attacks to the Israeli district coordination office, but were dismissed and told to “hold back settlers” next time there is an incident  until the army could arrive.

As Fathalla and his sons approached the well, they noticed that one of the settlers was taking a bath in the well, which houses water used for both farming and drinking by the Palestinian family.

“I’m afraid to drink this water now. I think they dirtied it, and maybe even poisoned it, as has happened in the past,”  said Fathalla, adding that settlers believed that water from that area was holy and bathing in it rinsed all sins.

In the mean time, one of the Fathalla sons called Qusra’s local sheikh, who announced on the villages loudspeakers that settlers had invaded the village. Fathalla and his sons were preventing settlers from leaving by blocking a fenced road running through the fields. Settlers kept firing their guns in the air.

When villagers approached, settlers panicked and one of them jumped the fence. Fathalla’s19-year-old son followed  one of the settler’s who was armed with an M-16.

Another settler released the dog, which attack the young man. As he was being attack and fell to the ground, the settler broke his leg. His brothers left the other settlers to flee, while they assisted their injured brother.

As they were escaping the scene, settlers shot random series of live ammunitation in the direction of villagers, wounding Fathalla Abu Reida in his thigh.

Tought by the previous experience with reporting settlers attacks, Fathalla sons took plenty of pictures documenting the entire incident. Abu Reida family submittted pictures and their testimonies to the Palestinian Authority, who in turn said they would communicate with the Israeli district coordination office.

“I don’t believe they will react. But I still have to do everything that is possible to try to save my land,” said Fathalla.

The Israeli military forces, claiming they were coming to arrest one of the settlers, arrived to Qusra around 1 pm on the same day.

“There were 200 soldiers! Why would they send so many soldiers to arrest one man?, said Fathalla.

Soldiers cracked down on the village, showering it with tear gas at the southern outskirts of the village. Women, men, and children reportedly protested this second invasion by Israelis.

Qusra inhabitants felt their village has become a scene of increasing settler violence over last four months. Settlers activity typically occurs every Friday during the congregational prayer time for Muslims.

The last attack took place on September 5th, when settlers from an outpost of the illegal settlement Migron torched a mosque. Just few days earlier, on August 28th, settlers uprooted 100 hundred olive trees. The entire village came to stop them, yet the army arrived soon after, ordering people to disperse. As Jamal Adli Hassan was walking away, an Israeli officer shot him with live ammunition in his leg.

The surge in violence coming from the illegal settlements in the West Bank last week might be connected to arming and training settlers by the Israeli miliatary in anticipation of Palestinian protests against lack of recognition of their basic right to self-determination as the Palestinian Authority approach the UN for their bid as the 194th country in the world.

Kufr Qaddoum holds funeral for illegal occupation

17 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The people of Kufr Qaddoum demonstrated on Friday, September 16th, against the illegal settlement Qadumim, which is situated west of the village. They demanded access to their main road which passes adjacent to the settlement and leads out from the village.

The demonstration started at 1:30 pm and consisted of around 300 villagers and four internationals from the ISM. The demonstrators carried a coffin covered by the Israeli flag which symbolized the funeral of the Israeli Occupation in spirit of  the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the UN this month. The coffin was then burned.

Kafr Qaddoum is surrounded by a red line which prevents the villagers from crossing. When this boundary line was reached, just a few hundred meters from the center of the village, the demonstration stopped for speeches, chants and dancing, and the spirit was positive.

Inside the illegal settlement compound one settler family and a few soldiers were seen watching the procession. From outside the settlement boundaries 3 military vehicles were waiting for the protesters to cross the line, which they eventually did. Just a few steps over the line was enough to make all the vehicles drive in full speed against the peaceful protest. Immediately the soldiers started to fire tear gas in high volumes, and the young protesters began throwing stones.

At least four soldiers were also watching from the hill north of the village from where tear gas also was shot.

As the protesters were moving back into the village, the soldiers followed and tear gas was fired into the village. At least one family was affected by the gas inside their home and was seen fleeing. Two people were taken away from the scene by ambulances, and a significant amount of people were helped by doctors from the Red Crescent.

The demonstration ended at 2:30 pm with celebrations inside the village.

This was the 12th week of Friday protests in Kufr Qaddoum, and the first time in three weeks since the army left the settlement to violently obstruct the demonstration.