21th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On the evening of Sunday, July 14, in the old city of Hebron two Palestinian children named Mohammed and Ahmed, both aged 13 years old, were arrested. Though joining a wave of child arrests in Hebron during the last weeks, the arrests of the two boys stand out because of the massive number of soldiers and police actively participating.
5-year-old Wadia arrested with his father, also blindfolded, by Israeli focers in Hebron (Photo by ISM)
The first boy, 13 year old Mohammed, was taken from his family home in the Israeli controlled H2 area of Hebron, home to 31,000 Palestinian people and approximately 500 illegal Israeli settlers. Allegedly the arrest was made because Mohammed threw a stone at Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets, though no evidence of this has been made public to international observers who witnessed soldiers invading Mohammed’s home and leading him away to Beit Romano Military base. The second boy, named Ahmed and also 13 years old, was taken from one of Hebron’s market streets, situated in H1, an area that is supposed to be controlled fully by Palestinian police forces. Sidestepping this agreement, the soldiers invaded H1, grabbed Ahmed and brought him with them back into H2, claiming he had thrown a tomato at a nearby settlement.
Both individual arrests were carried out by more than five Israeli soldiers, but as events rolled the number progressed to more than 30 heavily armed members of the occupying forces. The arrest of Ahmed led to outcries in the market, with Ahmed’s mother demanding the soldiers on the wall separating the two areas to give back her son. The soldiers responded by sending more than 30 soldiers to the wall, bringing with them both live ammunition and several teargas grenades, threatening to shoot these into the mass of assembled people gathered on the other side of the wall. The situation escalated as armed settlers joined the soldiers, harassing international observers.
Finally, an hour later, a visibly shaken Ahmed was taken through the mass of settlers and military personnel and released back into H1 to his waiting family. Mohammed had to endure further dehumanizing punishment as he was taken to the Police station outside Ibrihimi Mosque. This was where an Israeli police officer lied to internationals present, stating the boy would be released and that those present could “trust him”; in fact Mohammed was transferred to Qiryat Arba police station and held until his family could make their way there to pay a fine of 500 NIS for his release.
The city of Hebron has experienced a wave of child arrests during the last weeks, often violating Israeli military law stating that children under the age of 12 cannot be arrested, as in the case of 5-year-old Wadia[i]. Though both Ahmed and Mohammed are 13, Palestinians complain that this law, giving Israeli occupation forces the right to arrest children from the age of 12, is only ever enforced for their children and not for settler children. On Sunday night in Hebron this proved true, as settler children attacked internationals by throwing a stone on the scene before the eyes of Israeli soldiers without consequences.
16th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Saturday the 13th of July about forty settlers on a settler ‘tour’ once again strolled through the Old City of Al Khalil (Hebron).
Today they were joined by almost as many soldiers from the Israeli army, Israeli Border Police and Israeli police force. The occupation forces kept blocking the streets, forcing local Palestinians working or shopping to use longer alternative routes or wait behind for the full hour the tour lasted.
Almost as many soldiers as illegal settlers disrupted the daily life of the local Palestinians in the streets of Al Khalil/Hebron (Photo by ISM)
Around 1.30 pm the settler tour was preceded by the army invading a private Palestinian home and occupying their rooftop. The ‘tour’ went on through the streets of the Palestinian neighbourhoods while the heavily armed soldiers escorting the illegal settlers and Zionist tourists controlled how close the international observers could get, to the point of threatening to throw tear gas grenades. Meanwhile soldiers prevented Palestinian men, women and children from moving through their own streets and tried to expel children from their own neighborhood. At one point a young boy tried to get through with a cart, coming from one of the shops where he was helping with work, but not even he was allowed to pass by the tour. As the settlers moved through the Palestinian residential areas, the soldiers kept intruding into Palestinian homes to enter their rooftops.
Today the settlers’ tour followed a different route than in previous weeks, following narrow streets within the old city. Four Border Police officers remained at the back of the group, keeping international observers at a long distance from the settler group, effectively preventing much observation of the settlers’ behaviour as they entered the old city. As people started to gather behind the ‘tour’, waiting to enter homes and shops one of these officers took out a camera and started filming the Palestinian children and the international observers. At no point were people allowed to pass the settler group.
The soldiers wouldn’t let this young boy trough despite obviously interrupting his working routine (Photo by ISM)
This weekly “tour” of Hebron disturbs the daily lives of Palestinians in the busy Souq of Hebron, which has seen an extreme decrease in trade since the Israeli occupation forces closed Shuhada street, which was formerly Hebron’s busiest market. Rather than closing the Souq, where there are several illegal Israeli settlements, Palestinian residents think the Israeli forces are trying to make life there as uncomfortable as possible and thus pressure them to move out of the area.
9th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On July 9th at around 4pm in occupied Hebron, Israeli soldiers arrested and held a five-year-old boy in their military base along with his father. They kept the father handcuffed and blindfolded, and transferred them to the checkpoint separating the Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas of Hebron – Checkpoint 56 – interrogating both of them while they waited for District Coordination Office (DCO) – the liaison for the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli soldiers escorting Abu karem and his son to checkpoint 56 (Photo by ISM)
The young boy, Wadia, allegedly threw stones at soldiers, which precipitated his arrest. Bystanders say that Wadia threw a stone at a dog and a nearby soldier accused the Wadia of throwing stones at her. The soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded Wadia’s father, Abu Karam Maswathi, and transported both of them to the nearby military base where they were briefly held and questioned – this in spite of the fact the children under 12 cannot be arrested and charged with a crime under Israeli law[i].
Abu Karam Maswathi, blindfolded and hadcuffed with his son, surrounded by soldiers (Photo by ISM)
While the soldiers led the father and son from the military base, Abu Karam was still blindfolded and handcuffed even though he was not technically being detained, which is said to be illegal under Israeli law. The two were led to Checkpoint 56 to await their release to the DCO, which is standard procedure for child arrests. However, today they were surrounded by around ten soldiers, who could be seen interrogating the detainees and trying to prevent internationals from filming. An Israeli military commander later arrived on the scene and reprimanded the soldiers for handcuffing and blindfolding Abu Karam in front of the international human rights workers because it’s “bad PR.”
All this for a 5-year-old child allegedly throwing a stone.
[i]“Israel Police Treatment of Juveniles during the Period of Disengagement.” Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. State of Israel, 15 Aug. 2005. Web. 09 July 2013.
4th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Israeli military in h2 setting off to H1 for routine arrests and house raids (Photo by ISM)
Update 7th July: On the 6th of July the Israeli military has once again disregarded the law and entered H1 to terrorise the Palestinians in this area of the city. This is not a rare occurance, as soldiers make it a routine in which Palestinians are dehumanised and terrorised.
In the early hours of the morning on the 6th of July at roughly 1am, 10 Israeli soldiers equipped with automatic rifles, helmets and backpacks left the Israeli military base in Tel Rumeida and started moving toward H1. Before they began ascending the hill past the gate that seperates the 2 zones, 2 soldiers decided to urinate on Palestinian homes, a sheer sign of disrespect and an affront to decency. After these soldiers returned from their operation, they descended upon the Youth Against Settlement centre in the Olive Grove asking questions about certain members and threatening to make arrests.
Israeli jeeps heading towards h1 (Photo by ISM)
Nearly 2 hours after this happened, at roughly 3am, 5 Israeli military vehicles, 3 jeeps and 2 carriers, accompanied by 20+ soldiers drove from H2 into H1, and according to Ma’an news, made 2 arrests. This ostentatious disdain for the idea of Palestinians having a peaceful life is nothing but an act of terrorism.
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During the evening of July 3rd, at approximately 8pm the Israeli military, under the orders of a new commander, illegally invaded H1, the Palestinian controlled area H1 of Hebron (Al Khalil) and spent the evening harassing families by various methods.
The illegal and flagrant incursion into H1 consisted of eight soldiers on foot, equipped with heavy machine guns and tear gas attachments, followed by two soldiers in a jeep. They attempted to intimidate Palestinians on the streets who questioned why they were committing this act. As they reached their destination, two soldiers stopped anyone coming near a Palestinian home that four soldiers invaded. Two positioned themselves on the roof of the home, while another two soldiers brought family members outside to search and question them. They proceeded to push one boy in his teens against the wall and search him in a humiliating fashion. After they had finished harassing this particular family, the soldiers patrolled the streets of H1 before finally returning to illegally occupied H2. Palestinians in the area told international volunteers that these dehumanising routines were not new; however a new commander was in place and he, like previous commanders, was abusing his power in order to oppress the population of Al Khalil.
Israeli Military’s illegal incursion into H1, Al Khalil (Photo by ISM)
Since the 1997 Hebron Agreement, H1 is supposed to follow the same rules as Area A, which means the Palestinian Authority are hypothetically in control (of civil proceedings and security issues), whereas H2 is the equivalent to Area C in which the Israelis are in control, though 30,000 Palestinians still live in this section of the city and are brutally oppressed on a daily basis. When the Israeli military moves troops into H1, it is a violation of the Hebron agreement, an example of Israel’s contempt for laws, be they national or international and moreover, evidence of their contempt for the Palestinian people.
3rd July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Dura, Occupied Palestine
On Tuesday, between two and four a.m., the Israeli occupation forces invaded the town of Dura, near Hebron in the West Bank and killed 19-year-old Moataz Idris Sharawneh. They shot him with three dum-dum bullets to the chest (a weapon declared illegal under international law)[1]. Then while he lay on the ground he was severely beaten by the soldiers and run over with their jeep, at which point he died.
Poster made about Moataz’s martyrdom (Photo by ISM)
Soldiers prevented friends and family members from reaching Sharawneh to get him medical treatment. As Sharawneh’s nephew tried to reach him, soldiers shot him in the arm with a dum-dum bullet and then arrested him; since then, no one has heard from him. ISM spoke with the family in Dura yesterday, and his sister Nevin, who is studying to be a medical secretary, related a detailed account of his life and martyrdom.
This is what Nevin shared with us.
Throughout his life, Moataz acted out of love for his country and supported his people’s resistance. He was on the front lines whenever there were clashes with the military, and he was also attending a military college in Jericho with the intent of becoming an officer.
His first goal was to pass his high school exams to get into the military college, to be able to defend his country. His family tried to keep him out of clashes, but they couldn’t because he was determined to resist the occupation and regarded martyrdom as a honourable act. Four years ago, even at 15, he presumed that he was going to be a martyr. On his Facebook account he had a page about the martyrs of Palestine, stating that they are above all of us.
Previously Nevin would laugh when the boys were in the street trying to catch the jeeps. Whenever Moataz came from clashes, his hands were black from tires. He would say that he was fixing car tires, in order to hide his participation from his mother and so that she wouldn’t prevent him from going out.
He was the main provider for his family, after the death of his father four years ago. In between semesters in college he was working in construction, to raise money for his studies and help his family. He was very close to his sister Nevin, who described them as “one soul in two places”. He was so good to his family that he never said no to them. However, he would never agree to anything that was wrong, and he was always trying to fix things, giving advice to his friends when needed. He always wanted to make things right.
Like many young people, he didn’t pray, but a week ago he started to pray a lot. In every call for prayer he was the first to go to the mosque. He was waiting for the next prayer. On Sunday night between 2-5 am he was praying in the mosque and he said he wanted to pray until his last breath. Two days before he started to have strange dreams, seeing his father. The day before his death, he was silent all day, but he was smiling to everyone as usual.
A month ago there was an incident, something had been set on fire, and all of his friends were implicated and arrested. He told his mother and his sister, “All my friends are in prison, so I guess I’m the next”. He had a friend, called Islam Asir, who was killed by the Israeli soldiers two years ago. Moataz had his friend’s jacket, the one Islam was wearing when he was killed. Last night he said to his family that he wanted to wear this, so that he would be with his friend if he was imprisoned or martyred.
In the evening before his martyrdom, he prepared to go to a friend’s wedding. He had a shower and he shaved and went to the party. He told Nevin to prepare his dinner for when he came back. When he returned, he sat with Nevin, his nephews and nieces in his sister’s room, and they were talking and having fun and stayed awake until 1:30 a.m. Then Nevin told him to go to sleep.
Nevin had just fallen asleep, when she was awakened by a loud noise. She opened the window and the door of her room. Moataz was standing in the corridor and asked what was going on. She told him she heard soldiers outside. She looked out of her window and saw two Israeli jeeps.
The last words he said to his family were “God; resistance” (Allah, al moqawama).
A memorial set up in the place where Moataz Idris Sharawneh was killed (Photo by ISM)
The first thing the family heard was that Moataz was injured by a bullet in his stomach. Just an hour after he went to the street, his brother called them to say that Moataz was in the hospital and he was dead.
His nephew, Bahaa Sharawneh, was with him when they went out on the street. He was also wounded in his hand, but he was never able to go to the hospital. The Israeli soldiers took him with them and until now the family has not heard anything news about him.
One of Moataz’s friends, who was at the scene where this happened, told the family everything that he saw. Moataz wasn’t throwing stones at the jeep, but he was standing on the side as the jeeps were passing through. When they saw him they turned back. He then took a large stick and smashed the cameras on the jeep, which are used by the Israeli military to take pictures of stone throwers, in order to arrest them later.
When the jeep returned, Moataz opened its door and he saw somebody he knew inside, and realised that this person was collaborating with the occupation forces. Moataz tried to take a picture of him to prove that he was a collaborator. The soldiers and the man pushed him outside of the jeep and they smashed his camera. He then saw some guys on the street holding a Palestinian flag and took it to put it on the jeep. When the soldiers saw him coming with the flag, they drew their guns and shot him. Three bullets. These were not just bullets; they were bullets that explode.
Soldiers prevented anybody from giving any first aid to Moataz as he lay on the street. His friends tried to reach him to help, but they were obstructed because the soldiers didn’t want him to tell anybody about the collaborator inside the jeep. At that point the soldiers started kicking him. Palestinian youth nearby started to throw stones at the soldiers, who began retreating. Moataz was still breathing at that time, but the soldiers, seeing he was still alive, drove over him.
In the morning news, soldiers claimed that the incident consisted of clashes between mafia and that the mafia was responsible for Moataz’s death. Later on a radio show, they told the interviewer that Moataz had been defending himself, so they shot him. The body of Moataz was taken to the Palestinian hospital ‘Alia for an autopsy to determine the cause of death factually. The autopsy confirmed the facts described above, which were that the body was beaten and shot with dum-dum bullets.
Moataz had enrolled in college, studying to be a sergeant in the Palestinian security forces. His colonel, who was responsible for the course, came to Dura to bury him beside his father. He took good care of him because he thought Moataz was a great guy and a great student. All of his professors and teachers were there.
Nevin relates that she is sad for herself, having to adjust to living without him, but she is also content that he found what he was looking for. She added that when they kicked him they were cold blooded, and they treated Moataz like an animal, without regard for human rights. He was shot at close range and was also prevented him from getting help.
Nevin knows that Moataz was not the first nor will he be the last martyr in Palestine. But she wants her voice to reach the international community and for them to hear her story because this was a cruel act of injustice. She said that she will do her best to keep up with the good cause.
[1] Hague convention of 1899 (IV,3): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Bullets which can Easily Expand or Change their Form inside the Human Body such as Bullets with a Hard Covering which does not Completely Cover the Core, or containing Indentations http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/dec99-03.asp
