Category: Features - Page 32 - International Solidarity Movement

Supporting Fayzeh

15th August 2017 | Supporting Fayzeh | occupied Palestine

Many of you know Fayzeh and Issa Souf from the West bank village of Hares. Fayzeh has been recently diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. She has been hospitalized for the last month and has began receiving chemotherapy. Issa and Fayzeh’s dedication, generosity and kindness have touched and given hope so many people. Now, their friends who have received so much from them over the years are trying to do all we can to support them through this challenging time. We invite you to send prayers, encouragement, and support through this group. We have also created a fund to support the family with the expected related expenses and to try to support them in whatever way we can in this time. You can send money via paypal by going to https://palsolidarity.org/donate/ and clicking “Support Fayzeh Souf”.

Background: In May 2001, When Fayzeh was pregnant with their first child, Israeli soldiers invaded Hares. Issa went out to bring his brothers children, who were playing outside, indoors. As soon as he stepped out of the house one of the soldiers shot him. Issa fell to the ground. The soldiers surrounded him, kicked him and yelled at him to get up, he tried, but he couldn’t move. The bullet was lodged in Issa’s spine and he remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Most people would not have survived. But with Issa’s emotional and physical strength and Fayzeh’ s devotion and care, Issa not only survived, but he and Fayzeh continue to contribute to their community and to anyone that comes in touch with them. Their home remained an open and supportive center for nonviolent activism. In the last ten years Issa has organised retreats and healing camps for children, adults and teenage female ex-prisoners.

When Fayzeh gave birth to Ward, their first son, Issa was already paraplegic. I remember how tall Issa used to be, but Ward only knows his father in a wheelchair. Issa and fayzeh wanted Ward to not miss anything because of Issa’s injury, so when Ward said he wanted a brother, Fayzeh got insemination treatment and gave birth to twins, a beautiful girl, Heba, and a beautiful boy, Hamudi. After that, when Heba said she wanted a sister, she repeated the treatment and gave birth to another set of beautiful twins, Bissan and Ibrahim. Ward is now 16, Heba and Hamudi 14 and Bissan and Ibrahim are now 7.

A few months ago Fayzeh began complaining of stomach pains. The hospitals in the West Bank do not have the equipment to do the necessary scans so It took another month and a half to get a correct diagnosis. This time, it is Issa that has not left Fayzeh’s side, though it has meant that they have both been away from the children more than they would like. We will do our best to keep you posted on how Fayzeh and the family are doing.

Click here for all the updates

Settler violence continues in occupied al-Khalil

7^th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement | Al-Khalil team, Occupied Hebron

On the evening of Saturday 5^th August, a group of 30 to 50 settlers aged between 15 and 30 years old from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba entered the Palestinian neighbourhood Wadi al-Hussein from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba and verbally and physically attacked Palestinians and vandalised the neighbourhood. A member of the Jabari family, a man aged 24 using a mobility scooter, was assaulted and injured by a group of settlers.

Groups of settlers on the main road near Palestinian families
Photo credit: Jabari family

The incident began around 9:30 pm on Saturday 5^th August when a group of 30 to 50 settlers arrived on the streets of Wadi al-Hussein and started harassing locals. The settlers attacked a 24-year old disabled Palestinian man living near the Kiryat Arba settlement, pushing him off of his mobility scooter and beating him. The man suffered injuries to his leg from the attack. Even though the situation should have required intervention from the Israeli occupation forces, only the Israeli civil administration arrived at the scene.

According to the family of the Palestinian man, they had heard noises near their home and had run down to the street to see what was going on and to find their family member. The family was not able to locate the 24-year old, because the civil administration had transferred him after he was beaten by the settlers. In the street, the family was both verbally and physically assaulted by the settlers. The aggression continued until 2 AM and no Israeli soldiers were at any time present in the neighbourhood to protect the Palestinians living there.

Cars gather during settler attack in al-Khalil
Photo credit: Jabari family

As a result, the settlers had free access to the lands of the Jabari family and the rest of the Palestinian neighbourhood. During the hostilities, the settlers not only assaulted people physically and verbally, but also threw stones at Palestinian houses and cars. Thus, many Palestinian families were forced to stay inside their houses during this settler attack. No settlers were arrested after the hostilities and they were allowed to walk back freely to the settlement. It is likely that the attack was a response to the violence the day before on 4^th August, in the same neighbourhood, in which four Palestinians and a settler girl were injured after a large group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians with rocks.

The Wadi Al-Hussain neighbourhood lies next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba and suffers from frequent settler violence, daily harassment as well as restrictions imposed on the community by Israel. The Jabari family won a court case last month against the claims from the municipality of Kiryat Arba to pay “Arnona” taxes of 160,000 NIS on the basis that they live within the borders of Israel. Kiryat Arba municipality sent the bill to the family based on the claim that they lived within the administrative borders of the settlement. The Israeli court ruled on 27^th of July that the “Arnona” claims were illegal and ought to be canceled. However, the family still struggles to protect their land against settlers, including against the illegally constructed outdoor synagogue named “Hazoun David” that was built on the Jabari family’s land. The settlers walk up to this synagogue twice a day and occupy the area, especially on Saturdays when they celebrate the Sabbath. The Jabari family is only one out of many Palestinian families living under these circumstances in occupied Palestine.

BDS conference in Australia: end complicity with Israeli apartheid

7th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, support group Australia | Australia

Multi-award winning poet and playwright Samah Sabawi began Australia’s second and biggest national conference on Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions last week in Sydney, with words from the diaspora: “In 2005, after decades of failed negotiations, Palestinian civil society lit a candle in the darkness. They started a non-violent, grassroots movement, based on international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They called on people of good conscience around the world to apply boycotts, divestments and sanctions on Israel…And we are here at this conference to discuss ways in which to respond to this call. Palestinian civil society is not asking us to get involved. They are asking us to end our involvement with Israeli apartheid. Because we are already knee-deep in complicity.”

Watch a live video of the conference here.

Israeli forces repress Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

6th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

On Friday 4th of August residents of Kafr Quaddum held their weekly demonstration against the closure of a road, once the main transport route from the community to Nablus. The weekly Friday demonstrations began on 1st July 2011.

Palestinians march in Kafr Qaddum during last Friday’s protest

The closing of the road was justified as a security measure for the nearby illegal settlement of Kedumim, and has led to residents of Kafr Quaddum having to use a significantly longer route to Nablus, and the surrounding area.

Last friday’s demonstration started around 1 PM, with local residents, joined by Israeli and International activists, marching through the village.They were met by Israeli soldiers who used tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets to suppress the crowd. The demonstration was pushed back from several directions, with Israeli forces raiding the house of local resident Jamal Jumaa, and using it as a strategic point from which to disperse the protesters.

Kafr Qaddum residents have been protesting the closure of a main road since 2011

Despite the use of excessive violence by Israeli forces, no one was injured during the three hour demonstration.

Drones were also deployed in order to surveil residents participating in the protest, so as to identify targets for arrest.

Israeli forces repressed the demonstration and raided the house of Jamal Jumaa, a local resident

In the six years since the weekly demonstrations began, locals report that 85 Palestinians have been shot with live ammunition, with a further 170 people arrested.

Settlers illegally occupy a Palestinian house in Hebron

6th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Tuesday 25th of July some 50 Israeli settlers illegally occupied a Palestinian house in illegal occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron) in H2 in an attempt to take control of the house. The settlers have stayed in the Palestinian building for six days, protected by the Israeli police, who should have instead evicted the settlers due to the unclear legal status of the building. Due to the settler presence, the Palestinian families living in the building complex are limited in their movement both by the settlers and Israeli forces and are disturbed by the settlers chanting and dancing on the courtyard.

Settlers illegally occupy parts of a Palestinian house in occupied Al-Khalil.

The settlers and their children raided the house around 4:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon and opened the door by force. The Israeli army claims that they arrived at the scene after the settlers raided the house, but one Palestinian family living in the building confirmed that the Israeli army was already present when the settlers raided the house. The family opened the door in the hope that the Israeli forces would protect them, but instead they allowed the settlers passage. After breaking in the settlers were celebrating loudly in front of the building until midnight.

Israeli settlers gathering and chanting loudly in front of the house they illegally occupied.

The following morning the situation was still going on and there were more Israeli police and army present. Also different media came to the site, but were not allowed to enter the house. A journalist tried to enter the house after getting invited by the family of Abu Rajab, to document the situation and interview the family but the police prohibited him violently from entering, intimidating the host and his family. On the same Wednesday morning, a Palestinian man living in the house was assaulted by the settlers as he was trying to enter his house. In the evening the scene was dominated by a huge group of young settlers chanting, dancing and shouting at passers-by guarded by heavily armed border police. Also a settler, known for his violence, was seen talking familiarly to the army forces and harassing Palestinian media representatives.

Israeli settlers showing aggression towards residents of the house as well as journalists.

Palestinian man living in the house was assaulted by the Israeli settlers as he was trying to enter his house.

This was not the first time that something like this has happened in the same building. In 2012 the settlers tried to take over the same house, but the civil administration decided that the settlers did not have enough evidence for their claim of ownership over the property. The families were removed from the house then and have been trying to dispute the case in court ever since. The Palestinian owners deny ever selling the property and accuse the settlers of forging documents to steal the house from them.

Israeli police present at site, but not evicting the settlers illegally occupying the house.

It may be no coincidence that the illegal occupation of the house comes during the tensions surrounding the restrictive Israeli measures at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It seems the settlers are using the momentum now to disregard the law and take the house when everyone is looking at Jerusalem. It has already been 12 days that the Israeli police has allowed the continuation of the illegal occupation.