Category: Features

There is no more life in Tulkarm camps

Israeli armored vehicles during the Israeli incursion

West Bank – Tulkarm
By Diana Khwaelid

When you enter the camps of Tulkarm, you realize that thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

Sections of Tulkarm’s refugee camps have been decimated once more, with several martyrs in the latest attack on November 5. Dozens of Israeli military incursions have completely disfigured the camps.
In recent weeks attacks against Tulkarm’s refugee camps have increased. On November 5, dozens of Israeli military armored vehicles stormed the city of Tulkarm and the incursions were concentrated in both refugee camps.

Israel’s objective is the complete elimination of the West Bank’s refugee camps, especially in the north, along with martyring those who defend the people in the camps. This is as long as the refugee issue will be part of the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
The infrastructure of both Tulkarm and Nur Shams Camps, already destroyed by previous incursions, has been further destroyed with dozens of houses and shops completely burned down.
The main power transformers of the camps were destroyed and the sewage pipes were damaged, making for a more dangerous environment in the camp, especially for the sick, the elderly, and children.
Dozens of Palestinian families in both camps have been expelled due to the loss of their homes or extreme fear for their families’ and children’s lives.
Mahmoud Radwan, a 79-year-old from Tulkarem camp who witnessed the destruction of his house, said: “I’m not leaving the camp. I grew up here and I’ll stay here no matter what. How could I give up on my home?”

Mazen Huaiti, a 22-year-old from Tulkarem camp who lives in the Abu al-full neighborhood, which was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, said: “No matter how long the occupation continues its policy of destroying houses and streets, we will build it again.

“We are steadfast in the camp and faithful. The main goal of the occupation with the destruction of the camps is to eliminate the Palestinian fighters who defend the camps and who confront the occupation during the incursions… The occupation has taken away our strength… but we believe in God and we will take our strength from God.”
The latest Israeli incursion lasted for 13 continuous hours, causing the residents of the camps to wait it out in a state of terror.

A shop was burned down by an Israeli armored vehicle in the Tulkarm camp

A Palestinian woman cleans the remnants of destruction in Tulkarm camp

A Palestinian family witnesses the destruction caused by the occupation

One of the houses how’s have been destroyed in the AL-Manshiyya neighborhood – Nur shams

A child plays with the Soil of the destroyed street in Tulkarem camp

Fighting Until the Last Breath

October 26, 2024 | Tulkarem-West Bank | Diana Khwaelid

What does it mean to bring an entire army battalion with huge military vehicles storming into a neighborhood, to besiege a whole apartment building, in search of a single Palestinian? This is a report of resilience and defiance in the face of the Israeli occupation.

The Building that was surrounded and destroyed by Israeli forces.

On October 26 at 3:20 a.m. the Israeli occupation forces stormed the city of Tulkarem, north of the Western apartment. This time, forces were stationed in Al-Salam Lane, a neighborhood located between the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps.

Israeli military vehicles during the storming.

Israeli special forces known as Al-Yamamah were accompanied by three wheeled bulldozers and Israeli heavy military vehicles of type D9, D10. These forces, accompanied by soldiers, besieged a residential building in the Al-Salam neighborhood for 10 hours continuously, after receiving security intelligence about the presence of a Palestinian inside one of the residential apartments in building. Three Palestinian families, most of them women and children, were living inside the building.

The Palestinians who were living inside the building felt a state of fear and panic, especially the women and children. One of the residents of the building said, “My children are still under the influence of fear and shock even after the withdrawal of the army and the end of the Israeli military operation.”

One of the Residents of the targeted building.

The Israeli occupation operation focused on besieging the building, bulldozing the main entrance to the building, and evacuating the Palestinian families who were living inside, so that the building could be surrounded from all sides, with the addition of aircraft from above.

During the strike of Energa-type shells on the building which led to its burning.

The five-floor building was subjected to partial and total destruction throughout, and all this to kill the 29-year-old Palestinian Islam Odeh, from the Tulkarem camp. The Israeli occupation forces proceeded with a march onto the floor where he was located, and launched Energa-type missiles to murder him, but he kept fighting until the last moment and never gave up; he succumbed to an Israeli bullet in the end. That final bullet hit Islam Odeh directly in the head, and he fell as a martyr.

The shoes of the martyr, Islam, found in the location of his murder.

According to the Palestinian Civil Administration, the Israeli occupation forces killed the young Palestinian Islam, and have retained his body.

A Palestinian firefighter tries to put out the fire started by Israeli forces.

Palestinian medical and Civil Defense crews rushed to the site of the building immediately after the end of the military operation and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, in order to secure the building and dispose of any remnants of explosives and Israeli military equipment.

A Palestinian tries to clear the destruction from inside the building.

This operation imposed heavy material losses for the owner of the building, and heavy losses as well for the owners of cars destroyed by the occupation while at the entrance to the building, cars which belonged to the residents of the building.

There was a difficult psychological impact on the family of the Palestinian martyr Islam Odeh after receiving the news of their son’s elevation.

Father of the martyred Islam Odeh grieves.

There was also a profound psychological impact on the family of the martyr, Islam Odeh, after learning of their son’s death.

According to the Shirin Abu Aqla Observatory in Tulkarm alone, the number of martyrs since the beginning of 2024 has reached 173 so far.

Remembering Ayşenur

Beita – October 25, 2024

International volunteers have continued to return to Beita following the murder of Ayşenur, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, despite the Israeli army violently suppressing the peaceful demonstrations.

On Friday 25, the day began with tense confrontations from Israeli forces, which forced Palestinians and volunteers to evade soldiers and tear gas. After the army retreated, however, a group of international volunteers were finally able to gather at Ayşenur’s memorial. This moment was deeply emotional, honoring a young life stolen abruptly amid a broader struggle for freedom in Beita and all of Palestine.

Since 2021, this village in the West Bank has faced sustained aggressions, resulting in the Israeli forces killing 17 Palestinians. Known for its long-standing history of resistance against illegal Israeli settlement expansions, Beita has become a focal point of suppression. Residents of Beita continue to protest the seizure of land on nearby Jabal Sabih, a hill where settlers have established an illegal outpost (which recently became a settlement), strategically overlooking the village. Life on this land is integral to the community of Beita, and residents now protest at the hill weekly.

For many in Beita, the losses of recent years are a painful reminder of the enduring costs of occupation. The Israeli government has largely dismissed these protests as a “security” issue, but locals see them as a necessary stand against forced displacement. For Palestinians, the establishment of new settlements not only usurps their land but also deepens the sense of injustice and alienation felt under military occupation.

In this solemn space, surrounded by memories of Ayşanur and others lost in the struggle, volunteers and others sought comfort in the belief that she, like those before her, is at peace – and as one volunteer put it, “on her way to Jannah.”

Israeli plan to displace residents of Palestinian camps

Palestine – Northern West Bank

18-Sep-2024

By Diana Kwaelid

For the past two weeks, the Israeli army has been conducting the largest military operation in the northern West Bank, causing the displacement of dozens of families from the Jenin Camp, Nur Shams Camp, and Tulkarem camp. This comes following Israeli calls to evacuate the camps, raising concerns about the repetition of the Gaza scenario in the West Bank.

“Gaza scenario”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said on August 28 that the threat in the West Bank must be dealt with in the same way as the Gaza Strip, coinciding with the start of the West Bank operation.

Katz explained in a tweet on his X page that the Israeli army is launching an intensive military operation in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps for Palestinian refugees against what he called “the Iranian Islamic terrorist infrastructures that have been established there”.

He added that Iran is working to establish what he described as, “a terrorist front against Israel from the West Bank, based on the Gaza and Lebanon model, by financing and arming saboteurs and smuggling advanced weapons through Jordan.”

Katz also called for a temporary evacuation of the population there, and for any other necessary steps to be taken, justifying this by saying that: “This is a war on everything and we must win it.”

Israel’s grand plan

Since the launch of the large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, which began on August 28, Israel has aimed at eliminating all Palestinian militants in the camps in the north of the West Bank, to facilitate the access of Israeli settlers to these areas and settle in them, as in the case of Masafer Yatta, the Jordan Valley area in Tubas, the villages of Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron.

The Palestinian camps in the West Bank, specifically in the North west Bank, are a hotbed of terrorism for Israel.

Al-Balawneh neighborhood in Tulkarem camp

Breaking the popular incubator in the camps

Has Israel succeeded in breaking the popular incubator in the Palestinian camps?

During its military operation two weeks ago, the Israeli occupation forces destroyed the northern West Bank camps and turned them from a vital camp to a place where it is no longer possible to live; the northern West Bank camps have turned into a block of rubble and the infrastructure has been destroyed.

Fortunately, the Palestinians in the camps are aware that Israel’s first goal in destroying the camps, including houses, infrastructure, and shops, is to break the popular incubator and turn the Palestinian civilians living in the camp against the Palestinian fighters who have chosen the path of resistance and defend the camps in every way.

Palestinians from inside Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem camps who lost their homes and private property had the same opinion.

They said: “The occupation will not make us turn against the resistance, and if they demolish my house, I will build another house better than it.”

The footprints of an Israeli soldier during the storming of one of the Palestinian houses in the camp

Palestinian camps showcase Palestinian steadfastness

For the Palestinian community, the Palestinian camps are the representation of steadfastness and challenge, because they are Palestinians who have been displaced from Palestinian cities that have been occupied since 1948 to the West Bank, they paid the price for their stay in Palestine, and the occupation continues to pursue them until now in destroying their place of residence in refugee camps.

For the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank camps, Israel has failed in all its attempts and will never succeed in displacing them from the camps. However, there are dozens of families who have emigrated from the camps because of fear for their families and because there are special cases of illness.

These are the remnants of the occupation – a military bag with food inside for Israeli soldiers in one of the Houses of the Tulkarm camp

Map of the Al Hammam neighborhood used by the occupation soldiers during the military operation in the camp

16-year-old boy killed during Friday demonstration

Amjad Nashat Abu Alya, 16, was killed by Israelis on Friday 29 during a demonstration in the village
of al-Mughayyer. Amjad died in a hospital in Ramallah after being shot in the chest. Eyewitnesses
said he was running to safety after throwing stones when a settler shot him in the back. He is the 7 th
killed in the village.
On Friday, Palestinians gathered in al-Mughayyer and walked towards the edges of the village, to the
main road used also by settlers. The situation heated up when armed settlers arrived and started
clashes with Palestinians. Soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces, who were watching, intervened
and started throwing gas bombs, to which Palestinians responded by throwing stones. The settlers
sided with the soldiers and were throwing stones and shooting on the crowd. There was heavy fire
by soldiers too, with stun grenades, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

Rayan, 25, a second-degree cousin of Amjad, told the ISM that Amjad was a “normal” guy, but he got
“very emotional” and more involved in the fight when his cousin and friend, Ali Abu Alia (15), was
killed while observing a protest in 2020. “He was always the first to attend protests.”
The day before the protest, Amjad had met with one of his friends who had just been released from
an Israeli prison and they decided to attend the protest.
Friday protests are held in many villages in the West Bank as resistance to the occupation. The
peaceful protests are violently met by soldiers and police, to which Palestinians, especially the young
ones, respond by throwing stones. The al-Mughayyer protest was attended by 300- 400 people
according to Al-Jazeera. Ten people were injured by gas, and other two by rubber bullets and live
ammunitions, according to Palestinian media.
Al-Mughayyer is surrounded by a military base and two illegal Israeli settlements: Adei Ad,
established in 1998, and the more recent Malachei Hashalom, from 2015. Villagers have been
protesting the expansion of this settlement. Things have recently exacerbated as settlers regularly
block the main road, a major artery needed for villagers’ livelihoods. Settlers also broke in the village
on several occasions, set two mosques on fire, burned cars and did a major raid in 2019 with several
injured and a Palestinian killed.
According to Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), part of an international NGO for
children’s right, there have been 16 child fatalities in 2022.
“When the settler shot him, he did it with the intention to kill,” Rayan said.
“We lost a young guy for nothing. The situation is terrible, and we have no hope. It is a common
thing for us to lose people to the occupation or have them in prison,” Rayan said.
Amjed funeral was held on Saturday 30. Thousands attended the procession along the nearby
villages and gave farewell to the body.