Category: Features

Settlers attack Palestinians across the West Bank after Israeli soldier death

August 9 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank, occupied Palestine

Israeli settlers launched a series of violent attacks against Palestinians across the West Bank last night, smashing car windows and assaulting an elderly man.

Attacks took place simultaneously in multiple locations between 22:00 and 24:00 on the night of August 8, near the illegal settlements of Ofra, Efrat, Howara and Kiryat Arba, suggesting the attacks were coordinated.

An elderly Palestinian man, who was attacked by settlers throwing rocks at Howara checkpoint near Nablus, said he “would have been killed” if he had stopped driving. He was treated for wounds on his shoulder and neck.

Settlers smashed the windows of Palestinians’ cars near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba, the same place where just last month soldiers dragged a Palestinian family, including a 1-year-old baby, out of their car and beat them. ISMers saw Israeli soldiers protecting settlers in Kiryat Arba last night as they vandalized Palestinian property.

Car vandalized by settlers in Hebron
Car vandalized by settlers in Hebron

The attacks continued today with settlers burning feed and hay bales in a village in the South Hebron Hills. Activist group Good Shepherd Collective said: “Israeli settlers burnt the animal feed and hay bales of Khaled A’mour in Adirate village in the South Hebron Hills, spray painting “Revenge” in Hebrew to make it a clear sign who was responsible. These price-tag acts of violence are routine, particularly during the election cycles where right-wing political parties are vying for the extremist support often stoke the flames.”

The latest round of violence follows the death of a settler soldier, Dvir Sorek, outside Kibbutz Migdal Oz near Bethlehem. Israeli media immediately blamed Palestinians for the killing, despite police confirming that they currently have no information on the perpetrators or motives. Shin Bet and the Israeli military have begun conducting raids across the West Bank, and establishing new checkpoints.

Earlier yesterday, hundreds of occupation forces raided the village of Beit Fajar and the Al Jalazone refugee camp as part of the massive manhunt to find those responsible for the settler’s death.

The Israeli far-right has called for settlement expansion in retaliation. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, from Primer Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, declared that Israel’s “response” to the killing must be to “apply sovereignty on [annex] the settlements, starting with Gush Etzion.” Gush Etzion, a cluster of 18 settlements illegal by international law, is the region where Dvir Sorek’s body was found.

The international media’s widespread reporting of the death of the settler soldier and Israeli government’s swift and harsh reaction comes in stark contrast to their silence on the deaths of Palestinian civilians. This year Israeli Occupation Forces killed 87 Palestinians (19 children), none of which made international headlines. Less than 4 weeks ago, 7 year old Tariq Zebania was killed by an Israeli settler vehicle while riding his bicycle near his village, west of Hebron. Local media reported that there was no police investigation, and no arrests were made.

 

Water Series: ‘There’s no law in the world that says you can cut water from humans’

‘Enemies of life’ – Israeli bulldozer rips up water pipes near At-Tuwani

August 3 | International Solidarity Movement | South Hebron Hills, occupied Palestine

 

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

 

Israel is escalating its war on water in the South Hebron Hills, demolishing wells, ripping out kilometres of pipeline and even confiscating trucks carrying emergency water tanks to parched villages.

In the sweltering month of July, five demolitions targeting water infrastructure were carried out, leaving Palestinian farming villages without access to water. 

The latest took place on Wednesday July 31, when the Israeli Civil Administration – the body that governs Area C in the West Bank – cut pipes supplying water to houses and farmland in the area of al-Jaway near At-Tuwani. 

Tariq Hathaleen, a local activist from the South Hebron Hills, says that the number of demolitions on water sources has “more than doubled,” this year compared to previous years.

He told ISM: “Now in the summer it sounds like the Civil Administration has a plan to restrict Palestinian access to water in the South Hebron Hills, in Area C in general, and that’s actually to put more pressure on those people to move them away from those villages. 

“Because the Civil Administration don’t have a direct excuse to expel those people from their land but the plan is to put more pressure to make them leave by cutting their water sources.”

On July 4, bulldozers destroyed three water wells outside the town of Dkeika, a day after they came to the same area and uprooted over 500 olive trees. 

A village elder is detained while trying to protect water sources on July 4

The destruction of the wells and trees have affected around 1,200 people, 60 per cent of them registered as refugees. according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Four water cisterns were also destroyed on July 24 in a park between the villages of Umm al-Kheir and Umm Daraj

“I know the reality of these people,” Tariq, who was at the demolition, adds. “I call them the enemies of life and they prove this by cutting trees, by cutting water pipes, by cutting the lives of people.”

The Good Shepherd Collective, a group that advocates human rights predominantly in the South Hebron Hills, puts the escalation of demolitions down to the actions of far-right settler NGO Regavim. 

Regavim, which receives Israeli tax-payers money and has charitable status, spies on Palestinian communities, looking out for structures built without a permit and reporting them to the ICA. They then speed up demolition cases in the courts through petitions. 

Their devastating impact can be seen by the steep rise in demolitions in the South Hebron Hills; 65 structures have been bulldozed or confiscated so far this year, compared to 23 structures in the same period last year, according to OCHA. 

The al Dababsh family watches as their home is razed to the ground in the village of Khalet al Dabeh

“For anyone who still has qualms about the placement of blame on the state or Civil Administration for the act of demolitions, the message of these continued demolitions in natural areas should serve as a clarifying message,” the Good Shepherd Collective said. 

“The state, the settlers and the organizations like Regavim that push forward the destruction of these areas, structures and resources for Palestinians are not motivated by the preservation of humanitarian rights, environmental laws, or the protection of the natural environment.”

The series of attacks on water sources in July comes after Israel ripped out a huge pipe network earlier this year that had supplied 12 Palestinian towns in the South Hebron Hills with running water. 

The pipes were built in secret and took four months to install. But just six months later, Israel destroyed them, cutting the 20km lifeline. 

The 12 villages have had to return to the old method of accessing water – by transporting tanks on tractors along poor roads which wears down the tyres and wastes precious work days. 

Transporting water in this way adds to the economic burden of the area’s small villages, costing 30 shekkles for one cubic metre. In contrast Israelis pay just 8 shekkles per cubic metre. 

And even the trucks are not safe from Israel’s war on water; on July 15, 18 water tanks were confiscated by Israeli soldiers. In the same raid, several thousand dollars of water pipeline and drilling equipment to install the pipes were also taken.

“The feeling is hard to accept, the fact that those people, those humans out of blood and flesh agree on themselves to cut other peoples’ lives by cutting the water,” Tariq tells ISM. 

“It’s far from doing something legal. There’s no law in the world that says you can cut water from humans and forbid him from having water access. Its insane.”

A bulldozer destorys water wells while a Regavim drone hovers above

The South Hebron Hills is in Area C of the West Bank which means it is under full Israeli control. Palestinians in this region are denied building permits even to install water pipelines or wells, and are not allowed to hook up to the water network that Israel has laid across Palestinian land to supply illegal settlements. 

As a result, villages in the area are subject to unrelenting attacks on not only their water sources but farmland and homes. 

 

Isawiya, a Palestinian town under siege by the Israeli occupation forces

Improvised checkpoint by border police at the entrance to Isawiya

August 1 | International Solidarity Movement | Isawiya, East Jerusalem, occupied Palestine

For the past two months, Isawiya, a Palestinian neighbourhood of 17,000 in East Jerusalem, has been under a constant state of siege by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Tactics used by the IOF include nightly raids, arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition, as well as increasingly inhumane and bizarre actions such as the interrogation of toddlers and holding the body of an unarmed 20 year old killed by Israeli Border Police.

Palestinians have lived in Isawiya since the 1500s, as shown by Ottoman records, but has been occupied by Israel since 1967. Today, the Occupation continues in many forms, particularly through police raids and harassment day and night. Palestinians in Isawiya are interrogated, fined, and arrested on a near daily basis, regardless of age. Residents told ISM a man was fined 500 NIS for throwing a cigarette butt on the ground, while another villager fined 1,000 NIS because his motorcycle exhaust was “too loud”. On July 30th, a 4 year old child was summoned for interrogation on charges of throwing a rock at a police car, and less than 24 hours later, a 5 year old boy was summoned for interrogation for throwing a juice carton on the street. Under Israeli military law, it is illegal to detain a child under 12 years old.

One of the children summoned for interrogation

Collective punishment, prohibited by international law, has also been used against the residents of Isawiya. On July 4th, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian mother to pressure her teenage son to turn himself in. 3 days later, Wael Mahmoud, a 20 year old woman, was detained to pressure her brother to surrender himself to the police.

Border police frequently block traffic and create holdups, creating tension and inconvenience for local residents

Frequent and indiscriminate use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition have also taken a heavy toll on the community. According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 124 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces in the 2 weeks from June 18th – July 1st. On June 27th, local activist and former political prisoner Mohammed Obeid, 20, was killed after being repeatedly shot with live ammunition by the IOF. After his death, Israeli forces held his body for 3 days, refusing to return it unless his parents agreed to bury their son outside the family cemetery in another part of Jerusalem, at night with few in attendance. When his family erected a monument in his memory, the IOF destroyed it.

11 year old injured by police who pinned him to the ground

Palestinian activists, as well as international and Israeli activists have been working to document and raise awareness of the ongoing police intimidation, harassment, and violence against the residents of Isawiya, who have continued to non-violently oppose the Occupation while struggling to carry on their work and daily lives in spite of the brutality around them.

Water Series: IOF destroy farmland east of Hebron – ISM speaks to owner Ghassan Jaber

July 30 2019 | International Solidarity Movement | Bit Arawa, occupied Palestine

 

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

 

On Thursday 18th July Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) came to the Al Baqa’a area, east of Hebron, and destroyed an irrigation system that carried water to two agricultural fields, growing around 10,000 tomato plants each. 

 Ghassan Jaber, 40, is the son of the owner of one of the fields. His family have been farming this land for generations. He told ISM that about thirty IOF arrived in five military jeeps at 7am. Jaber asked the IOF to show him a military order or permission form from Israeli authorities but they would not speak to him, instead forcefully evacuating him and his family away from the tomato fields. The soldiers cut the majority of the pipes that make up the irrigation system, crushing tomato plants in the process. They confiscated three of Jaber’s pesticide machines, each costing around 4000 NIS (1,100 USD). The family are currently watering the plants and administering pesticide by hand, which has greatly increased their workload. Since the incident, many of the tomato plants have died. This week, Jaber and his family are replacing the cut pipes. He estimates that this will cost about 40,000 NIS (11,000 USD), not including the additional labour costs. Jaber and his sons told ISM that they would be working for the next 24 hours to replace the pipes in time to save the crops. 

Water pipes in the tomato fields destroyed by IOF

 

 The IOF claim that Jaber’s farm is diverting water from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement Kiryat Arba. The farm has traditionally taken its water from a well owned by the Jaber family, situated on their land. In 2009, the IOF blocked the well with rubble rendering it unusable. It cost Jaber about 30,000 NIS (8,500 USD) to replace this well, and last winter the IOF blocked it again. Jaber decided to build a hidden groundwater well so that the IOF would not be able to find and destroy it. This cost Jaber about 150,000 NIS (42,500 USD). It is this groundwater well that now supplies the irrigation system. On Thursday, Jaber told the soldiers that he is using his own groundwater but they went ahead with the destruction regardless. 

 Jaber told ISM he is concerned that once he replaces the irrigation system, the soldiers will return and destroy it again. The extended Jaber family own and farm a lot of the land around Al Baqa’a, which is the most fertile land in Hebron. It falls in area C, under Israeli control. Kiryat Arba is very close by, making this highly contested land. The Palestinian population in this area is small, but they own most of the land. The IOF have banned the construction of new homes on this land and have previously demolished houses here, most recently in 2010. A month ago, the IOF confiscated 24 dunams of Palestinian owned land in this area.

Plants ruined by IOF and lack of water

Jaber says that this incident is not just about his family, farming and water but is linked to bigger political tensions. The IOF, he says, are targeting the Palestinian people’s sources of income and self-sustainability. They are damaging the local food supply: he predicts that as a result of the incident the price of tomatoes in Hebron will rise. This systematic assault on the everyday lives of Palestinian people is part of the Israeli government’s comprehensive warfare against Palestine.