23rd October, 2015 |International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | West Bank, occupied Palestine
We are remembering our great friend & the great friend of Hebron, Hashem al-Azzeh, who gave this interview with ISM last year before his tragic passing earlier this week.
23rd October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine
Thousands of persons attended the funeral of Ahmad Serhe, 27 years old, in Deir El Balah on 21st October 2015. He was killed the day before in Bureij by an Israeli sniper.
22nd October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Today in the morning, Israeli forces harassed international human rights observers monitoring a checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) on settlers orders.
Two internationals were monitoring the stairs leading up to two schools from segregated Shuhada street. Palestinians are forced to take the stairs as the small stretch of Shuhada Street where they are allowed to walk, before Shuhada Street – once the major Palestinian market – continues on as a ghost stretch, completely emptied off any Palestinians, who are not allowed to even walk there. Checkpoint 55, which marks the line from where Palestinian freedom of movement is completely denied is often the scene of ID-checks, body-searches, detentions and arrests of Palestinians.
During the last few weeks, this has also been the choice venue for large groups of settlers from the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah and many of the other illegal al-Khalil settlements for staging protests, such as executing a Palestinian and celebrating his death with trays of sweets. The Palestinian residents in this neighbourhood are constantly harassed by the soldiers and settlers, who in turn enjoy the unconditional protection of the Israeli forces – even to the extent that a knife can be planted on a dead Palestinian by Israeli police, as seen in this video filmed by the activist group Youth Against Settlement.
With the recent escalation of soldiers’ and settlers’ violence against Palestinians and the extrajudicial executions of Palestinians, not only in al-Khalil, but beyond that throughout the occupied West Bank and Gaza, teachers and parents are worried about school-children’s safety on the way to school. International human rights observers are monitoring most of the innumerable checkpoints children are forced to pass through on their way to school.
On Thursday morning, two internationals were standing at checkpoint 55, monitoring Palestinian school-children on their way up the stairs to Qurtuba school when a settler from the Beit Hadassah settlement spotted the internationals, immediately walked up to the soldiers seeming upset, pointing towards the internationals and down the road. Just a few seconds later, soldiers came up to the human rights observers asking for their passports and visas and ordering them to move further away down the road, out of sight of the staircase leading to the school. When questioned about reasons for this, soldiers admitted that ‘someone’ did not feel safe and wanted them to leave the area. A few minutes later, more soldiers arrived at the checkpoints and requested the two internationals to be body-searched. The female human rights observer refused as there were no female soldiers, but the male was human rights observer was forced to lift up his shirt and trousers and have a soldier body-search him. The reason soldiers gave to internationals was ‘security’, though soldiers almost never bother to check the internationals’ bags. This comes just as illegal settlers in al-Khalil put up posters asking for soldiers and settlers to ‘take action’ against these ‘hostile anarchists trying to harm Israelis for anti-semitic reasons’, openly inciting violence toward these third party observers.
This kind of harassment, for Palestinians, is a daily occurrence, completely leaving their lives at the soldiers’ every whim.
21st October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine
Long term supporter and friend of ISM, Hashem Azzeh, has tragically passed away today aged 54, following health complications exacerbated by the conditions in Al-Khalil (Hebron). Hashem, who had a long-term cardiac condition, called for an ambulance on feeling discomfort in his chest earlier this afternoon. As Palestinian vehicles are banned within his H2 neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, Hashem had to be assisted to walk the 700 meters from his house to the Shuhada street checkpoint in increasing pain. He passed the soldiers who harass him and his family on a daily basis and was accompanied into an awaiting ambulance. He passed away not long afterwards.
Only yesterday, Tuesday 20th October, Hashem picked olives together with international support from the ISM Al-Khalil team. After just 20 minutes of picking, they were interrupted by illegal settlers, armed with machine guns, who made it impossible to continue the harvest for the day. (See more here)
Within his life time, Hashem was subject to an extreme amount of harassment and abuse. Living in the infamous neighborhood of Tel Rumeida in Al-Khalil (Hebron), illegal settlers not uncommonly threw trash, stones and even human feces at his house and family within. As he described in an interview with ISM in December 2013: ”In general the daily life is really horrible. Our children get harassed on their way to and back from school. We get controlled and searched at the checkpoint every day.” Him and his wife Nisreen also tragically lost two children due to settler violence.
The inability to easily access medical assistance within Tel Rumeida was just one example he gave of the stranglehold effect of Israeli forces and illegal settlers on this neighborhood. “I used to climb a six meter wall to access my home. When my wife was pregnant I had to carry her all the way, when she was about to give birth. It took us three hours to get to the hospital.”
Hashem was an admired friend to many internationals and his house was always open for a cup of tea on the occasions that soldiers allowed passage through the street. He strongly resisted the occupation and undoubtedly inspired many people with his stoic commitment to both his family and his city.
An ISM Al-Khalil team member stated tonight, “it is hard to find the words to respond to these senseless attacks on innocent families at the best of times. As this tragic and avoidable death follows weeks of escalating violence in Al-Khalil, and years of constant harassment of the Azzeh family, we are looking back on Hashem’s words from the past…’the army and the settlers have done a lot to me here. They want me to move but I will never give up, we are still fighting until we get our freedom…‘” Our thoughts go out the family of Hashem who lost a father and husband today, and we continue to stand in solidarity to that end.
An autopsy will occur overnight to determine the exact cause of Hashem’s death and the degree to which the Israeli-delayed medical assistance contributed to his untimely passing. There will be a funeral tomorrow, October 22 at 12pm in Al-Khalil.
He will be sorely missed in Tel Rumeida and around the world.
21st October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine
”These are not tourists. These are hostile anarchists. Soldiers and residents pay attention, the characters in these photos are here to harm Israelis for anti-semitic reasons. Act accordingly.”
This message, written in Hebrew, was posted by a machine gun-wielding illegal Israeli settler outside the apartment of international human rights defenders in Hebron (al-Khalil) today. The posters show pictures of the faces of members of the ISM Al-Khalil team, as well as other international organisations working in the town. Most of the photos were taken yesterday, October 20th, while they were picking olives with the family of Hashem Al Azzeh in Tel Rumeida.
Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinians in al-Khalil on a daily basis with impunity. Settlers have also attacked international human rights defenders in the past.
In the last month settlers and the Israeli military have shot dead several Palestinians whom they claimed had knives. Pictures and videos taken by Palestinian activists and international volunteers have challenged these claims.
A member of the International Solidarity Movement Al-Khalil team today stated that ”the intention of this threat is clearly to intimidate international human rights defenders and to prevent them from continuing to document the acts of violence, abuses and human rights crimes that illegal Israeli settlers carry out towards Palestinians every day in Hebron’.’
Despite the threat the international volunteers intend to stay in al-Khalil.
