Category: Features

International human rights workers to accompany Gazan farmers in ‘buffer zone’ despite Israeli threats

For Immediate Release:

Saturday, 30 May 2009: Five international human rights workers from the ISM-Gaza Strip will be accompanying farmers from Khoza’a as they harvest crops next to the Green Line.

In the morning, human rights workers will join Palestinian farmers in Khoza’a village, located east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, to farm land 400 meters from the ‘Green Line’.

The farmers will continue their work despite recent threats from the Israeli occupation forces to shoot anyone who enters the ‘buffer zone.’

Israeli forces opened fire on the workers on 25 May 2009 and they were forced to leave the area.

Several farmers have been shot by Israeli forces while farming their lands.

IAF planes drop intimidating pamphlets over Gaza

ISM Gaza | Farming Under Fire

25 May 2009

Translation of leaflet (both leaflets have the same message with different maps):

To the people of the strip:
The Israeli Defense Forces repeat their alert forbidding the coming close to the border fence at a distance less than 300 metres who gets close will subject himself to danger whereby the IDF will take necessary procedures to drive him away which will include shooting when necessary he who has alerted shall be excused!
– The IDF

Israeli forces used similar tactics during the Gazan massacre in December 2009. By dropping leaflets with warnings, Israeli forces tried to intimidate Gazans and alleviate their responsibility to avoid civilian casualties.

Israeli forces threaten Gazans to keep away from 'buffer zone'
Israeli forces threaten Gazans to keep away from 'buffer zone'
Israeli forces threaten Gazans to keep away from 'buffer zone'
Israeli forces threaten Gazans to keep away from 'buffer zone'

IAF planes drop warning pamphlets over Gaza | Ha’aretz

25 May 2009

Israel Air Force aircraft have scattered pamphlets over the Gaza Strip warning residents to stay away from the border, The Associated Press reported Monday.

The heavily guarded border is the scene of sporadic fighting between militants and Israel Defense Forces troops. Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen in a clash on Friday.

The Arabic pamphlets warned Gazans to stay out of areas 300 meters to 500 meters from the border fence, saying they risk being shot.

The IDF had no comment. The military has scattered similar warning pamphlets in the past.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said a 10-year-old boy was struck by a box of leaflets and moderately hurt during Monday’s airdrop.

Violence has largely subsided in Gaza following Israel’s 3-week offensive against the coastal territory’s Hamas rulers in January

Israeli forces shoot Ni’lin demonstrator in the head with tear-gas projectile

22 May 2009

Residents of Ni’lin gathered in the olive groves near the village to hold the weekly prayer before the start of the demonstration at 12:30. Several speeches were made to commemorate the 1 year anniversary since Ni’lin’s resistance against the Apartheid Wall began. Israeli soldiers positioned themselves around the people praying. Several soldiers occupied a nearby under-construction house.

As soon as the prayer ended, soldiers began to throw and fire tear-gas canisters. Residents, along with international and Israeli solidarity activists, ran away from the tear-gas on to the main road. Several young men responded to the military violence by throwing stones.

The Israeli army continued to shoot tear-gas canisters directly at demonstrators as they were in the village. Two soldiers positioned themselves on the main road and shot a Palestinian man with 0.22 caliber live ammunition in his leg. Another group of soldiers went further into the village and arrested a Palestinian man. The soldiers then shot tear-gas and 0.22 calibre live ammunition into a small road at demonstrators.

Demonstrators marched towards the olive field, but were prevented from entering because of 2 Israeli jeeps positioned near the outskirts. Soldiers began to shoot tear-gas canisters directly at individuals.

Israeli forces shot a 20 year old Palestinian in the head with a tear gas projectile
Israeli forces shot a 20 year old Palestinian in the head with a tear gas projectile

At 2:30, one Palestinian youth, aged 20, was shot in the head with a tear-gas canister from around 10 meters as he was standing near a home on the outskirts of the village. He was bleeding profusely from his head and had to be taken to Ramallah hospital. The tear-gas canister shattered part of his skull and he had to undergo surgery.

Demonstrators remained on the outskirts of the village as soldiers continued to fire tear-gas canisters. Another Palestinian man was shot in the arm with a 0.22 live caliber bullet and a third was shot in the fingers.

Around 4:30 the soldiers began to leave the outskirts of the olive groves. Demonstrators proceeded to their field and soldiers shot more tear-gas and 0.22 caliber live ammunition. The protest ended around 5:30pm. Three Palestinian demonstrators were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and one was shot in the head with a tear-gas canister.

The 20 year old Palestinian who was shot with a tear-gas canister remains in Ramallah hospital for treatment for his head wound.

Israeli occupation forces have murdered four Ni’lin residents during demonstrations against the confiscation of their land and critically injured one international solidarity activist.

Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on 29 July 2008. The following day, Yousef Amira (17) was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving him brain dead. He died a week later on 4 August 2008. Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22), was the third Ni’lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces. He was shot in the back with live ammunition on 28 December 2008. That same day, Mohammed Khawaje (20), was shot in the head with live ammunition, leaving him brain dead. He died three days in a Ramallah hospital. Tristan Anderson (37), an American citizen, was shot with a high velocity tear gas projectile on 13 March 2009 and is currently in critical condition. In total, 30 persons have been shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition.

Since May 2008, residents of Ni’lin village have been demonstrating against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the occupation continues to build a Wall, further annexing Palestinian land.

Ni’lin will lose approximately 2500 dunums of agricultural land when the construction of the Wall is completed. Ni’lin consisted of 57,000 dunums in 1948, reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, currently is 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after construction of the Wall.

Beit Ommar farmers continue to challenge closed military zones in order to reach their lands

Palestine Solidarity Project

Saturday, 16th May 2009

On the morning of the 16th, Palestinian farmers from Beit Ommar village with lands in Saffa close to the illegal Israeli settlement of Bet Ayn, defied a closed military zone order issued by the army in order to work their lands. At around 7am, about a dozen farmers and their families accompanied by a large group of Israeli and international solidarity activists, went to their fields in a valley just below Bet Ayn settlement. Farming in this valley is often dangerous, as the villagers face harassment from settlers and the Israeli military.

The farmers picked grape leaves and used tractors to work the fields for about three hours before settlers started to gather at the top of the hill screaming, “death to all arabs.” Within minutes, a jeep of Israeli soldiers and border police arrived and showed a paper declaring the lands a closed military zone. An Israeli solidarity activist countered the order by showing the commander a copy of a ruling from the Israeli high court that states that it is illegal for the army to repeatedly declare closed military zones and deny farmers access to their lands. The commander ignored the court paper and told the farmers and solidarity activists to leave the lands before returning to his jeep. However, the farmers continued to work their lands in the area for about another hour before finishing with their work without interference from the army.

Sunday, 17th May 2009

On the morning of the 17th, two elderly Palestinian farmers returned to the valley accompanied by four international solidarity activists. In an unusual occurrence, the farmers were able to pick grape leaves for several hours without any threats from settlers or the army even appearing to prevent them from working.

Monday, 18th May 2009

On the morning of the 18th, farmers from Saffa attempted to work their lands at the top of the hill overlooking the valley, closer to the illegal Israeli settlement of Gush Etzion. Shortly after the farmers arrived, three settlers appeared and began to walk towards the Palestinian villagers shouting threats and telling them to leave the area. Fearing for their safety, the farmers returned to the village. However, they returned to the same area in the evening at around 4pm. This time, the farmers went out in a large group with women and children and they were also accompanied by four international solidarity activists. After about an hour of working the lands, two Israeli soldiers came down the hill from the settlement and declared a closed military zone. Yet the soldiers lacked the military order that makes the closed area official. After farmers and internationals told the soldiers that the closed military zone was not legal, the soldiers retreated to the top of the hill and watched the farmers until they finished their work about an hour later.

UK medics go on hunger strike after being refused entry into Gaza

Haroon Siddique | The Guardian

19 May 2009

Three British medics began a hunger strike in Egypt today to protest against being refused entry into Gaza for a humanitarian mission.

Their aim is to establish a cardiac surgery unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which currently has no such facility, and to help train medical students and junior doctors there. But the British medics have been denied access to the Palestinian territory at the Rafah crossing since the beginning of May.

Omar Mangoush, a cardiac surgeon at Hammersmith hospital, in London, told guardian.co.uk he had been to the crossing with his colleagues every day since arriving in Egypt on 4 May, only to be told they did not have permission to enter.

“We are on hunger strike until they let us through,” he said. “We’ll stay [at the crossing] until they let us in. We want to put pressure on the British embassy. We believe if the British embassy wanted us to do this they could exert pressure [on the Egyptian authorities].”

Mangoush said he had been told by the British embassy that it had received a letter from the Egyptian foreign ministry saying the medics’ request for access to Gaza had been “postponed”.

But he claimed American aid workers had gained entry to Gaza at their first attempt with the support of the US embassy.

Mangoush named the other British medics on hunger strike as Christopher Burns-Cox, a retired consultant, and Kirsty Wong, a nurse at Hammersmith hospital. Another six people are on hunger strike, including three Belgians, he said.

The cardiac surgeon took a month’s holiday from work to take part in the mission for the Manchester-based charity Palestine International Medical Aid (PIMA)

“This is very important for us,” he said. “There are loads of people with heart disease [in Gaza]. They can’t get here [to Egypt], they can’t get to Israel. If it’s this hard for us to get to, how difficult is it for the Palestinians to get out?”

PIMA’s director, Dr Ahmed Almari, said: “It’s unbelievable. They’re a group of doctors, they went for education and teaching, to set up a cardiac unit. It’s unfair and sad that it is only as a result of a hunger strike that anybody pays attention. There’s no reason to stop them from crossing.”

Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing largely closed since Hamas won the Gaza elections three years ago. One of the main demands of Hamas has been that all crossings into Gaza should be allowed to reopen permanently. A number of aid groups have said the closure of the crossings is contributing to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Palestinian medical sources reported today that a one-year-old infant died yesterday at a local hospital in Rafah owing to several complications, including pneumonia, as his transfer to a hospital outside of the Gaza Strip was not possible due to the ongoing Israeli siege.