1st April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
The four human rights activists arrested three days ago on Thursday 30th March on a peaceful Land Day protest action now face the Israeli military court at Ofer tomorrow, 2nd April. They are charged with participating in an illegal demonstration and being in a closed military zone. They were in fact exercising their human rights of freedom of expression and assembly.
All four belong to the Dismantle the Ghetto Coalition and the ISM team here in al-Khalil has been working with and supporting their actions.
Please act immediately in Hebrew, English or your own language:
• Call the Israeli embassy consulate and demand the immediate release of the four activists.
• Call the Israeli embassy consulate and demand the Israeli authorities immediately drop all charges against the four activists.
• Demand an immediate end to the continued harassment of the four activists and other human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
31st March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Madama, occupied Palestine
Palestinians gathered in Madama village to plant olive trees during Land Day
Thursday the 30th of March was Land Day, a day in which Palestinians and their supporters commemorate the loss of huge amounts of land, stolen by the Zionist colonisers in 1976. In Madama village, in the Nablus area, around 300 Palestinian activists with some internationals marched to the outskirts of their village to plant olive trees on village land which has been stolen by the extremist illegal settlement Yitzhar. This non-violent action came under heavy attack by the Israeli Forces with more than 45 people shot with rubber-coated metal bullets and many more suffering from tear gas inhalation.
At around 12pm the march set off from the centre of Madama with many people carrying flags and singing songs, including women, children and men.After climbing a steep street up onto the fields at the edge of the village people began to plant olive trees. There were Israeli Army vehicles and around 20 heavily armed soldiers waiting for the demonstration on the hillside. As people began to plant olive trees the soldiers started to shoot tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets without any warning. Despite this repression, people continued to plant trees and a small group of people responded to the tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets with stones.
Israeli settlers stood next to the Israeli Forces while tear gas was being shot
Over the next two hours or so, the Israeli forces became more and more aggressive firing rubber-coated metal bullets at anyone who was there, often at head height. If someone was injured and on the floor they would fire upon them again and at the people coming to rescue them, even if they were clearly marked as medics. According to the Red Crescent at least 45 people were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets throughout the demonstration. An activist from ISM was also shot with both a rubber-coated metal bullet and hit with a tear gas canister upon their lower legs whilst providing medical support to the injured.
Extremist settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar also came to attack the demonstration with stones. They were held off by the people of the demonstration and after talking to the army sat and watched the Israeli forces fire upon unarmed demonstrators.
More than 45 people suffered injuries and needed assistance
Despite this extreme repression of a group of unarmed demonstrators, people did not leave until all the trees were planted, demonstrating that this is their land and they will not be threatened into not using it.
The villages around the illegal Yitzhar settlement have suffered a huge amount since it was set up in 1983. The extremist inhabitants of this settlement regularly attack Palestinians with impunity, sometimes even killing them. They regularly intimidate Palestinians off their farm lands, attack buildings and lands in the local villages, throw stones at Palestinian cars, and, block roads, these attacks are done with the protection of the Israeli Army. Yitzhar is just one example of the over 196 illegal settlements built throughout the West Bank, supported by Israel, but deemed illegal by the international community.
31st March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
A Palestinian demonstrator is arrested dragged down the hill by an Israeli soldier.
On Thursday the 30th March, four prominent Palestinian activists were violently arrested by Israeli forces following an olive tree planting action marking the 41st Land Day demonstrations in al-Khalil.
ISM activists joined demonstrators who had gathered near the Palestinian house now occupied by the army in the Jabari area of al-Khalil. The demonstrators were already surrounded by dozens of Israeli soldiers, border police, and civilian Israeli police. Over fifty Palestinian demonstrators then made their way down the steep hill into the olive groves where, accompanied by international activists, as well as the international press, they planted a number of olive trees in defiance of the continuing dispossession and destruction of their olive groves by Israeli settlers.
A young boy plants an olive tree as part of the Land Day action.
Once the trees were planted, demonstrators made their way back up to the road where they were met by an increased number of Israeli forces claiming that the area had been declared a closed military zone. The demonstration continued on an embankment beside the road. However, it wasn’t long before Israeli forces began pursuing and violently arresting Palestinian demonstrators, whilst colonial settlers – including the notorious Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה) – harrassed and filmed them.
Israeli forces push demonstrators to the ground before arresting themA Palestinian man is pulled away by border police, who are believed to have broken one of his hands.
As the demonstrators made their way up the hill they continued to be harassed by Ofer Yohana and other colonial settlers and Israeli forces, who took photos and videos of them using their mobile phones. One Israeli settler attempted to block ISM activists from filming by holding up an Israeli flag, and telling the activists to ‘Go [back] to Europe!’. Despite one Palestinian man telling Israeli forces that one of his cuffed hands had been broken in the arrest, the detainees were pushed into military vehicles and taken away.
The Israeli colonial settler who demanded international activists ‘Go to Europe!’
The four Palestinian activists are currently still detained, and will be charged on Sunday at the military court in Ofer. They are charged with participating in an illegal demonstration and being present in a closed military zone.
All four Palestinians who were arrested had long commitmented to non-violent public protest in their home city of Khalil. Shortly before being arrested one of them had heard soldiers tell him that it was ‘his turn’ soon. These arrests are part of ongoing Israeli efforts to close down all public protest in the city. Despite the many injustices faced by non-violent activists across Palestine, the resistance continues.
Demonstrators gather along the roadside, chanting and waving banners.
Omar Barghouti is one of the founders of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (Photo by The Electronic Intifada)
On March 19th Israeli authorities barged into the house of Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement; in an attempt to tarnish his image and reputation by claiming an alleged income outside of Israel. Omar and his wife Safa endured a first round of interrogation lasting 16 hours, Omar was subsequently jailed for five days and although he has already been released he is under a gag order.
This last attempt to silence and tarnish the reputation of Omar Barghouti is a desperate move by Israeli authorities that recently considered the BDS movement as a “strategic threat”. In fact, in 2016, at least one Israeli minister went as far as suggesting “targeted civil eliminations” (meaning murder) of BDS leaders with the help of Israeli intelligence.
Inflammatory fabrications were published against Omar Barghouti just a day before his arrest was made effective, signalling an attempt to silence and tarnish his reputation. Furthermore, the current investigation includes a travel ban which may stop Omar from receiving the Gandhi Peace Award jointly with Ralph Nader, scheduled in a few weeks time in the USA.
The International Solidarity Movement stands in solidarity with Omar Barghouti in the light of this new attempt at silencing the voices of those who stand for freedom, justice and equality against a brutal military occupation; and we ask our friends and comrades to intensify their solidarity work with Palestine, including BDS chapters throughout the world.
30th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Wednesday 29th March 2017 Israeli forces opened a blocked-off street for the first time in almost two decades to allow long-overdue sewage system works. The alley in occupied al-Khalil, open for less than a day, gave Palestinians the rare opportunity to see Shuhada Street and the illegal settlements which have caused countless closures for the civilian Palestinian population.
Palestinians working on the sewage-system while Israeli forces stand by
Palestinians have been pursuing permission from the Israeli side to do this maintenance work for years – with no success. The market in the Old Town runs almost parallel to Shuhada Street, where the main illegal settlements in the heart of Hebron are located and where Palestinians are totally prohibited. As one of the lowest points in the Old City, this area of the souq is regularly flooded in winter by rain water and overflowing sewage as much of the sewage system has been cut off by the illegal settlements. Despite a one-day ‘permit’ granted by Israeli forces for work to be undertaken, several delays were caused when Israeli forces would not allow additional maintenance vehicles to enter the area. Furthermore, the small amount of time granted by the permit only allowed workers to fix a short stretch of sewage pipe immediately beneath the concrete slabs, with other vital works having to be postponed.
Palestinians gathering to watch the ongoing work
Heavily armed Israeli forces were present on site at all times to ‘guard’ the path to what was once a thriving Palestinian market and the main route between north and south al-Khalil. After the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994 – in which colonial settler Baruch Goldstein gunned down and killed 29 Palestinians and injured more than 120 more when he opened fire with his machine gun during prayers – Israeli forces have slowly but steadily eradicated the Palestinian presence in Shuhada Street. This process has been achieved through broader, ever-increasing restrictions, harassment, and intimidation towards the Palestinian civil population of al-Khalil.
During the maintenence, passing Palestinians could be seen reacting with surprise and stopping to watch the work and take photographs. Sunlight – long hidden by the high cement slabs barricading the street – suddenly flooded the souq from the small archway. For many Palestinians, this brief opening served as a reminder of a time before the severe crackdown on Palestinian human rights by the Israeli forces in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. One elderly man demanded the soldiers let him through so he may visit his shop, which remains sealed-up on Shuhada Street where Palestinian movement is entirely forbidden by Israeli forces to favour and facilitate settler movement.
After less than a day of permitted work for Palestinians, the access is tightly blocked off again
