Category: Features - Page 91 - International Solidarity Movement

Illegal settlers of Kiryat Arba abuse Palestinians and volunteers

3rd March 2016| International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Saturday, 27th February 2016, as two ISM volunteers were walking on Prayer Road, right next to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), they were attacked, threatened and insulted by settlers while Israeli forces were watching.

When the internationals were passing by, turning their backs toward a gate that is used as an entrance for the settlers and while looking the other direction over al-Khalil, the settlers immediately threw a stone at them. Shortly after, 2 or more settlers appeared at the fence and began yelling and cursing the volunteers in an extremely abusive and vulgar manner. When the international human rights defenders tried to engage, the settler became more abusive, one of them walked out of the gate, put his hand on a hand-gun he was wearing on his belt and openly threatened the internationals that he would not hesitate to use the gun on them. He repeatedly stated that he was going to shoot them, while another settler brought and unleashed a dog outside.

As the volunteers turned to return from where they had come from – the only option as Israeli forces were entirely ignoring the hate-speech and open threats to their lives and well-being by the settlers, an Israeli soldier with two cups of coffee walked out the same gate the settlers were using. When asked by the internationals why he did not intervene and stop the settler at any point, he claimed he hadn’t seen the stone-throwing. In contradiction to that, he then quietly said that the settler was not like most.

This clearly illustrates the impunity settlers enjoy in the occupied West Bank. Regardless of their actions, they are enjoying the full protection from the Israeli forces. Whereas for the international human rights defenders making official complaints with the Israeli police is at least a theoretical possibility, Palestinians making their way to the police station in the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba have repeatedly been told by the civil police that they were not even taking complaints against settlers by Palestinians. The Palestinian families living in the direct vicinity of this illegal settlement thus are forced by the Israeli government to endure the harassment, intimidation, verbal and physical violence by settlers they are exposed to ona daily basis without any way of addressing this impunity.

Bogus arrest of 12 year old boy in Hebron

3rd March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On the 28th of February around 4:00pm, 12 year old Palestinian boy, Sayed Seder was arrested by 10 heavily armed Israeli soldiers whilst playing football with his friends on the street in front of his family home. The Israeli army claim that he was arrested under allegations he was throwing stones at the guard tower which watches over Al-Shallalah Street and the illegal Israeli settlement that has been built directly behind the street and family home.

Abed, the father of Sayed went down to confront the soldiers after Sayed’s friends came running up to the family home, explaining to the father what was happening. When Abed approached the soldiers to ask them what exactly they were arresting his son for, the soldiers responded by informing him that it was because he was seen throwing rocks at the guard tower above. However, the street is lined with a protective type of fencing above the shops roofs that prohibits objects being thrown up or in the most common cases, being thrown down by illegal Israeli settlers who live above. Abed put the argument forward that it would have been pointless for his son to have been throwing stones with this protective barrier in place. Perhaps the logic of this made too much sense and the arresting soldier quickly changed his story and then began to tell Abed his son was being arrested for stealing a settler child’s football whilst pointing to the ball that Sayed and his friends were playing with. Abed informed the soldier that the ball Sayed and his friends were playing with was in fact a ball that he had purchased for Sayed from a shop in Halhoul just recently. The soldier who was evidently lying and knowingly falsely accusing Sayed of the above allegations ignored any more of Abed’s protests and continued to arrest Sayed.

Al-Shallalah street where Sayed was arrested

From this point Sayed was marched to the Shuhada street entrance gate and taken through while his parents and friends were forced to stand back and watch. Sayed was then taken to the local military base on Shuhada street. Upon entering the military base he was reportedly handcuffed and blindfolded. The blindfold remained on for around 30minutes before being taken off, assuming that it was put on so he could not get a full view of what was happening inside the military compound for security purposes. Sayed alleges that teenage settlers who were allowed into the compound then beat him while the Israeli army simply stood back and did nothing. In recent light of leaked videos showing the torture of young Palestinians by Israeli soldiers whilst being detained does nothing to boost the credibility of the Israeli army or give merit to this bogus arrest of a 12 year old.

Protective fencing installed above Al-Shallalah street and the guard tower

Sayed was later released from custody at around 9pm to Palestinian authorities where he complained of pain in his kidneys. His father arrived shortly after and took Sayed to hospital where doctors examined him. While the doctors could not find physical wounds that would require further attention they did note that Sayed was severely traumatised from the event and was in a state of shock.

Just 3 months ago the Israeli army arrested one of Abed’s other sons who is 10 years old. The reason for the arrest was that he too was suspected of throwing stones at the military. As Abed didn’t believe this and objected he too was arrested with his 10 year old son. They were detained for 6 hours and released without charge.

One significant fact is that Abed’s house backs onto the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadasa. Abed used to sell artisans out of the family home but has had to stop because of ongoing harassment both physical and verbal to himself and to his customers from the settlers that occupy the land next to his home. The front of Abed’s house has been covered in barbed wire by the Israeli military and is adorned with bags of dirty hummus, eggs and other foul items thrown down by the illegal settlers. The army has also boarded up the windows of his family home (without his permission) that overlook Beit Hadasa.

Abed's home and the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadasa — Abed’s home and the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadasa

The barbed wire at the entrance to Abed's house with rubbish thrown down by settlers — The barbed wire at the entrance to Abed’s house with rubbish thrown down by settlers

While harassment from the settlers in Hebron is often considered an unfortunate normality to most Palestinians living under occupation, the armies continued bogus charges and harassment of Abed and his family give one the impression that the Zionist regime is using a tactical ploy to get Abed and his family out of their home for further settlement expansion.

Israeli navy attacks and seriously wounds Gaza fishermen

1st March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza-team | Deir El Balah, Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine

One month ago Mohamed Said El Saidi, 23 years old, and his brother went back to the sea around 5am in order to pick up the nets that they had previously left 2 miles offshore in Deir El Balah.

When they arrived they saw an Israeli warship waiting for them in the distance, once they had collected their nets the Israeli navy vessel approached and told them to stop. “We decided to try escape… we couldn’t afford loosing the boat and the nets”.

However they couldn’t go too far, as the Israeli soldiers immediately shot Mahmoud 11 times with a unique kind of projectile that consists of a cloth bag full of buckshots. They soldiers shot him 8 times in the leg and 3 times to the head. The damage from the shots left him unable to walk, as he couldn’t feel his leg, he was also left very dizzy and disoriented.

Immediately after that, the warship from the occupation rammed them, destroying their small boat and nailing a metal bar on Mahmoud’s neck. In the collision he also got his jaw and nose broken.

The occupation forces then took Mahmoud to the hospital and kept his brother for one day before sending him back to Gaza. Mahmoud’s mother explains, “I received a call from the Israeli hospital telling me that my son might die at any moment, and when my other son came back he told me that Mahmoud was dead”.

Mahmoud’s mother was then given a permission slip to leave Gaza in order to see him. He was unconscious for 6 days and couldn’t begin to speak again until 12 days after, as all his vocal cords had been cut by the metal bar. The doctors have told him not to eat anything solid, during the next year he is only able to drink juices and soups through a straw.

The situation of the family has become tragic, “we live in a rented house that we have been paying with the money that Mahmoud provides. Now we also should pay for his care and medicines, but we can’t… his cousin is taking care of his wounds as we can’t pay a nurse to do it”. “Please let the world know what they do to our children… they shoot them, steal their boats, kill them… they leave whole families without income… this is not life”. She continues, “I have another son who was kidnapped by the occupation a year ago… he has 3 children who have stopped going to school because we can’t pay for it”.

Infamous settler Anat Cohen disrupts peaceful commemoration

27th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Wednesday evening, 24^th February 2015, a commemoration for the victims of the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), was interrupted by infamous settlers attacking the group of Palestinians and internationals peacefully remembering those killed and the implications of this massacre on basic Palestinians rights.

Infamous and violent settler, Anat Cohen

The residents of the Salaymeh neighbourhood which is located directly next to the Ibrahimi Mosque, have been gathering every day around a nightly bonfire for the last few months. Doing so as an act of defiance against settlers from the illegal settlements, foremost among them infamous settler Baruch Marzel, gathering at a settler-only bus-stop across the street. With their presence, the Palestinians are demonstrating that despite the lethal and non-lethal violence they have to face by settlers, they will not be intimidated by them.

Candles lit in memory of those lost in the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre of '94 — Candles lit in memory of those lost in the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre of ’94

On Wednesday evening, Palestinians and international supporters gathered in an event organised by Youth Against Settlements as part of their Open Shuhada Street campaign. With the importance of this gathering being to stress the vital yet peacefully displayed acts of resistance and defiance against the settlers and Israeli forces’ continuous acts of intimidation, harassment and violence. For the families, the event can and will never be linked to any organisation or party, but will always stay an act of popular resistance any person is invited and welcome to join, as it’s not a one-time event that gives them a feeling of security and solidarity, but the everyday gathering around this symbolic bonfire that is called the ‘tanakeh’ (Arabic word for the barrel the bonfire is lit in).

Candles were lit in commemoration of the victims of the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, in which extremist settler Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 and injured more than 120 worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque in cold blood. In the aftermath of this heinous massacre, the Ibrahimi Mosque was divided and the main Palestinian market in Shuhada Street completely closed for Palestinians.

Israeli forces push back Palestinians — Israeli forces

While a documentary about this massacre was screened, Israeli forces at the nearby checkpoint detained three Palestinian men and a girl that were on their way to join the event. Two heavily armed Israeli settlers stopped their car next to the Palestinians that had been detained for already more than half an hour for no reason, and getting out of the car threatened Palestinians. Even though they left, another settler, infamous violent Anat Cohen, arrived and slowly and deliberately drove her car into a big group of Palestinians gathered at the side of the road while insulting them through her open car window. The Israeli forces refused to intervene and let her drive off. She immediately made a u-turn and came back, got out of the car and started threatening, intimidating and attacking Palestinians and internationals, hitting them and trying to slap cameras out of their hands.

More Israeli forces arrive to push back non violent Palestinians

The whole time, the soldiers at the checkpoint were merely watching and refused to intervene and stop the violent assaults. Instead, as more soldiers arrived, they started violently pushing back the Palestinians.

At the end of an event supposed to peacefully commemorate the heinous massacre committed 22 years ago – two Palestinians had to be brought to hospital as a direct result of Israeli forces’ violent assault on a group of people that were being attacked by an infamously violent settler – apparently the only person the Israeli forces were willing to protect as she was allowed to leave without any consequences for the disruption of the peaceful event, the harassment or the violent assaults.

An ambulance arrives to take away injured Palestinians

Demonstrators call for end to unjust restrictions in Hebron 22 years after Ibrahimi mosque massacre

26th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On 26th February 2016, Palestinians in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) jointly commemorated the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre and protested against the closure of Shuhada Street and the illegal Israeli military occupation.

kids apartheid 2016 — Palestinian children display a sign against the apartheid regime

The peaceful demonstration, organised by the local activist group Youth Against Settlements as part of their Open Shuhada Street campaign, started marching from al-Nimrah mosque after the noon prayer towards the Ibrahimi Mosque. Palestinians, international supporters and journalists from local and international media walked through the streets of the city toward the Ibrahimi mosque, chanting against the illegal Israeli occupation, the illegal settlements and in support of prisoners under administrative detention being held by Israel without charge or trial.

open shuhada st 2016 march — Palestinians from across the West Bank and international activists marched together in solidarity to Open Shuhada Street

The demonstration was in commemoration of the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, in which 29 Muslim worshipers were murdered by extremist Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein when he opened fire inside the mosque during a Ramadan Friday prayer, also injuring more than 120 people. In the aftermath of this heinous massacre, Israeli forces cracked down on Palestinian basic human rights and freedom of movement, closing shops in the once thriving Palestinian market in Shuhada Street and completely barring them from accessing this road that has been declared a sterile area. The Ibrahimi Mosque was divided into exclusively Jewish and exclusively Muslim areas for most of the year, with access to the mosque entirely controlled by Israeli forces.

israeli forces open shuhada — Israeli forces deploying against nonviolent demonstration in al-Khalil

Israeli Forces ambushed the peaceful march when they were about half way towards the Ibrahimi Mosque, using the roof of a Palestinian family home to throw stun grenades into the crowd of people peacefully making their way to the mosque. As the demonstrators rapidly tried to escape the stun grenades flying at them in from above above in quick succession, Israeli forces began shooting endless rounds of tear gas into the neighbourhood. They aimed mainly, though not only, above the heads of the protesters into the neighbourhood populated by Palestinian civilians not even involved in the march.

israeli forces open shuhada demo — Excessive amounts of tear gas used against peaceful protesters

soldiers tear gassed themselves! — Israeli forces even made themselves sick from inhaling the tear gas they employed excessively against protesters and nearby Palestinian homes

While Israeli forces showered the area in tear gas, the sound of ambulance sirens echoed through the streets. About a dozen people had to be taken to hospital by ambulance for excessive tear gas inhalation. “We were filming with an ambulance next to us and we could see the Israeli army target this ambulance, throwing stun grenades directly at it”, recalled James, an Australian activist.

Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians, one of them a lawyer, the other a journalist. The journalist was directly targeted by the army, that went up to a group of people, grabbed him and walked away with him while ignoring everyone else.

This 7th annual Open Shuhada Street protest comes after months of increasing violence, restrictions and collective punishment imposed by Israeli authorities on al-Khalil’s Palestinian residents. At the end of October Israeli forces began imposing a ‘closed military zone‘ on the short portion of Shuhada street where Palestinians were previously still allowed to walk, along with a large part of the adjacent Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. Palestinian residents and activist groups have been nonviolently resisting the closed military zone, which requires residents to register in order to be allowed into their homes and bars other Palestinian and human rights defenders from entry. The closed military zone, along with the widespread, deadly violence and closures deployed against Palestinians in al-Khalil, has also been broadly condemned by Palestinian and international human rights groups; on the February 25th anniversary of the Ibrahimi mosque massacre, Amnesty International released a public statement calling on Israeli authorities to “lift the discriminatory restrictions, end the collective punishment of Palestinians in the city and protect human rights defenders there.”