Category: Features - Page 7 - International Solidarity Movement

Ten people arrested from Beit Kahel: the village targeted with violent night raids and demolition threats

August 25| International Solidarity Movement | Beit Kahel, Occupied Palestine

As part of a targeted collective punishment towards the village of Beit Kahel following the death of an Israeli settler in Gush Etzion, ten individuals from the village have been arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces.

Seven of the detainees are all part of the Asfara family, and include brothers Ikriah and Naseer Asfara (28 and 23 years old), their brother, their cousin Qassam Asfara (30 years old), his two brothers, and his wife Dnas Nabeel Asfara (27 years old). Qassam – who has a permit to work in Israel which requires a background check for security clearance – and Dnas have two very young children, of just 3 and 5 years old. The children have now been without their parents since they were arrested during preparations for Eid Al-Adha, on Saturday 10^th August 2019.

The Israeli military have announced that Ikriah, a journalist, is not under suspicion in relation to the death, but they have not released him. Relatives of the detainees have heard nothing since the arrests, except that they have been taken to an Israeli prison north of Gaza. Their lawyers have been unable to have any dialogue with Israeli authorities about the individuals or the case; the only news that family members have had has come from Israeli media about the incident. The Asfara family are very concerned for the arrested individuals, as Israeli prisons are well known to employ torture methods in an attempt to coax ‘admissions’ from accused parties. All of these torture methods are made legal under the title of “Moderate physical pressure,” and include: solitary confinement in high temperatures; being forced to stay awake for days or weeks on end; starvation; and enduring incredibly loud sounds and music 24 hours a day.

Prior to the arrest, members of the Asfara family, and other residents of the village of Beit Kahel had been subject to daily harassment by the Israeli military, and when they came on the Saturday 10^th before Eid Al-Adha at 2am, 30 soldiers broke into and terrorised two buildings they raided as they carried out the arrests.

Forced window in Naseer and Ikriah’s home.

Mr. Asafra, the uncle of those arrested, described:

“We were sleeping peacefully in our homes, they (IOF) broke in and started beating everybody up. It was the Saturday before Eid at 2am while everyone was asleep. They stayed until 8am. 6 continuous hours of beating people up in the house. They horrified everyone and beat two men and arrested 4 people. They horrified everyone. They took every family member into one room and then searched the house.”

The brothers, Naseer and Ikriah, were sleeping on the roof of the other home raided, and they were woken up by security dogs. Israeli military broke in and raided both houses.

The rooftop of Naseer and Ikriah’s home.

“It was terrifying for the children sleeping inside,” said Mr. Asfara, “They and the women were screaming.”

The three men arrested, along with other family members, were beaten badly in front of the rest of the family. Dnas was not beaten, but roughly handcuffed and taken by the soldiers, who did not let her get dressed or put her head scarf on. She quickly grabbed her praying overcoat to protect her modesty as she was dragged out of her home.

Mr. Asfara states: “I never expected a country with an organised “democratic” structure would behave this way towards civilians.”

The IOF returned the next day on Sunday 11^th, during Eid Al-Adha celebrations, at around the same time of 2am. Again, they entered the village with incredible violence, raided both homes, confiscated Qassam’s car, and horrified the residents. They searched both buildings for 2.5 hours before taking photographs and sketches of the properties, measuring them up for demolition, despite having no demolition order from the court.

When the IOF came to the Beit Kahel for a third time, on Thursday 15^th August, residents of Beit Kahel had organised a sit in of Naseer and Ikriah’s home. As 200 people were gathered inside and on the roof of the property, the Israeli military barricaded the village and fired tear gas into the building and then surrounded it, blocking any Palestinian from leaving as the house filled with the gas. Many were affected very badly by the tear gas; considered a chemical weapon when used in War, but somehow legal in civilian cases despite the high mortality rate of Palestinians due to tear gas related casualties.

The family has not received any demolition order at all, so the village hope to resist the actions of the Israeli military until they get confirmation from the high court that the houses will be demolished for certain.

Naseer and Ikriah’s home home after the raid.

Naseer and Ikriah Asfara reside in only 2 of the 4 apartments in the building, yet the Israeli military took measurements, sketches and photographs of all 4 apartments, as well as a separate building where Qassam lives with his wife Dnas. The residents of Beit Kahel are appealing the demolition in court, hopefully to freeze it, but even if they win the appeal not to demolish all 4 apartments in the building, the military could block the 2 houses of the accused, or fill them with cement.

Housing demolitions, most often without a court ruling, are a common collective punitive measure by Israel, under the 1945 British Mandate emergency law. This policy has its origins after end of the First World War and the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, when Great Britain seized much of the Middle East, and gave wide authority for local military commanders to confiscate and destroy “any house, structure or land… the inhabitants of which he is satisfied have committed… any offence against these Regulations involving violence.” Despite the outdated and irrelevant nature of this policy, it was renewed by Israel in 2014, granting the occupying forces legality to demolish the homes of Palestinians under any accusation, founded or not.

As a further punitive measure, 9 members of the family have had their Israeli work permits blocked, so in addition to their being unable to earn a living, they are also unable to pass through checkpoints. Qassam’s 57 year old father Aref has also been returned from checkpoints, unable to pass through the country. This renders the entire Asfara family without their livelihood, trapped in Beit Kahel, soon to be made homeless.

Since these initial arrests, the IOF have returned to Beit Kahel and arrested 6 more residents of the small village. Two of Qassam’s brothers, a brother of Ikriah and Naseer, and three others were arrested in a night raid on Monday August 19^th.

Following these events, Israeli Occupation Forces have had an almost constant presence in the village, threatening: “We will come at any time we want, don’t think this is over.”

“Welcome Everyone” in Arabic on the connected apartment to the residence of the accused brothers.

Death Is Only the Beginning of Suffering For Family In Ezariyya

August 23 | International Solidarity Movement | Ezariyya, Occupied Palestine

14 year old Nassim Abu Roumi shot by IOF after he attempted to stab an Israeli police officer

“My son was killed 5 days ago…all I want is to bury him. But they are keeping his body, they will not give him to us.”

Mokafih Abu Roumi spoke with ISM on Tuesday, August 20, about the death of his son, 14 year old Nassim Abu Roumi, and the harassment and collective punishment he and his family have received from Israeli authorities since.

On August 15^th, Nassim Abu Roumi, 14, and Hammouda Khader Sheikh, 14, attempted a knife attack on Israeli police blocking one of the entrances to the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Dome of the Rock). After trying to stab an Israeli police officer, Nassim was repeatedly shot and died at the scene; Hammouda was shot multiple times before being taken in custody. His current condition is unknown. One Israeli police officer was treated for “light wounds”. Video footage of the attack shows Nassim was initially shot in the leg, after which Israeli officers continued firing at him. Mokafir believes that his son was executed, as he no longer posed a threat to the police, stating that “They [the police] could have stopped him without killing him. These soldiers (police) are very well trained, they had…years of experience, they could control a little boy. They wanted to kill him.”

Immediately after Nassim’s attack, his father was arrested and held in a cell for 2.5 hours, after which he was interrogated by Shin Bet agents. He was forced to watch the video of Israeli police repeatedly firing bullets into his son, whilst surrounded by Israeli Occupation Forces demanding that he identify Nassim.

Mokafih describes Nassim as a “…friendly, honest child. He was popular at school and had many friends. He was in the 7^th grade at [a branch of] the Al Aqsa school in Ezariyya, he had no social or psychological problems. He liked football and Internet.” He remembers his son being deeply angered by the brutality of the IOF towards Palestinian worshipers at the Al Aqsa Mosque on the first day of Eid, one of the most important Muslim festivals of the year. In particular, the images of women and children being violently assaulted deeply affected him. His father also maintains that his son acted alone, and the attack was not sanctioned or planned by any political party or movement.

IOF assaulting Palestinian worshippers outside Al-Aqsa Mosque; Source: AFP

On August 11^th, the IOF used tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and flash grenades to clear tens of thousands of Palestinian Muslims from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, to allow 1,300 Jews into the compound. 61 Palestinians were injured, 15 of which had to be hospitalized.

IOF violence inside the Al-Aqsa compound on the first day of Eid; Source: IRNA

4 days later, at 4:00PM in the afternoon, Nassim left the house without telling anyone where he was going. Later that night, Mokafih received word that his son was dead.

Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet continues to hold the body of Mokafih’s son. Mokafih’s requests for his son’s body have been repeatedly rejected on the grounds that the police investigation into the cause of death is still ongoing, even as footage of police shooting Nassim is widely shown in international media and online. Police are also demanding Mokafih agree to preconditions regarding the funeral before returning his son’s body.

In December 2017, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that the bodies of alleged suspects cannot be held by the Israeli state, but 4 months later the Knessest passed a new law allowing bodies to be held until families agree to preconditions on funeral arrangements, effectively using the bodies of Palestinians killed by the IOF as bargaining chips.

Mokafih said the inability to give his son even a simple burial is causing tremendous emotional stress and grief for him and his family. Under Islamic burial traditions, burial should take place within 24 hours after death. Burial with dignity and according to the religious laws of the deceased is a basic human right guaranteed by the Geneva Convention. Even after the loss of a son, the Abu Roumi family is not only denied of their basic rights but forced to continue suffering without closure.

Al Shoroq: The activist farmers resisting Israeli annexation in Beit Ummar

August 20 | International Solidarity Movement | Beit Ummar, Occupied Palestine

Beit Ummar is an agricultural town and farming community just north of Hebron, with a populace of about 17,000. Al Shoroq, a Palestinian led group comprised of local activists based in the region since 2013 founded by longstanding committee members, work with families, farmers and the community to create resistance based empowerment through skill building, construction and collective work. Al Shoroq as an organisation are focused primarily on assisting in sustainability and development in Area C; Israeli controlled areas containing Palestinian families, farmland and buildings long standing on now occupied territories, which currently makes up 70% of the land. Beit Ummar is under constant scrutiny and stress from the Israeli government and military, and more increasingly, Israeli settlers.

Settlers are extremely volatile in their treatment of the residents of Beit Ummar, frequently shooting at farmers, cutting down their trees, attacking their livestock or burning their land so that the soil will not bear plantation. One of Al Shoroq’s avenues of support for the farming community is to replant trees. Recently 1000 olive trees were planted to replace those destroyed previously by settlers, only for the settlers from Bat Ayin to then tear them down and raze the ground earlier this year. Israel also controls and restricts the integral local resources in the area, including water, as Yousef Abu Maria explained: “Israel takes all the water to use on their trees, you can see the difference between the Palestinian and Israeli trees.”

There is growing evidence of extreme oppression in the area, and the rate in which land is taken and occupied is faster than ever. Another founding member of the organisation warned: “Problems like this happen constantly; it is impossible to live and work well here. The Israelis want the Palestinians to leave their land. 15 years ago, there were only 10 houses in the settlement in Karmei Zur, now, you can see 1,000. To do this, they take Palestinian land. The Israeli area has grown from 100 dunums” (100,000m2) “to 6,000 dunums”. (6,000,000m2). In interview, representatives of the municipality asserted that “This is the main aim of the occupation – to press the people, until they are fed up, to make them leave their land, to leave Palestine. It will NEVER happen. We are Palestinian. It’s our land. We will stay here. We will die here.”

Settlements at this point are surrounding and cutting off Beit Ummar, from all accessible sides, via Karmei Zur, Bat Ayin and Gush Etzion. On the remaining side are uninhabitable rocky valleys and mountainous terrains. While the entirety of the West Bank is dramatically affected by the occupation, Beit Ummar is a special case, as they are completely surrounded by settlements and the apartheid wall. The settlements are constantly undergoing expansion, ebbing away at Palestinian land. Naturally this has made daily life incredibly difficult for residents of Beit Ummar, their routes cut off and their land under threat from the occupation and biased military intervention. “If a Palestinian has to go to the hospital, or they want to go to pray, but the checkpoint is between them and the hospital or mosque, they can’t” explained one of the founders of Al Shoroq, Yousef Abu Maria.

“The suffering is daily, in our own land. This is our land.” – The Mayor of Beit Ummar.

The community suffers first hand in this situation. Whilst under constant harassment and devastation of the land, there is also the factor that Israel bars Palestinian farmers from sending their produce to external markets, overseas or even as close as Jordan. This coupled with the lack of employment and opportunity results in economic turmoil.

The occupation affects every Palestinian territory in the West Bank. In the case of Beit Ummar, a once thriving agricultural community is now under the constant threat of a new invasive manipulation of the law served only to make life harder for Palestinian residents, whilst simultaneously closing the area off, making movement incredibly difficult.

A blocked Palestinian access road.

International funding for Settler-only roads is met, whilst pre-existing roads for the Palestinian people are blocked and destroyed. A member of Al Shoroq stated that: “Any Palestinian that wishes to work in Israel occupied areas, cannot enter without a special permit, and even then, they must pass through a checkpoint which takes hours. Workers have to get to the checkpoint at 2am to wait to pass through to get to work in time. There are many people waiting there, and have to wait 4-5 hours to enter Israel. For many Palestinians, they are not even granted a permit, so are unable to move through checkpoints.”

Representatives of the municipality added: “So what about the farmers? Daily they have to go to their land to take care of it. They need permission every time? It is too difficult!”

The main entrance to the town is now situated next to an arbitrarily designated ‘military zone’ with a consistent Israeli military presence. However, there is no Palestinian police station in Beit Ummar, and so, if police presence is required, it has to be approved by the Israeli Civil Administration. This process takes up to 6 hours to get approval to enter, which more often than not, will result in rejection. This is not only dangerous, but denial of a basic human right for the people of Beit Ummar. as they cannot receive direct or timely emergency response in critical situations.

Al Shoroq’s work is imperative in sustaining a resistance to the land grab tactics and destruction long imposed on the innocent civilians of Beit Ummar. They are a singular force taking a stand against the ceaseless abuse of human rights in the town.

The founders of Al Sharouq have been working as a commitee for 15 years against the separation wall, settlements, the closing of road 60 for Palestinians. Around 2013, they formed Al Sharouq organisation and started working in humanitarian intervention, supplying food boxes, clothes, beds. The opportunity to start a small scale project for the farmers or for the women has been difficult. Al Sharouq do what they can, but it is not easy to do this work alone. They need support from the international community, to support fundraising for this project in their countries to help the farmers of Beit Ummar. – Al Shoroq member.

As the only tangible source of support, Al Shoroq are an integral part of the Beit Ummar municipality, also performing outreach work across Hebron and Yatta. They are small in number, but their dedication to improving the quality of life for Palestinian inhabitants of Area C is great, and appreciated throughout the community.

“What can we do to resist the occupation? We protest Israel’s plans for demolitions, building of walls, and sometimes we are successful in stopping their building plans, but most of the time we are not. The occupation has been going on for so long, that any small thing we can do to fight or support people to stay in their land, is a big thing.”

“Maybe we can’t stop the wall, but we can support people to stay living and working where they do, near the wall, or near the settlements. If the farmers do not have anyone to support them to stay where they are near the wall, or a settlement, and they leave, it is easy for Israel to expand the settlement, and push back the wall even more.” – Al Shoroq member.

Al Shoroq and the community of Beit Ummar are fighting daily against multiple impending threats as a result of the occupation. How dangerously close the settlements now are, the threats of security guards and settlers, the burning and razing of plantations, of homes, and of land to ensure that nothing is rebuilt. The terrorising nature of the occupation is seen here in full swing. A crater of rubble and corrugated twisted metal from the Israeli military’s destruction of what was – until recently – a thriving family home, acts as a reminder that nothing is off limits to the Israeli occupation.

“But there are many things we can do. We support the farmers to plant olive trees, we build wells so the farmers can easily access water, we run workshops on how farmers can resist the occupation and stay on their land, we provide legal support and documents to the farmers so that they can prove ownership of their land to Israel, we make food boxes for the people who are really suffering. All of these activities we do, while we never stop demonstrating against Israel and their plans. This is the goal of Alshouq, it’s a simple goal.” – Al Shoroq member.

“We can start small and get bigger and bigger.” – Yousef Abu Maria

But to achieve this goal effectively and to make a deeper impact on the unrelenting injustice of the occupation, Al Shoroq require the support of internationals and partner organisations. To focus and maintain global attention to their cause, to support and assist in the excellent progress they are making in the face of the oppressive Israeli regime, and to help expand their team and abilities with people power, funding, publicity and communication. Al Shoroq would like to reach out to fellow communities, organisations and individuals, so that they may visit and support the people of Beit Ummar by building small projects in the area, improving the stance on agriculture, support and outreach, by spreading the word, fundraising, planting, building and making imprints on the unjust state of things; sowing the seeds to return their land to a place of strength, unity and resistance.

“We have so many daily problems, but we have to exceed them. By any way we have to exceed them.” – The Municipality of Beit Ummar

To join Al Shoroq’s voluntary programme or to donate to their important work, please contact:Palestine-Hebron-Bayt Umar-Main Street

al.shoroq13@gmail.com

Tel: +972598139591

facebook.com/shorouqorganization/

Inheriting resistance in the South Hebron Hills: “I am my father’s daughter, if he can do this, so can I… and more”

August 6 | International Solidarity Movement | South Hebron Hills, occupied Palestine

Youth activist Sameeha walks through the beautiful South Hebron Hills

“My life is occupation … all the time you have to be ready for the bad, and the most bad you can imagine,” Sameeha Huraini tells me, as she explains the reality of day-to-day life in the South Hebron Hills.

She is just 20-years-old but Sameeha has already experienced and witnessed more brutality than most people in their entire lifetime. When she was just a child, she saw her father beaten close to death by occupation forces during a peaceful protest against the construction of the apartheid wall. Her grandmother, who was 70 at the time, leapt to protect her son but was shoved to the ground by soldiers, smashing her fragile head against a rock. The impact caused her to lose sight in one eye and hearing in one ear. But this experience didn’t scare Sameeha from following in her father and grandmother’s footsteps. In fact this traumatic childhood memory has strengthened her will to fight the occupation.

“My father was beaten for the resistance, for Palestine,” she says. “My grandmother lost her eye and ear for the resistance, for Palestine, for At-Tuwani. It shouldn’t make me weak; it should make me strong.

“From there we really learnt the resistance, and how to fight for our rights and not to give up. I am my father’s daughter, if he can be in this situation, so can I… and more.”

The tree-topped settlement of Havat Ma’on looms in the distance behind a house in At-Tuwani that faces constant attacks from the settlers.

Sameeha is from At-Tuwani, a small farming village (shown in video below) of around 350 people, located in the South Hebron Hills. She is one of many youth activists in the village who have taken up their parent’s mantle in fighting against Israel’s unrelenting attempts to steal Palestinian land in the region. These attempts come in many forms, from expanding and protecting violent settler communities to preventing Palestinians accessing water and electricity. This constant onslaught is strategically carried out to make life unbearable for the people of At-Tuwani and its surrounding villages in the hope that they will leave.

“But they don’t understand,” Sameeha says. “Our connection is not with the life, it’s with the land.”

For the past two years, she has been involved with Youth of Sumud, an activist group with over 50 members, 15 of those girls, and all under the age of 25. They are constantly on call, responding to attacks from settlers, soldier harassment of shepherds and house demolitions. At the scene, they document the incident, and share it on their social media ensuring that Israel’s crimes do not go unheard. It’s dangerous work – every male member of the group has been arrested at least once.

Local activists from At-Tuwani challenge soldiers trying to move Palestinian shepherds from their land

Sameeha tells me about a time when she was planting olive trees with other Youth of Sumud activists. Israeli soldiers tried to stop them and attacked their friend who has a mental disability. Sameeha and her friends tried to prevent the soldiers beating him, but were then given arrest warrants themselves.

As well as taking part in these actions, she notes that simply going about her day-to-day life is a form of resistance. ‘It’s non-violent resistance,’ she explains. “The occupation is in every detail of our lives. Just planting trees, visiting friends in another village, for me it’s my daily life, what’s your problem with that?”

Alongside her activism work the 20 year old studies English at university, giving her the tools to spread the stories of At-Tuwani, the occupation and the South Hebron Hills across the globe.

Her village has a long history of resistance, one where women have played a crucial role. Sameeha grew up watching her mother and friend’s mothers help to build the town’s school. Building at that time was forbidden in At-Tuwani without a permit from the Israeli Civil Administration and these permits are rarely if ever given to Palestinians. The whole community worked together to make the school a reality, with the women taking over from the men in the field during the day so their husbands and sons could build the school under the cover of night to evade detection by soldiers.

Traditional dresses made by a women’s cooperative in the South Hebron Hills

Young women activists look over the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills

Sameeha is incredibly proud of the women’s role in fighting the occupation.

“They have this big history of resistance,” she tells ISM. “If you go back in At-Tuwani history you will find that’s the reason why At-Tuwani is like that now. They succeed to have a village in this new age, to build the school and build a clinic – that will learn and educate. They don’t want their sons and daughters to have the same life they had. They had a hard life in At-Tuwani without water and electricity and roads. They decide for us, for me, to make the life for them more easy to keep going.”

At protests, women often form the front line, creating a protective barrier against the soldiers who are more reluctant to arrest or act violently towards them. However this is not always the case, as Sameeha’s traumatic childhood memory of her grandmother painfully shows.

Part of her work with Youth of Sumud is to empower other girls and young women to join the resistance.

“I want the women of the South Hebron Hills to be more activist, to be more open about their rights. I want them to take part in the non-violent resistance.”

To do this, she visits girls in other villages, sits with them and explains the importance of uniting together as a community, men and women, to fight the occupation.

“What if there were no international people to help you when soldiers come to your house and arrest your father,” she tells me, explaining how she empowers her friends. “You are young, you are smart, you study, and you can use the cameras and you have to help yourselves, help your family, help your village.”

She uses herself as an example: “I am a young girl and I am studying and also dealing with my activism in the group so you can do that.

“We are the heart of the community, if we don’t work hand-by-hand, we will fall.”

Water Series: Hail of tear gas on peaceful villagers protesting settler theft of water supply in Kafr Malik

August 16 | International Solidarity Movement | Kafr Malik, Ramallah, occupied Palestine

This is the third of a series of reports documenting the control and devastation of water sources by Israel as a tool of oppression.

The residents of Kafr Malik, a town northeast of Ramallah, marched towards the Ain Samia area today to protest Israel’s theft of the village’s water supply, which has been diverted to a new illegal settlement.

Protesters told ISM that 20 hectares of land had also been stolen from the village, where almost 3,000 Palestinians live, and handed to just five settler families.

Hundreds attended the march and prayer – organised jointly by Fatah and the National and Islamic Parties – including the head of the Roman Catholic monastery in Palestine Abdullah Yolio.

The peaceful protest was immediately bombarded with rounds of tear gas (seen in video below) fired by occupation forces as well as hundreds of rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs.

Israeli soldiers also tried to confiscate Palestinian flags from protesters and targeted journalists, interrupting their filming and forcing them to move if they refused to comply with what appeared to be entirely arbitrary orders. The Red Crescent treated several people for tear gas inhalation including an ISMer who had to be carried to an ambulance.

He said that Israeli soldiers: “…came up the hill behind us, and fired directly at journalists filming on the hill above the protest.” The ISMer did not suffer any serious injuries.

Protesters including the Roman Catholic monastery suffer from tear gas inhalation

Tear gas sets dry hill on fire in Kafr Malik protest

Being cut off from the local water supply has severe implications for local Palestinian communities and is used as a means of oppression across the West Bank, from the Jordan Valley to the South Hebron Hills.

The cutting of Palestinian water resources is not just a matter of preferential treatment, or discrimination. It is an active effort to force Palestinians out of their homes by applying psychological and economic pressure to the communities there. The cumulative effect of settler attacks and vandalism, military harassment, and economic deprivation are all part of an attempt to break the Palestinian resistance movement. The aim is to force people into being too preoccupied with constant fears, as well as by making day to day existence so difficult, that they cease to resist.

There is no reason why people should be denied the basic human rights and means to live, and this is made all the worse when the means to do so are within reach, and are taken away from them. Control of water by the Israeli apartheid state is an essential aspect of oppression of Palestinians, and is one of the most pressing issues in Palestinians regaining their rights and autonomy.