Category: Features - Page 43 - International Solidarity Movement

ISM training: Manchester, April 2017

20th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, England support group | England

An ISM training session will be held in Manchester on 22nd and 23rd of April 2017.

For any questions and signing-up please contact ISM London at training.ismlondon[@]riseup.net, but avoid using email accounts or names that could pose a problem at the border.

All volunteers are required to participate in training before joining activities in Palestine. This training will prepare you for the solidarity work with communities in Palestine, give you a first impression, connect with people that have been in Palestine, and give you the chance to have all your questions answered.

Once in Palestine, volunteers will still be required to undertake training with Palestinian and international trainers.

16-year old killed by Israeli forces in Al Arrub, Hebron

18th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Yesterday evening, on March 17th, 16-year old Murad Yusif Abu Ghazi died after being shot by Israeli forces in Al Arrub refugee camp outside Hebron in the occupied West Bank. A second Palestinian identified as 17-year old Saif Salim Rushdie is in a critical condition after being shot in the chest by the Israeli forces in the same incident.

The funeral for Abu Ghazi was held in Al Arrub camp today, and hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects. After the funeral, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces and according to Ma’an News Agency, 8 young men were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets, receiving treatment on the scene. In addition, dozens of other Palestinians, among these women and children, were treated for severe tear gas inhalation.

Hundreds of mourners paid their respects at the funeral.

Murad Yusif Abu Ghazi is be the thirteenth Palestinian to be killed by the Israeli army since the beginning of 2017. His death marks the second killing of a minor this year and once again highlights the excessive use of lethal force against civilians.

According to an Israeli army spokesperson, the killing happened after firebombs were hurled at passing vehicles on a road near Al Arrub camp and “in response to the immediate threat, forces fired towards suspects”. The spokesperson added that investigations are still underway. Statistics provided by Yesh Din, an Israeli organisation of volunteers for human rights, however demonstrate that criminal investigations into alleged offences committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians have a poor chance of being effectively investigated. According to Yesh Din, only 4 cases out of 186 criminal investigations in 2015 resulted in indictments.

Speaking out and witnessing: what the Hebron camera project means to one student

17th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Last week we reported on two of the training sessions run by Human Rights Defenders (HRD) here in Hebron for young people to use video as an activist tool against the occupation. Today we wanted to find out more about what the students themselves think and I talked to Yasmin, a pupil at Qurtuba school in the heart of Tel Rumeida. Yasmin looks quiet and shy as she sits next to me on the sofa, but as she talks it is clear she knows what she wants to say and what she wants to do: “I want to show what the Israelis do against my people here, how the soldiers and the settlers humiliate the students and the teachers.”

Qurtuba school sits above Shuhada street and the students have to approach it via a staircase controlled by soldiers, yards from one of the tiniest and most extreme settlements in the heart of H2. Students and teachers are so frequently harassed that fear and anxiety is a constant element of school life. Yasmin told me that only that same day soldiers had entered the school and made sexually harassing remarks to the young women there. Soldiers also regularly block their way to school, although they know perfectly well that the children are students.

Settlers regularly insult, bully and assault children on their way to school and some of this has been already caught on camera. The most notorious settlers are well known to the students who will run to avoid them. A fortnight ago one girl broke her leg trying to get away from the settler Anat Cohen, whose history of assault and harassment of Palestinians and internationals is among the worst.

When internationals like ISM are there, then we report these events: we reported when Yasmin’s friend broke her leg, when soldiers forced Qurtuba children to leave school early so that settlers could celebrate Purim without the presence of their neighbours, or when settlers invaded the kindergarten. But we are not there all the time and Yasmin feels Palestinians should report events themselves: ‘when this happens I can have proof against the soldier – otherwise people will not believe – then they will have trust’.

In the middle of the interview settlers invade the garden of the house we are in. Emad Abu Shamsiya and Badee Dwaik, activists with HRD, come out with their cameras and the settlers scatter: it is a neat illustration of the power of the camera.

And for the future? “I will work to finish my education – Israelis do not like us to have a good education – I will study to become a journalist and expose the occupation. This project has given me extra motivation.” I am sure Yasmin will make a formidable witness both now and in the future.

Ni’lin remembers Rachel Corrie and Tristan Anderson

17th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ni’lin, occupied Palestine

Today on 17/03/2017 the residents of Ni’lin alongside internationals and Israeli activists held a demonstration in memory of Rachel Corrie and Tristan Anderson, against the apartheid wall and against the occupation of Palestine.

A parade of around fifty demonstrators, including Israeli and ISM activists, marched from the olive groves outside the town towards the apartheid wall. Palestinian demonstrators carried flags and placards depicting ISM activists Tristan Anderson, critically injured after being shot in the head with a long range tear gas missile by Israeli forces at the same demonstration eight years ago; and Rachel Corrie, who was murdered by the Israeli forces fourteen years ago yesterday.

Local demonstrators set fire to tyres along the wall, waving flags and chanting at the illegal Israeli settlement located on their lands beyond, whilst Israeli activists called across using a megaphone. The Israeli Forces arrived shortly after, firing teargas over the apartheid wall and setting off sound grenades. Obscured by the smoke from the burning tyres, soldiers took photographs and fired some rubber-coated metal bullets at the protesters whilst the volleys of teargas continued. Young local men sent stones and teargas canisters back over the apartheid wall with their slingshots. The demonstrators ended by moving up the hill and back towards the town, having suffered no injuries.

The non-violent demonstrations against the apartheid wall and the occupation in Ni’lin have been going on weekly since 2008, as attempt to get back the farm land which was stolen from the villagers. Despite deaths, critical injuries and much repression the resistance continues.

Israeli forces shoot at protestors from rooftops in Kafr Qaddum

17th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

*Israeli forces on a rooftop in Kafr Qaddum. Photo: ISM/Yusuf Zidan*

On Friday 17th of March the people of Kafr Qaddum gathered for another weekly demonstration which was repressed by Israeli forces, who shot teargas, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators. Israeli forces were seen on at least one rooftop in Kafr Qaddum, as well as a nearby hill, which they used as vantage point to shoot at protesters.

Before the demonstration had started the Israeli forces were strategically stationed within the village of Kafr Qaddum, some even on the rooftop of a Palestinian home. Around 12:30, just a few minutes before the demonstration would have begun, teargas was fired. Some youth from the village began throwing stones at the Israeli forces in an attempt to drive them out. The clashes continued until around 14:30, when Israeli forces withdrew after having fired teargas, rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades at protesters.

Protestors throw back teargas canisters. Photo: ISM/Yusuf Zidan

Before the end of the demonstration rubber-coated steel bullets were shot at protesters causing light injuries to two pro-Palestinian Israeli activists. Both the rubber-coated metal bullets bounced before impact limiting the damage inflicted.

The people of Kafr Qaddum have been protesting actively for over five years against the closure of their main road to Nablus and the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim. This road closure translates into a longer commute for the villagers when travelling to Nablus, as such it also has an important social and economical impact on Palestinian communities. These demonstrations continue despite encountering heavy repression with the Israeli forces regularly using live ammunition against the local activists.