1st July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Sunday, 30th June, the Israeli forces in Khalil fired tear gas canisters in a residential area near the Ibrahimi Mosque. The soldiers claimed that this followed an incident of young Palestinian boys throwing rocks towards the checkpoint.
The teargas canisters landed amidst houses, causing problems to the residents. A 98 year old woman, Rashida Abed Al-salam Alkaraky, was severely affected by the inhalation of the gases that filled her room through her open window, and fainted. Her family couldn’t get to her immediately because of the density of the teargas in the air. Eventually they managed to transport her next door and an ambulance arrived to give her medical treatment. She slowly recovered from the effects after one and a half hours.
98 year old Rashida Abed Al-salam Alkaraky unconscious, receiving help from her family (Photo by ISM)
Following that, two squads of armed soldiers, accompanied by border police, started patrolling the area. They were pointing guns at windows and passers by and disturbing people in the area. During their hour long patrol, they invaded a Palestinian house and occupied the rooftop for some time.
Israeli soldiers climbing a Palestinian house to invade the roof (Photo by: ISM)
28th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Two brothers aged 10 and 13 were today taken by the Israeli occupation forces whilst playing outside their home in the old city of Hebron. They were forcibly taken to the military base on Shuhada Street which is closed to Palestinians, while their mother waited watching from the street above. They were held for four hours, without their family being notified of their situation and without having access to a lawyer. The Israeli authorities lied many times, claiming that the children had been released while they were still being held. Eventually the children were released without even being passed to the Palestinian authority.
Soldiers escorting children down Shuhada Street (Photo by ISM)
At around 2pm two brothers, Yousuf and Ahmed Gaha, aged 13 and 10, were taken from outside of their home by the Israeli military. According to their mother they were playing at the time. They were taken to the Israeli military base which is on Shuhada Street, which is completely closed to Palestinians, meaning that their mother could not follow – instead she had to wait on the road overlooking the base and watch from afar. Although soldiers could see her they would give her no information about her sons, despite it being illegal under international law to hold minors without access to their parents or a lawyer.
At around 5pm international observers waiting outside the military base heard shouts and cries from children, but still the Israeli military did not release them and refused to give any further information. Several times during the four hours, the Israeli District Coordination Office claimed to both the Palestinian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross that the children had already been released, when in fact they were still inside the military base. Under Israeli law, individuals should not be held by the army for more than three hours without being passed to the police, but the military today ignored these rules.
Soldiers surround children after their four hour detention (Photo by ISM)
Soldiers repeatedly claimed “we don’t care” and refused to give information to human rights observers. When the children were eventually released, it was not to the Palestinian authority, as is usually the case in the arrest of minors. Rather, the two brothers were released directly into the cemetery above Shuhada Street and allowed to go to their homes. This contradicts the soldiers’ claims that they had seen the boys throwing stones and had video footage of them, as these charges often come with a criminal sentence for Palestinian children.
As the children were released, a settler from one of the illegal settlements of Hebron – farcically holding a bunch of flowers – tried to attack international observers who had been filming the events, telling them to “go home” and calling them “Nazis”, as well as trying to physically assault them. Human rights observers have observed four child arrests just this week in Hebron, and this could easily be a small proportion of the full number. There is a worrying disregard for international law and the rights of the child in Hebron – for example 27 children were arrested at random in Hebron in March 2013.
Settler tries to attack international observer (Photo by ISM)
27th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
In the Wadi al-Hussein area of Hebron, Israeli occupation forces have started to build a new road ‘for military purposes’. The route of the road is from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba towards the city centre, directly across Palestinian-owned land.
Palestinian landowners explain the destruction of their land (Photo by ISM)
A military order has decreed the construction of this road, four metres wide and more than two hundred metres long, cutting through fields of olive and fruit trees owned by the Palestinian families living there. The stipulation on the width of the road has already been broken, with the route that has been cut by bulldozers being six metres wide in places.
In contrast to the military order to build a road, Palestinian landowners have been denied the right to build on their own land. Despite gaining approval from the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli authorities (who have the final say on civil matters in area H2 of Hebron) have refused permission to build a new house. Landowners also point out that there are two existing roads from Kiryat Arba built on Palestinian land for Israeli-use only, and ask why a third is required.
When occupation forces attempted to build this road initially, landowners and others tried to stop construction by sitting down in front of bulldozers, but this non-violent protest was met with arrests, fines and imprisonment, and by the bulldozer dumping a load of earth on top of them.
Landowners complain that Israel insists on applying those aspects of the Hebron accords that benefit settlers, while ignoring those aspects covering the rights of the majority Palestinian population. Using military orders to steal land is a tactic long-used by Israel. Land seized this way then later typically becomes part of the ever-expanding settlement project. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, which bans the transfer of the occupier’s population into the land under occupation.
Israeli military guard bulldozer working on Palestinian land (Photo by ISM)
24th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Two detained children, soldier looking on (Photo by: ISM)
Since coming to the West Bank I had heard a lot about the Israeli army detaining and arresting children. Despite this, the first time I saw it myself, I was amazed. Amazed that people – young soldiers – could intimidate, harass and arrest kids. And all done with smiles on their faces.
We were called to the army base on Shuhada Street with a report of two children being detained. We walked down the street, passing checkpoints, getting held up while the soldiers ‘checked’ our passports and hassled us. When we got close to one of the illegal settlements in Hebron, we saw a mob of about ten soldiers down a side road – when we approached they disbanded. As they moved apart we saw that they had been crowded around two young children, around ten years old, who were backed up against a wall.
On our arrival a group of soldiers came over to us, laughing and joking with each other, trying to talk to us in broken English. According to them the children had been caught throwing stones in the old souq. It seems laughable to think they’d be so concerned, being covered head to toe in military gear and holding guns. The children were forced to stand apart, in the dark, in an alley full of soldiers for over an hour. We asked the soldiers if they knew where their parents were, if we could talk to them, if we could walk them back into the Palestinian controlled area of Khalil. All of our questions were met with the same answer; “No”.
We sat and waited, waving at the children, making sure they knew we were there to try and help. Attempting to talk to the soldiers was futile; “we’re waiting for further instruction from higher up”, “I love kids, we’re not doing anything wrong”, “I’m just doing my job”. All I could think was: “Imagine if your kids, or your brothers, were missing at night and you didn’t know where they were?!” – the whole thing felt disgusting and underhand. Even the way they moved away from the kids when they saw us coming – they must have known that what they were doing was wrong. That it would seem wrong to the international community if they knew about it.
The two children seemed fairly calm after a while, eventually exchanging jokes and swapping positions when the soldiers weren’t looking. We decided, amongst the five of us that were there, that two should walk back up to the main checkpoint between the Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas. This would be where the children would get taken when/if they were released. My comrade and I walked back up Shuhada Street, the soldiers laughing at us as we left. We of course got stopped for a long time at another checkpoint in between – in fact, long enough to see the soldiers escorting the two children up the road towards us. We could not follow to make sure they were okay as the soldier who had detained us was holding our passports and ‘radioing in’ to ‘confirm our identities’.
Soldiers smiling – children arrested behind them (Photo by: ISM)
After about 15 minutes we got our passports back and got to the checkpoint to see the children being ‘posted’ back into the Palestinian controlled area and handed to the Palestinian Authority. The whole thing left me feeling sick. The smiles on the faces of the soldiers, the way they thought it was acceptable – or even normal – to hold children against their will at night, their use of intimidation and blatant abuse of power.
It may not seem like it, but these children were lucky – they were not blindfolded or handcuffed, nor were they were beaten or imprisoned. But others are. The children of the West Bank are learning first hand every day about the brutality of the Occupation. But they are also learning how to resist. I hope that their resistance will create a Palestine where children can play in the streets freely and without fear.
19th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Israeli settlers in the Wadi al-Hussein valley neighborhood of occupied Khalil (Hebron) have begun building a new road on land owned by a Palestinian family. The road will be around four meters wide and lead to the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba which is above the valley. When completed it will split two olive groves.
Bulldozers clear the path for the construction of the illegal settler road
The work on the new road began at around 11am as settlers arrived, accompanied by bulldozers and Israeli soldiers and police. Initially, the settlers made a tent and planted their flag, as if doing that could overturn generations of Palestinian ownership of this plot of land. Soldiers also blocked off a portion of the main road and bulldozers dug holes in the ground. A truck full of Israeli recording equipment has also been present on the scene.
The family who own the land were outside watching this happen. Israeli colonizers tried to build this road three weeks ago, claiming they had a court order authorizing it, but were met by widespread resistance and were unable to provide a copy of the court order. See details here. Building continued for the following days.
