8th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Human rights activist Jawad Abu Eysheh, 39, was arrested Friday 7th June following a complaint he made four months ago about a settler attack.
At 4:20 pm on 7th June, Israeli Police arrived at the house of the Hebron organisation Youth Against Settlements and demanded to see the ID’s of Jawad and three other men present. The police then told Jawad that they wanted to take him away ‘for investigation’, and called the Israeli military to escort Jawad away in handcuffs.
Jawad Abu Eysheh being handcuffed and arrested (Photo by Youth Against Settlements)
Jawad was then paraded through the adjacent illegal Tel Rumeida settlement and taken to the nearby checkpoint 56, before being transferred to the police station in the settlement of Givat Ha’avot outside the city centre.
Despite being a victim of that violent assault in February, it was Jawad who was subjected to arrest today, not the perpetrators. During his detention, Jawad was also forced to submit a DNA sample against his will, and to sign conditions that he will not speak with Baruch Marzel for the next 30 days. Jawad stated he is happy to comply with this stipulation at least. Jawad was released at around 9pm.As well as today’s arrest, Jawad has faced other harassment recently, including not being allowed to walk on the street where his factory space and uncle’s house are located.
The Israeli army and police in Hebron have a long history of harassing human rights defenders such as Jawad and his colleague Issa Amro, and of following the wishes of extremist settlers when deciding who to harass.
3rd June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
A 58 year-old Palestinian man and his 28 year-old son were arrested and his wife hospitalised after Israeli soldiers invaded their home, smashing furniture and breaking electronic goods over a three hour period. Four more houses within the same building were also ransacked.
Yesterday at around 2.30pm, at least ten soldiers invaded the home of Mohammed Fathi Jabari (58) on the Western Prayer Road in the Israeli-controlled H2 area of Hebron. During the incident, the soldiers forced the residents all into one room and compelled them to give up their phones. Mohammed Fathi Jabari and his son were then arrested in their home. Despite numerous police and army personnel remaining in the area, the family was given no information regarding the whereabouts of their father and son or the reason for their arrest. Mohammed was released hours later but his son is still being held. Mahera Jabari (49), Mohammed’s wife, who already had heart problems, was hospitalized due to the stress of the situation.
During the raid the soldiers kicked down the door to the building and ransacked the rooms of the five homes within. In the first home the soldiers invaded, they kicked down a door and threw a young boy of 10 years old against a wall, causing bruising to his shoulder. International observers interviewed family members from all the homes, who showed them the mayhem created: a broken laptop, a huge chest with the top torn clean off, rooms completely ransacked including one where six children slept, and many broken doors. Contents of drawers, wardrobes and cupboards were strewn across the floor, including clothes, bedding and children’s toys.
Five soldiers escort Jabari to the police van (Photo by ISM)Broken furniture and clothes strewn across the floor by soldiers (Photo by ISM)
2nd June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Saturday the 1st June, another group of illegal settlers of Hebron and other settler tourists invaded the old city of Hebron, a Palestinian area which is tightly controlled by the Israeli military. Palestinian homes were invaded by the soldiers and several incidents of violence and harassment were reported.
Settlers and soldiers block streets in the souq – restricting Palestinian movement – (Photo by ISM)
The afternoon was unusually hot and the area was quiet until around four in the afternoon at which point two groups of three soldiers appeared in the old Souq and invaded Palestinian houses, purportedly to use their roofs for surveillance. One of the homes invaded was that of a sixteen-year-old boy who was arrested last week on false charges of injuring a settler – he was in a different city at the time of the injury – and released shortly thereafter. There also was a report of a soldier beating a Palestinian man, kicking him on the head.
The “tour” proceeded from the gate near the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Romano and through the old city. The Israeli settlers were completely surrounded by soldiers, who refused to let Palestinians through and made them travel by alternate routes. One female soldier had a dog on a leash, and several Israeli border policemen were also present and conversing with settler-tourists. It was clear from a conversation between soldiers that they were irritated by the presence of international observers. One international was also confronted by an armed settler, who demanded his passport and asked provocative questions in a clear act of harassment.
At one point, three soldiers broke from the main group and ran through the old city, intimidating people by pointing guns at passers-by. They then stormed into a Palestinian house, occupying the roof which oversees a Palestinian playground. They pointed their guns down at children playing and also trampled all over a rooftop vegetable garden, destroying a number of plants.
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.
Soldier on rooftop pointing gun near playground – (Photo by ISM)Palestinians try to take a juice stall through the souq, blocked by settlers and soldiers – (Photo by ISM)
7th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Khalil | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Regular updates on harassment of Palestinian schoolchildren by Israeli military in Hebron monitored by the International Solidarity Movement.
30th May, Soldiers hiding down a side-alley outside the school
30th May: Today was the last day before the summer holidays for some schools in Hebron. Children received their typical morning welcome from 7am, in the form of four military jeeps waiting at the checkpoint and several heavily armed soldiers hiding up a side street. Soldiers intimidated children as they walked past, wearing riot helmets with weapons at the ready.
A settler from one of the illegal settlements in Hebron’s old city then spat in the face of an international observer who had been monitoring the soldiers.
28th May: As the morning began and children were arriving at school for the last of their exams, there was a large military presence awaiting them at the checkpoint. At 7:20am there were three jeeps and twelve soldiers. As children yelled at them from a distance for their constant provocation every morning, the soldiers readied themselves with helmets and weaponry. At 7:25am three soldiers went through the checkpoint, one armed and ready to shoot tear gas and another holding a sound bomb. They stood directly outside the first primary school on the road.
Soldiers situated on roofs and in the road outside schools
Within minutes they were joined by three other soldiers, positioning themselves on the garage roof just opposite the primary school. As the three soldiers on the ground advanced to the front of the second school, the jeeps came through the checkpoint. Two of the jeeps blocked a road just before the schools, turning traffic around, while the soldiers around these jeeps kept threatening, pushing and shouting at children who passed them. Six soldiers kept aggressively advancing, ready to shoot gas and sound grenades at the children, who responded to their flagrant intimidation with rocks. After a long stand off and lots of chanting, the soldiers finally got into their jeeps and drove away at 8:20am.
27th May: Today, Israeli soldiers continued their harassment of Palestinian youth on their way to and from school. Due to exams, several classes of young people aged only 10 to 14 years old left the school early. Some gathered at the opposite end of the road, about 500 metres away from the checkpoint, posing no threat to the Israeli border police. Several young people threw stones which never reached anywhere close to the checkpoint. Nevertheless, two jeeps sped through the checkpoint, and armed Israeli soldiers threw a sound grenade and fired a tear gas canister onto a Palestinian roof. Within a minute, they fired another tear gas canister. They waited and watched for several minutes, and eventually a group of Palestinian adults talked to the soldiers and convinced them to leave.
Israeli soldier shooting tear gas canisters (Photo by ISM)
26th May: Two Israeli military jeeps and ten soldiers this morning harassed schoolchildren and teachers preparing for another important school exam day. Soldiers also invaded a Palestinian home near the schools, using the roof as a watchpoint. One stun grenade was thrown by the military. International activists escorted children who had been too terrified to continue their journey to school alone.
21st May: 3 Military vehicles and around 12 Israeli border police / soldiers blocked the road near the entrance to 3 schools as children made their way to class this morning . Soldiers prevented children and teachers from walking to their schools and diverted traffic as others took photo’s of children with their iPhones. At one stage soldiers threw a sound bomb in the direction of a large group of small children. Many of the schools are holding end of year exams today .
Child being detained by military on the way to school, 16th May
19th May: At 7am three international activists arrived at the checkpoint immediately outside three Palestinian schools. They found that three soldiers had already moved past the checkpoint, an act of provocation in itself . The activists followed the soldiers and watched as the soldiers observed the passing . At Around 7:30 the soldiers noticed smoke and marched towards the school where they discovered a fire burning in a dumpster. It was unclear who started the blaze. The soldiers waited by the dumpster for approximately 30 more minutes. During this time the children began to throw stones from at them from a distance, failing to hit the soldiers. At one point, one soldier returned past the checkpoint to the border police station and came back with three tear gas bombs. A school teacher or administrator approached the soldiers to speak with them and admonished the children to enter their classes. Once the children were safely in the school the soldiers returned to the other side of the checkpoint without incident. Back at the police station, border police harassed youths (between 13 and 15 years old) as they passed. Activists witnessed one police officer kick a child as he finished his inspection
16th May: At around 7.30am two army jeeps and six soldiers on foot walked past the checkpoint towards the schools. One child was surrounded by seven soldiers, one of whom grabbed his arm – when asked by international activists why they had detained him, the soldiers released the child. Two soldiers ran towards the school with their helmets on but stopped before they reached it. Three soldiers standing on a roof pointed their guns down at the children. Soldiers in jeeps took pictures of children on their iphones.
15th May: Strong military presence outside of the checkpoint intimidated children, who then threw stones at the checkpoint. Two jeeps and six soldiers on foot continued waiting outside of the checkpoint.
13th May: Five soldiers stationed themselves on roofs overlooking the school whilst four walked down towards the school, waiting on the road. All wore riot gear, including helmets.
Soldiers pictured shortly after having charged at schoolchildren, yelling and throwing a soundbomb
UPDATE 12th May 2013: On the 12th May, once again, 2 Israeli military jeeps were stationed at the checkpoint at 7am as children passed through to get to their respective schools. At first, 3 heavily armed soldiers proceeded to walk through the checkpoint, they stopped in an alley opposite the elementary school, intimidating school children as they walked past. When questioned on their purpose for this action, they had no response. As the school children (some as young as 5) began to gather outside their school gates, the 3 soldiers with their helmets on, weapons in hand and completely unprovoked, charged at the children, dropping a sound bomb and yelling aggressively in Hebrew. After this intimidation tactic occured, 3 more soldiers came through the checkpoint and watched all the children from a distance with binoculars. Many children stayed at the bottom of the street, resisting the soldier’s scare tactics with chants.
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Children walking past soldiers on their way to school – 7th May.
Children have to walk through a checkpoint manned by several Israeli border police each morning in order to reach their schools, often receiving hassle from the soldiers as they do so. On the morning of the 5th of May, some children threw stones at the checkpoint – in response the border police radioed for army back up and two jeeps arrived on the scene. One jeep then proceeded through the checkpoint driving down towards the school parking outside whilst children were still arriving. After it left the other jeep drove down outside the schools and four army officers exited the vehicle and patrolled outside the schools for another half an hour.
On the 6th May at around 7.00am as children were walking towards their classes, three military jeeps arrived without provocation and ten soldiers patrolled in front of the school, maintaining a presence for over an hour.
On the 7th May two jeeps arrived at the checkpoint and seven soldiers walked through it, towards the schools. When asked what their purpose in the school area was, the commander answered “we’re protecting our people”. They had no further response when it was suggested that their actions seemed absurd, considering the disparity of power between the heavily armed Israeli military occupiers and a few young children throwing stones in resistance.
This daily military presence must be a continual reminder for the children who were arrested and their classmates of the military brutality of the 20th March. One bystander stated “this could inhibit the right to education – children might be too scared to come to school.”
In a city which has seen at least 66 child detentions and arrests since mid-February (these are just those witnessed by international observers), this continued initimidation and persecution of children is evidence of Israel’s disregard for international law for the protection of children – a finding backed up by Unicef’s recent report criticising Israeli military treatment of Palestinian children.
27th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Al Khalil | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
UPDATE 28th May: Settlers claim that they will return on 28th May to build a road on Palestinian owned land in Wadi al-Hussein, Al Khalil. No building has yet taken place and settlers have yet to provide any documentation or court order for the road.
******* This morning, 27th May, settlers from Kiryat Arba, an illegal Israeli settlement in the city of Al Khalil (Hebron), started to place road markers for the construction of a road through the Palestinian olive groves of Wadi al-Hussein. They were accompanied by Israeli military and police.
Road marker placed by settlers (Photo by ISM)
Palestinians, including the owners of the land, gathered in the area to stop any attempt of illegal construction in their land and were confronted by armed Israeli settlers, police and army. A number of international observers were there to monitor the situation. The settlers claimed that they had a court order for road construction. However, they were unable to bring any official papers to back this claim.
A while later, some settlers who remained in the area started putting up a tent in the olive groves, unhindered by the police who have the legal duty to prevent them from land theft. They equipped the tent with chairs and surrounded it with Israeli flags.
Wadi al-Hussein is a Palestinian neighbourhood in Al Khalil, which, due to its proximity with the illegal israeli settlements of Kiryat Arba and Givat Ha’avot, has suffered a lot from settler violence and oppression by the Israeli forces.
Settlers tent in the Palestinian olive groves (Photo by ISM)Israeli forces and Palestinian land owners arguing about the settlers tent (Photo by ISM)
