After a good day comes a bad day

8th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On 7th December 2016, Israeli forces at Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) detained a group of teachers from nearby Qurtuba school, and then in collective punishment closed the checkpoint to everyone. Just after the teachers were finally allowed to reach their school, the Israeli occupying forces detained a father with his young son who were trying to reach a hospital for medical treatment, and in the end denied them to pass.

Teachers from the Qurtuba school are forced to go through the Shuhada checkpoint every day in order to reach their job.  On this particular day, the soldiers who are permanently stationed there, refused eight teachers to get to their students, holding them for more than 1.5 hours.  Qurtuba school, thus, had to start their day with the majority of the teachers absent.  Not only are teachers and students at the whim of the occupying army as to when and how they commute, they also have restricted access to the staircase connecting Shuhada Street with the school during school hours. The actual staircase leading to the school has been closed by Israeli forces as part of their attempts to ethnically cleanse Shuhada Street.

The teachers refused to leave and give up.  Instead, they waited outside the checkpoint demanding to be allowed to reach their school.  Israeli forces in an act of collective punishment closed the checkpoint, denying anyone else to pass. Thus, residents were stuck outside the checkpoint as well, adding to the number of people attempting to reach their homes or school. A man asking the soldiers to allow him to pass was told by the soldiers, that he could only pass if the teachers leave. Finally, after more than 1.5 hours, the teachers were allowed to pass, except for one female teacher, whom they kept inside the checkpoint box, claiming that she was not a teacher. The director of the school countered that she was recently updated to the list, and that the soldiers clearly missed adding her, and in the end, all the teachers were allowed to pass. This kind of arbitrary detainment of teachers, and at times also school-students, is not new to the Qurtuba school.

Israeli forces discussing with teachers, seen from the other side of the checkpoint

One man trying to pass during that time kept telling the soldiers that he just needed to bring several kilos of rice home.    Soldiers told him that he’ll have to wait till the situation with the teachers is resolved, and that “you have a good day, you have a bad day”. When he was finally allowed to pass once the teachers were gone, one of the soldiers, (first making sure that the Palestinian would not understand), insulted him in Hebrew calling him a ‘son of a bitch’.  When the man complained to another soldier, he was told to leave.

After that, Israeli forces detained a father with his son, as they were trying to reach a nearby hospital. The man lives in this area, and passes this checkpoint daily without any problems. On this day though, Israeli forces decided that his name is not on their list of ‘registered Palestinian residents’ – meaning that he was not given a number, which would allow him to pass. Therefore Israeli forces kept him waiting with his son, locked up in the exit of the checkpoint, with the turnstile locked, even after the man explained to them that he was taking his son to see a doctor. In the beginning, soldiers said that ‘there’s no hospital’ in this area and they don’t know a hospital there. Even when the man showed them a paper of the hospital, they would still not allow him to pass. When approached by internationals, the occupying forces insisted that they were ‘doing everything they can to let him pass’, while keeping the turnstile, that would allow him to pass, firmly locked. Israeli forces furthermore were adamant that they were not denying the boy medical treatment, as he would get it – eventually.  Instead of asking whether his treatment was urgent or not, the soldiers deemed themselves qualified to decide this.  They firmly insisted, that they can’t let him pass ‘yet’.

In the end, the boy and his father were denied from reaching the hospital, as one of the soldiers blamed the father, stating that it’s the father’s fault for even bringing his son to the checkpoint, rather than going another way.  This other route, that he was speaking of, was the longer and more expensive way around adding about 20 minutes to his trip.   This is a ridiculous attempt to move the attention from their lack of consideration for even allowing children to reach a hospital. This is a place where an occupying army can put the fault on the civilian (who thus far had no problems ever passing this checkpoint) bringing his sick son on the quickest way possible to treatment.  This then leaves the occupied population in the hands of a force that can determine their needs and lives.  In a city where every Palestinian is at the pure mercy of the occupying forces, expecting even the tiniest bit of humanity to be extended to them – futile.

Join now: ISM-Training in England!

6th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, England support group | England

ISM-England is offering a training for interested ISM-volunteers in Sheffield on 18th and 19th of February ! If you’re interested in joining the team on the ground in Palestine, make sure to reserve the date and join the training.
Any volunteer is 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!

Even if you’re not interested in joining activities in Palestine, but feel passionate about human rights for Palestinians, contact ISM England and get involved in advocacy work at home.

For any questions, signing-up for the training and more information please contact ISM England on training.ismlondon@riseup.net.

 

Umm al-Hiran, a village off the maps

2nd December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron/al-Khalil team | occupied Palestine

umm-ism-5

Umm al-Hiran is a Bedouin village in the Negev desert in southern Israel. The village is surrounded by open landscape, the only structures in sight line. About a fifteen minute drive away is a small city called Hura, where the children from the village attend school. In 1956, Israel moved the people in the village from their original home in Wadi Zubala near Rahat to Umm al-Hiran. Approximately 1,000 people inhabit the village now, and it is one of the many unrecognized Bedouin villages throughout 48. The State of Israel is now planning to uproot this entire family once again so they can replace their homes with an illegal Jewish Israeli settlement that they want to call “Hiran”. And, this time, they are offering to send them to Hura, without any real plan for where they can live. The village does not intend to move there, and are now working on negotiations with Israel.

The infrastructure of the village is divided in two, split by a road. On the far side, one house was already demolished one to two weeks ago. They were given two days notice. That family is currently living in the houses of their neighbors. On November 22nd, many activists joined the village to be present for the threat of demolition, which did not occur, and to this day has not yet happened.

construction begins right outside the buildings
construction begins right outside the buildings

Currently, there are bulldozers and trucks already at work building roadways and a water system surrounding the outside of the village.

Building waterways for the new Jewish Israeli settlement
Building waterways for the new illegal Jewish Israeli settlement

Any new structures that are put up are immediately knocked down. A couple of months ago, a new wall that the village built was demolished. A mother said that she has all the parts for a play area for her children to put up, but she is afraid to set it up because she knows that it will be quickly destroyed.

New wall demolished a couple months ago
New wall demolished a couple months ago

Members of the Bedouin village have been going to court and are speaking with the members of the Knesset in Jerusalem daily to form some sort of negotiation plan. At the moment, they still do not know what the end results of these talks will be. They are not requesting presence right now in the village, but those in solidarity are watching closely to be available when the need arises again.  Miriam, a mother in the village said, “they tell us that it is not ours, that we came and took the land. But we did not come out of the air- we have been here always”.

 

For more on this story:

https://www.palestinecampaign.org/umm-al-hiran-demolition/

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771498

http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php/headlines/265-israeli-forces-a-no-show-umm-al-hiran-s-demolition-delayed

 

 

 

Assira, surrounded on all sides

Assira al Quiblya is a West Bank village up on a hill between Huwwara and Nablus.  But unfortunately, it is not sufficiently uphill enough to be free and safe from the Yitzhar settlement.  This settlement, one of the most active in assaults, makes life more and more difficult for the Palestinian inhabitants.

outpost
Illegal colonial settlement Yitzhar

For many years Assira has faced the violence of the same script the rest of the occupied territories has faced: night raids, tear gas, sound bombs, and destruction of properties.  There is tremendous fear, and the loss of peace and safety.

Currently, Assira is faced with a new problem, not coming from Yitzhar (for the moment), but from its own authorities – those who have the duty to protect its people.  It’s hard to believe, but the Village Council has decided, without any consultation with the population, to open a road that will allow the settlers to reach the village more easily and quickly.

The path starts at the edge of Assira and this naturally frightens a lot the people living there, as they are completely exposed to the potential assaults from their extremists neighbors.  In order to open the track, they will have to uproot olive trees, a source of both possible income and an important symbol for the Palestinian people.  There has been no permission from the owners for this.  Wasn’t there sufficient suffering and uncertainty already?

A group of citizens have gone to the Regional Authority hoping to find help to stop the project. It is absurd that the Palestinian people now must fight against the organising body that are supposed to be in charge of defending their rights.  It is already a difficult situation caused by the violence of the illegal colonizing settlers and soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces.

The struggle continues for this community.  Latest news states that the illegal colonial settlers have built a tower near the houses in order to continue to expand their territory.

Is there no end to their bullying?

 

Link to OCHA report from 2012 of settlement violence on the Palestinian village:  https://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_yitzhar_map_february_2012_map_english.pdf

We want our children back!

29th November 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Monday, 28th November 2016, Palestinians gathered to demand the bodies of their loved (brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons) – killed by the Israeli occupation forces – back for burial. Many of these family members who attended were holding signs and posters of their loved ones and appeared very distraught.

Woman crying over family member
Woman crying over family member
Women holding signs of their killed family members
Women holding signs of their killed family members

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered outside the Palestinian municipality, holding banners and pictures of their family members, who have been gunned down by Israeli forces, left to bleed to death. Afterward, the Israeli occupation forces would kidnap the dead body, denying the right of a funeral to the family. Palestinians, since October last year, have been gunned down by Israeli forces, often on the claim of having a knife. The policy of withholding the bodies from the families, is enacted as a form of collective punishment illegal under military law, punishing the family for an alleged act of the killed Palestinian. In this form, the family is denied to bury their family members, despite in Islam a body is supposed to be buried latest the day after death.

Distraught family members
Distraught family members

Instead, the Israeli occupation forces keep the bodies in “the freezers of the zionist occupation”. Many bodies of Palestinians are still held by the Israeli forces, with no-one knowing whether they will ever be given to the mourning families that have lost a loved member.

"We want our children back"
“We want our children back”