11th March 2009, Beit Ommar village, Hebron region: 27 youth arrested during ongoing closure of Beit Ommar village
27 residents of Beit Ommar village in the Hebron District of the southern West Bank, have been arrested by Israeli forces while the village remains under curfew with a large-scale military operation taking place.
At approximately 12am on the morning of 11 March 2009, over ten army vehicles, including personnel carriers, invaded the village, with an army bulldozer closing the most of the roads leading out of Beit Ommar.
Dozens of soldiers then began entering houses at random and arbitrarily arrested young men. One of the arrested includes an independent journalist and volunteer for B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization.
This recent military invasions comes at great cost for the villagers of Beit Ommar. Today, no one can go to work or school. I have seen the smashed up homes where soldiers have destroyed property and urinated. Twenty-seven boys have now been arrested, seemingly at random, and taken to an unknown location. The military harassment of Beit Ommar has become a regular occurance. – Bekah Wolf, American activist living in Beit Ommar – Palestine Solidarity Project
A curfew has been imposed since 4am, with residents prevented from leaving their homes. Several houses entered by Israeli forces have been damaged. Soldiers have been seen breaking windows and cabinets, and they have urinated in the room of at least one residence.
The army has also passed around a letter telling residents that any youth who threw stones at the army would be arrested.
This most recent invasion comes after a week of almost nightly raids on Beit Ommar. On the night of 4 March, 15-year-old Mehdi Said Abu Ayyash was shot in the head with live ammunition and he remains in a coma in serious condition.
Scottish activist Teresa McDermott has been found in Ramleh prison four days after she was “disappeared” by the Israel government after being forcibly removed from a seaborne Lebanese aid mission to Gaza.
In early February Teresa responded to a call for support from internationals from the organizers of a Lebanese humanitarian aid voyage to Gaza aboard the Togo flagged ship, Tali. Teresa was one of only 9 passengers aboard the cargo ship on February 4, 2009 when Israeli gunboats intercepted it, boarded and forced the ship to Ashdod port in Israel.
All the passengers and crew aboard were released on Thursday, February 5 except Teresa. Between Thursday evening and Sunday morning there was no word about Teresa’s whereabouts except several false stories saying that “Britons” had departed to London. Finally on Sunday, Teresa was able to call her brother John in Scotland to say she was in Ramleh prison in Israel.
According to Al Jazeera journalist Salam Khodr, when the ship was boarded, the passengers were beaten and kicked by Israeli soldiers before being removed from the ship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCb3apCJ4QI&hl=en&fs=1No information has been provided by Israeli officials about why Teresa has been detained, what the charges are if any and why her detention was concealed. When the British Consulate in Israel was contacted for assistance in finding Teresa, staff refused to help locate Teresa saying they couldn’t provide assistance to a UK citizen unless she personally requested it. Members of the Scottish Parliament including Pauline McNeil and Hugh O’Donnell who were part of a fall delegation to Gaza aboard the Free Gaza boat, Dignity, are working with the British government to ensure that Teresa receives the protection and assistance to which she is entitled.
Teresa went to Gaza with the first Free Gaza boats in August and returned with the ship Dignity for a second voyage. She is a respected, long time human rights activist who has worked with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine as well as with Free Gaza. At home in Scotland she works for the Post Office. The Israelis found only medical and other humanitarian aid on the Tali but refused to return the ship. The status of its humanitarian cargo is unknown.
The Israeli Occupation Forces continued their most recent assaults on the village of Jayyous, near Qalqilya, invading on the 5th and 6th of February.
On the 5th February , Israeli forces invaded at 2pm, imposing curfew on the village until 10pm.
The following day, at around 12.30pm, the army once again entered the village, this time using a bulldozer to pave the way for 6 jeeps, dozens of soldiers and border police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. They then proceeded to occupy one family home, taking up position on the roof as the village attempted to resist the invasion by throwing rocks.
The IOF also attempted to break in to another house nearby. When their attempts to break open the lock on the front gate with a rock failed, they employed the bulldozer to break it open creating much damage to the gate. Yet they then failed, after many attempts, to break down the front door, all the time threatening international Human Rights Workers (HRWs) who were filming while trying to stop them.
Israeli forces entered Jayyous in armored jeeps and bulldozers
Several jeeps accompanied by soldiers on foot then descended into the village continually firing at residents. When the international HRWs confronted the soldiers they were told that the area was a closed military zone and threatened the internationals with arrest if they stayed. Throughout this time the Israeli soldiers did not show the required paper for declaring a closed military zone.
The army pushed further through the whole village, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition indiscriminately, even to the point where they seemed to be treating the invasion as a game. The soldiers moved towards a house in the centre of the village when two HRWs came into view of the house. The international HRWs were quickly fired upon from around 10 metres away, despite being clearly unarmed having even been acknowledged moments before by the soldier who shot at them.
Villagers in Jayyous protest detention of youth
The soldiers then came out of the house with a young man and were taking him towards the jeeps, when his brother who was trying to prevent his brother’s arrest was shot at close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet causing serious injury to his arm. While one international HRW headed to the area where Israeli soldiers were arresting the young man, they were fired upon, with the soldier, anxious that no film or photos were captured, obviously aiming for the head.
During the next half hour many of the residents of the village, supported by internationals, came out of their houses and argued with the soldiers demanding they release the boy and leave the village. On more than one occasion the soldiers used sound grenades, throwing them into the crowd mainly composed women and elderly men.
Attempts to release the boy were met with physical violence and the pointing of weapons in peoples faces. The Israeli military eventually made their way to the edge of the village near the south gate. They told villagers that they would stay there and if the village was quiet for 5 minutes they would release the boy, thus making it obvious that they were holding him for no other reason than for blackmail.
After another half hour, the Israeli DCO arriving and the grandfather stubbornly negotiating with them, the boy was released. During this time the army had gained access to the house they tried to break into previously and took up sniping positions on the roof. After several clashes between the village youth and the Israeli army they retreated temporarily to the south gate before once again entering the village, this time on foot with no support from jeeps.
As it got dark they once again retreated to the south gate, before spreading themselves out along the fence that runs along the edge of the village. Youths from the village attempted and were successful a couple of times in setting tires alight on the fence but the army used flares and were repeatedly shooting with automatic rifle fire. This continued for a couple of hours until at this point the village has been invaded again by many jeeps and soldiers with the whole village yet again under curfew.
Israeli soldiers open fire on Palestinian farmers and international Human Rights Workers twice in threedays
Israeli soldiers again opened fire on Palestinian farmers and international Human Rights Workers (HRWs) on Thursday 5th February, as they attempted to harvest parsley in agricultural land near the Green Line.
Returning to farm-land of Al Faraheen village, in the Abassan Jedida area, east of Khan Younis, where soldiers had opened fire on Tuesday 3rd February, farmers and HRWs were able to harvest the parsley crop for only half an hour, before soldiers again began to shoot. A number of shots were fired into the air, before the soldiers started to aim in the direction of the farmers and international accompaniment. Bullets were heard to whiz past, close to people’s heads.
The soldiers continued to shoot on the group, despite the fact that many members of the group had their arms in the air and were wearing
fluorescent vests to make them highly visible, and identify them as Human Rights Workers; had erected a banner indicating that the farmers
and accompaniment were civilians; contact had been made with the Israeli army to advise them that Palestinian civilians and internationals would be working in the area; the various international embassies had been advised of the planned accompaniment; and the internationals were announcing their presence via a megaphone – demanding that the soldiers stop shooting on unarmed civilians.
“We are unarmed civilians! We are farmers and international Human Rights Workers! Stop Shooting!”
With internationals acting as human shields, the farmers – after initially lying down to avoid being shot – attempted to continue harvesting. After a few moments, however, the shooting intensified and farmers decided to leave the area, rather than be killed. Internationals announced on the megaphone that the group was leaving the area – asking that the soldiers halt their fire. Instead, as the group started to leave, the shooting further intensified in rapidity and proximity. Even after the group had taken refuge in a house, approximately 1km from the Green Line, the soldiers continued to shoot at nearby houses that were demolished during the recent Israeli Operation Cast Lead.
This behaviour on the part of the Israeli soldiers was an almost exact repeat of their response to the presence of the farmers and internationals, in the same area of farm-land, two days before. On the Tuesday, however, the group was able to harvest for two hours before soldiers began to shoot. Whilst farmers had hoped to be able to wait-out the shooting, in order to continue harvesting, it quickly
became clear that the situation was too dangerous for that to be possible.
The farmers of Al Faraheen are particularly aware of the level of danger they face when entering farm lands that are within 1 km of the Green Line – after watching their friend and colleague, 27 year old Anwar Il Ibrim, from neighbouring Benesela, killed by a bullet to the neck while he was picking parsely in the same area, just one week before.
The owner of the land, Yusuf Abu Shaheen, commented after Tuesday’s gun-fire “If you [internationals] hadn’t been with us today, the soldiers would have killed us all”.
Whilst it has become increasingly dangerous for farmers to enter their lands near the Green Line, especially since the recent Israeli attacks, for farmers like Yusuf, there is an economic imperative to harvest his crops. Yusuf explains that just to plant the crops and keep them watered and fertilised, costs him $2000 each month – money that has already been spent. There is the additional factor of a lack of water that increases the sense of urgency to harvest crops planted in the vicinity of the Green Line. Israeli forces broke the pipes for the area one week before their war on Gaza began. The parsley in the most dangerous areas, with water, could very well have been left for another week or two without harvesting – in the hope that the soldiers might become less aggressive over time. Without water, the plants are becoming increasingly tough, sweet and salty. If they are not harvested soon, they will become worthless.
The workers, who are employed by Yusuf to harvest the crops, also put themselves in mortal danger every time they enter the lands close to the Green Line. Like most in the Gaza Strip, they too are compelled by economic concerns to risk their lives for the meager sum of 20
shekels ($5)/day. With an unemployment rate of 40%, and almost two-thirds (900 000) of Gaza’s residents reliant on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the levels of poverty existing in Gaza mean that, for many families, money earned by sons and farmers risking their lives near the Green Line, might be the only money they have.
Anwar’s mother explains that her son hadn’t worked in the Al Faraheen area for 6 months – not since a large-scale Israeli incursion into the
area in May 2008, and the following Israeli military aggression, made agricultural work in the area extremely dangerous. Anwar, the only
son in the family, felt compelled to try to earn whatever he could to support the family – in particular to buy medicine for his ailing and paralysed father.
The ability of farmers to earn money from these lands is not only being threatened by the daily shooting from the Israeli army, however, but also by the inability to irrigate the crops. On Tuesday, Yusuf took the opportunity to remove expensive connecting valves from the irrigation pipes. On Thursday, an elderly farmer was pulling up all of the irrigation pipes themselves – now useless as it is impossible to get water to the area. This crop the farmers have spent two days trying to harvest, seems likely to be the last that will be planted there for some time.
Such actions – shooting at farmers trying to work their lands; and destroying irrigation systems – are part of the wider, systematic economic oppression of Palestinians. Along with sanctions and a siege that prevents Palestinians from importing and exporting goods; and denies freedom of movement to work in other countries, Israeli military forces also attempt to prevent Palestinians from deriving income from other methods, such as fishing and farming – through extreme levels of military force. Indeed, throughout the 23-day war on Gaza, the Israeli military, along with demolishing approximately 10,000 homes, and damaging many thousands more to the extent to which they are uninhabitable, intentionally killed hundreds of thousands of livestock, and bulldozed thousands of dunums of agricultural land.
In order to stand in solidarity with farmers in their struggle against this economic oppression, international HRWs will continue to accompany farmers to dangerous lands – challenging Israeli military imposition of “closed military zones” in areas that they claim to no longer occupy.
We reiterate the need for a call from Palestinian community based organisations and the over 130 grassroots NGOs in the Palestinian NGO Network for an immediate opening of all border crossings currently controlled by Israel and Egypt.
Gaza is in the grip of a man-made humanitarian crisis. Thousands of tons of food, medical and emergency shelter aid including blankets and mattresses, donated by countries including the United States and aid organisations, is being denied entry through crossings by both the Israeli and Egyptian governments.
The United Nations has stated that 900,000 Gazans are now dependent on food aid following Israel‘s 22-day assault on the tiny coastal territory. Only 100 aid trucks are being allowed into Gaza each day – 30 less than were being brought in last year and substantially less than before Israel’s operation ‘Cast Lead’: an attack that has left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, the vast majority of them civilians massacred in their streets and homes. With over 5,000 injured and 100,000 homeless, admittance of aid is crucial at this time.
This is a fraction of the estimated 500-600 trucks deemed necessary to sustain the population of Gaza according to the United Nations. According to UNRWA, food trucks are delivering enough food to feed just 30,000 people per day.
Hundreds of medical patients, the injured from this war and Israel’s previous invasions, are being prohibited from leaving Gaza for indispensable medical treatment. Over 268 people have died of preventable and treatable conditions after being denied access to treatment since the beginning of the ongoing siege two years ago.
Israel and Egypt have designated February 5th as the final day for all foreign nationals to leave Gaza through the southern Rafah border. Egypt has said it will close the Rafah border indefinitely. Despite a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Health that humanitarian cases will be allowed through, many patients have already been turned back, before the closing of the border. Hundreds of patients and some of those wounded from ‘Cast Lead,’ are still waiting for permission to exit Gaza through Rafah for medical treatment.
The Gazan community is concerned that Israel will be stepping up its’ economic, political, cultural and militarised stranglehold on Gaza in the upcoming weeks.
Post Israeli elections, Gazans fear the Israeli government will conduct extra judicial killings and continue their deadly strikes on Palestinian governmental figures, targeting of social and economic infrastructure and indiscriminate killings of civilians in the process. Actions that have proven to not only end lives but successfully cripple Palestinian development including reconstruction of homes destroyed by Israeli bombings and bulldozing during and before Operation ‘Cast Lead’.
Thousands of internally displaced people face an uncertain future residing in flimsy canvas tents reminiscent of the mass dispossession through the ethnic cleansing of 1948 when the state of Israel was first established on Palestinian land.
A de-facto land grab and re-colonisation of Gaza is underway, with the demolition of hundreds of homes and destruction of farms in the Israeli defined ‘buffer zone’ areas of Rafah, Eastern (Shijaye) and Northern (Beit Hanoun) areas of Gaza. Killings, shelling and shootings of farmers and residents in border areas are continuing.
The ‘buffer zone’ has been expanded to cut into Palestinian lands by one kilometre. Israeli occupation forces have shot at residents that have attempted to retrieve their belongings from the bombed and bulldozed remnants of their homes along the border of Beit Hanoun. The army also continues to fire at farmers planting their fields in village areas such as al Faraheen near Khan Younis.
The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture says Israeli occupation forces have destroyed 60% of Gaza’s agricultural land during this winter’s war.
Effective international direct action and an escalation of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction campaign is necessary to resist the intensification of the collective punishment, imprisonment and ongoing war on the people of Palestine.
The situation is worsening: the stranglehold on the people of Gaza is tightening, humanitarian relief is being deliberately choked, trauma is deepening, people are being humiliated on a daily basis and development is not just blocked but in the process of being actively reversed.
We call on social movements, particularly No Borders networks, and people of conscience to target Israeli and Egyptian embassies, institutions, and corporations. Particularly in the coming days of intensified border closure, we must work to pressure both governments to abide by international law and open Gaza for the free movement of aid, goods and people.
End the collective punishment of the Gazan people, open the borders.
days
“We are unarmed civilians! We are farmers and international Human Rights Workers! Stop Shooting!”
Such actions – shooting at farmers trying to work their lands; and destroying irrigation systems – are part of the wider, systematic economic oppression of Palestinians. Along with sanctions and a siege that prevents Palestinians from importing and exporting goods; and denies freedom of movement to work in other countries, Israeli military forces also attempt to prevent Palestinians from deriving income from other methods, such as fishing and farming – through extreme levels of military force. Indeed, throughout the 23-day war on Gaza, the Israeli military, along with demolishing approximately 10,000 homes, and damaging many thousands more to the extent to which they are uninhabitable, intentionally killed hundreds of thousands of livestock, and bulldozed thousands of dunums of agricultural land.