Al-Buwayra, HEBRON – This morning, in a second day of violence in the village of Al-Buwayra, near Hebron, two international peace activists were attacked by three Israeli settlers wearing black masks.
Both were left seriously injured and have been hospitalized following the unprovoked attack.
Peter after the attack which left him with a probably broken nose
The settlers knocked Canadian Peter Cunliffe (pseudonym), 26, to the ground then beat him in the face and body using metal poles and wooden sticks. He is being treated for a probable broken nose and serious back injuries.
Danish peace activist Koba Soernesen. 23, is currently having his left foot examined as he is unable to stand.
He said: “We were sitting under a fig tree where we often sit, when they appeared out of nowhere, from the direction of the settlers’ area. Peter didn’t see them coming. They continued to beat him when he was on the floor, but I was able to fend them off a bit with my leg.
“They also stole my bag with my passport and camera in it.”
Both are currently receiving treatment in Hebron hospital.
The attack comes after violence erupted in Al Buwayra yesterday following the evacuation by Israeli authorities of an illegal Israeli outpost near the Kiyrat Arba settlement. Peace activists based in the area have been trying to prevent settlers setting fire to olive trees and documenting cases of attacks on Palestinians by settlers.
On 25th July two other peace activists, from the Christian Peacemaker Team, were attacked by settlers in Al Buwayra during a massive settler gathering at an illegal Israeli outpost.
Contact
ISM Media Office: 054-618-0056
Available for interview: Koba Soerensen (English & Dansk): 052 821 0047
Dozens marched to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in Jerusalem on Monday, August 2nd, to mark the first anniversary of the eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Holding UNRWA to account
Representatives of the al-Ghawi and Hanoun families, whose homes have been occupied by Israeli settlers since August 2nd 2009, were joined by Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters, who gathered at ten in the morning outside the houses in question, held a short prayer, and then marched to the UNRWA compound.
The group of around sixty people, including members of the media, asked to be admitted for an audience with UN representatives. Family members demanded of officials why, after one year, nothing had been done, and Palestinians from the same neighbourhood who are facing eviction asked why they had been show so little support.
Some ISM activists accompanied representatives from the Hanoun and Al-Ghawi family, as well as from the Al-Kurd family – who currently remain in Sheikh Jarrah but must endure daily harassment and humiliation from settlers who have occupied the front room of their property – inside the UNRWA building to speak with officials.
Demanding long overdue support
Nasser Al-Ghawi with Fillipo Grandi
The families made three principal demands of the UN: firstly that they provide the full financial assistance to which the families are entitled, and which they need to pay the rent for the apartments they have lived in since being dispossessed; secondly, that the UN help them establish and maintain a presence in Sheikh Jarrah as a symbol of resistance to the injustice of the situation; and finally that they provide UN flags to families in Sheikh Jarrah still under threat of eviction – as a sign of support and in recognition that international law views such evictions as illegal.
Eventually Filippo Grandi, Commissioner General of UNRWA, spoke, saying that the UN is working in Sheikh Jarrah and similar places such as Silwan, and is maintaining a strong presence as well as pressuring Israel to hear an appeal on behalf of the families and monitoring the cases of other families threatened with eviction. However, some ISM activists and family members felt that the UN’s response was unsatisfactory.
One member of the Al-Ghawi family – who have documents proving that they own the house from which they were evicted – commented: “It’s always the same, excuses, words but almost no action. Why can’t the UN at least show they are supporting us with something as small as a flag?”
Legally unjustifiable
The eviction on August 2nd 2009 was justified on the basis of the ruling by an Israeli court which recognized the settlers claim to own the properties, based on a document dating from the Ottoman era, riddled with inconsistencies. However, the American and British consulates as well as the United Nations, condemned the eviction. The court had refused to recognize the documents the Palestinian families had provided proving their ownership, granted to them by the Jordanian government and UN. Regardless of ownership their status as refugees also grants the families protection.
Under international law Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem violate UN Security Council resolutions 465, 242, 446, 452. All measures taken by Israeli to change the character and demographic character of Jerusalem lack legal validity and its policies and practices towards this end constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in conflict situation
Despite this clear position, just last week another Palestinian family were evicted from their home under similar circumstances, showing that Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing is continuing. The attempted Judaisationof Jerusalem – spoken of explicitly by several settler groups – and its corollary, the expulsion of Palestinians, is a slow and insidious but ongoing phenomenon, which has been condemned by Israeli human rights groups ICAHD and B’Tselem as well as the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
Solidarity gathering
Later that evening the families hosted their usual Monday night community dinner and a drumming lesson taught by an Israeli samba band and attended by around 80 people followed.
Settlers could be observed filming people from the occupied houses. They also called Israeli police and complained to them that the road was being blocked. Police loitered on the scene for a long time but did nothing.
A talk was given by a Jewish Israeli professor from Tel Aviv University, in Hebrew and Arabic, analyzing the similarities – and difference – between the Holocaust and Palestinian situation. There was also a screening of the acclaimed film Bili’in Habibti.
Just before the projection of the film a settler threw a stone into the garden but no-one was hurt.
One ISM activist said: “It’s sad that on an anniversary like this, it’s clearer than ever that Israeli policy is not changing – a new eviction in the Old City happened just last week. These evictions are illegal, and create a massive obstacle to justice and peace, as well as on an individual level making families including young children homeless in a very traumatic way.”
Today, August 2nd, marks one year since the Hanoun and al-Ghawi families were evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem at 5:30 in the morning by Israeli security forces.
A banner from a demonstration against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions.
The families, together with their Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters will mark the date with a gathering and prayer at 10:00, followed by a march to the Jerusalem municipality. They will call for an end to the injustice of evictions and to the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem which the Israeli legal system supports.
A community dinner will be held in the evening followed by an all-night vigil.
Existence is resistance
The eviction of the two families on August 2nd 2009 caused international outcry, and was condemned by the UN, as well as the American and British consulates.
Since then both families have maintained a presence outside their houses which are occupied by extremist Israeli settlers who moved in on the same day that Israeli police evicted the Palestinians.
Daily harassment
For those Palestinians who remain, such as the al-Kurd family, who remain in their home despite the front part of their house having been occupied by settlers, daily verbal harassment and physical violence from the settlers is the norm.
A settler attacks young boy in Sheikh Jarrah
The Israeli police also exhibit a consistently discriminatory attitude towards law enforcement, along ethnic lines, so that Palestinians can expect no protection – but instead they are frequently blamed and arrested when they are the victims of violent attacks.
The anniversary falls a few days after another Palestinian family were evicted from their home under similar circumstances, and the property, near Herod’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, occupied in the same manner by Israeli settlers.
History
The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem – a particularly sensitive neighbourhood due to its proximity to the Green Line – was built by the UN and Jordanian government in 1956 to house Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. However, with the start of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, following the 1967 war, settlers began claiming ownership of the land the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was built on.
Stating that they had purchased the land from a previous Ottoman owner in the 1800s, settlers claimed ownership of the land. In 1972, settlers successfully registered this claim with the Israeli Land Registrar. An Israeli Supreme Court ruling was used to justify the eviction of the Hanoun and Al-Ghawi families.
Nasser al-Ghawi in Sheikh Jarrah
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. It sees all of Jerusalem as its “eternal, undivided” capital and is attempting to alter the demographics of the east side of the city.
For many Palestinians, however, the east of the city — home to some 200,000 Jewish Israelis and 268,000 Palestinians — should be the capital of their state.
An injured man in carried to an ambulance - Photo: TILDE DE WANDEL
At around 11:30pm last night (Friday 30 July 2010), ‘The Arafat Compound’ Police College in central Gaza City was bombed by Israeli F-16s, in the area of ‘Al Montada’ injuring seventeen people, three of them seriously. Three children were also among the injured.
Those first at the scene described building debris scattered everywhere and burned out cars still parked on the street. One man had severe injuries to the eyes and head as a result of being hit by shrapnel from the bomb.
The enormous impact of the bomb was felt by ISM volunteers sitting in a nearby café.
Adie Mormech, a British volunteer in Gaza with ISM said: “The blast caused buildings far from the epicenter of the explosion to shake and windows were smashed. When we arrived at Shifa hospital the scene was chaos. Family members were not allowed inside to visit while the patients were being treated. Intermittently more of the injured arrived amidst a mass of waiting media.
A father carries his injured child to a hospital bed - Photo: TILDE DE WANDEL
“Others arrived at the hospital with psychological trauma caused by the enormous impact of the bomb – some were confused to the extent that they couldn’t describe whether they had an injury or not.”
One Gazan resident described the power of the bomb as a rocket weighing more than a ton, the likes of which had not been seen frequently since the horrific three week bombardment over the New Year of 2009, known as Operation Cast Lead.
For many in Gaza, last night’s attack was a traumatic reminder of the onslaught during Operation Cast Lead when three hundred F-16 bomb attacks took place during the first 2 minutes of the campaign. The operations terrorized the entire population of the Gaza Strip and killed over 1400 people, including over 400 children.
Israel’s attack late Friday night followed a rocket that landed in Askelon, Southern Israel. that caused no injuries, and is suspected to have been fired by a small militant faction in Gaza.
As well as reports of other bombings near the Gaza City port there were also rocket attacks on Deir el Belah and Rafah.
Nahal Oz demonstration Wed. 28th July (Photo: TILDE DE WANDEL)
29 July 2010 | ISM Gaza
Five International Solidarity Movement volunteers participated in a demonstration against the bufferzone near Nahal Oz border crossing, east of Gaza City on Wednesday (July 28th).
The march had a big turn out of over 200 people and was organised by the Popular Campaign for the Security in the Buffer Zone, an umbrella group which includes organisations representing farmers and local people living near the border. Members of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF), a grass-roots organisation heavily involved in the protests against the buffer-zone, waved prominent large white flags.
An Israeli army jeep and a large armoured Israeli vehicle were already in position as the demonstrators approached a ridge 150 metres from the fence, where they stood, waving flags and chanting well inside the ‘no go area’ or ‘buffer-zone’ unilaterally imposed by Israel, covering land 300m from the border fence along the entire frontier with Israel. Violent attacks by the Israeli military on anyone in the area have been a consistent occurrence – frequently live ammunition has been used against peaceful demonstrators and even farmers harvesting crops. According to the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) the ‘buffer zone‘ contains over 30% of Gaza’s most useful arable land.
As the demonstration progressed three more jeeps and two tanks arrived. Five soldiers in firing positions were visible outside the vehicles.
Nahal Oz demonstration Wed. 28th July (Photo: TILDE DE WANDEL)
In the beginning of the demonstration the majority of participants marched to about 300 metres to the border where the speeches were made, with demonstrators that included a large group of women, carrying banners condemning the occupation and the siege.
Although in the previous demonstration in Nahal Oz the protesters there were heavily fired upon, this time the watching Israeli snipers did not fire. Some youths advanced to within 100m of the border fence, near to where 21 year old Ahmed Deeb was shot and killed by an explode-on-impact bullet or ‘dum dum’, at a Nahal Oz demonstration on the 28th April this year. That demonstration was non-violent as was Wednesday’s but the continuous use of live ammunition by the Israeli Occupation Forces has caused frequent deaths and numerous injuries for farmers and their families, scrap collectors and demonstrators.
Abu Walid Mahmoud Al-Zaq of the Popular Struggle Front and coordinator of the Popular Campaign for the Security in the Buffer Zone was pleased with the turn-out and helped re-group the crowd when the demonstration had finished, fortunately without injuries.
He explained the importance of continuing to demonstrate despite the risk of live fire: “We will support the farmers who have to work their own land in the buffer-zone in spite of the regular violent attacks on them and their families – we will refuse to let the access to our land be controlled by the brutal policies of the Israeli Occupation Forces.” He also said he invites anyone who can to join a buffer-zone demonstration.
Nahal Oz demonstration Wed. 28th July (Photo: TILDE DE WANDEL)
The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) report that the fertile farmland located around the buffer zone was in recent times the source of half of the food needs of Gaza’s population. Purely due to Israel’s siege of Gaza’s borders and their continuous attacks, farming has now become a very unproductive industry. Of the 175,000 dunams of cultivable land, PARC reported that 60 to 75,000 dunams have been destroyed during Israeli invasions and operations.
The level of destruction from the last Israeli war on Gaza alone accounted for the destruction of 35 to 60 percent of the agricultural industry, according to the UN and World Health Organization. Gaza’s sole agricultural college, in Beit Hanoun, was also destroyed. Oxfam notes that the combination of the Israeli war on Gaza and the buffer zone renders around 46 percent of agricultural land useless or unreachable.
Between January and April this year there have been 50 people injured and 14 killed in attacks on the buffer zone. In the past twelve months there have been at least 220 Israeli attacks with 116 coming since the beginning of 2010 (PCHR, as of April 30th).
