November 7th 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Several olive trees and one apricot tree were destroyed on the morning of November 5th in a section of Khalil (Hebron) called Jales Mount, which is near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba.
Rashed Zaroo showed the damage to internationals that afternoon. He explained that the land is owned by his father and uncle Fayez, before that his grandfather acquired the land in the early twentieth century. The trees were planted forty years prior and were some of the strongest in a large grove that produced olives and fruit. Five months ago Shakel Zaroo was attacked and gassed by settlers that he caught damaging his property. In addition five hundred square meters of the Zaroo family land was confiscated to build the Route 60 settlers highway.
The neighboring families’ land has seen even more devastation, the Abu Rmela and Abo Sunina families had approximately 400 olive trees burned by settlers last year. The land was so unsightly that the Israeli government brought heavy equipment to remove the debris and then redistribute the uneven ground caused by the massive uprooting.
These practices come under the protection of the Israeli army. The illegal settlers who live in Hebron are of the most dangerous fanatics in all of the West Bank.
There is a spiritual link between these trees and the Palestinians and the right to live with dignity on their land has been violated by the occupying forces. The trees are rooted in this land both physically and culturally.
October 26th 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
A Palestinian man, his initials being IS, was harassed along with his family at a checkpoint in Hebron during the Eid celebration. He and his son were reportedly beaten by Israeli soldiers. In the aftermath IS was held by the military for about an hour and finally collapsed. IS suffers from a disability which makes it difficult for him to walk. The family has been harassed by the army several times in the past, living in the Israeli-controlled H2 area of the city.
As it was Eid, the highest Muslim holiday, the family was on their way to visit relatives. They had to go through a checkpoint, where soldiers there provoked them. Soldiers were also heard calling his wife a “bitch.”
As the situation grew more tense, IS and his teenage son were hit by the soldiers. The father was detained by the soldiers at checkpoint 56 as NGOs, ISM and locals rushed to the scene.
Internationals questioned eyewitnesses for details and documented what was happening. The soldiers tried to prevent documentation. Friends of the detained witnessed his distress while sitting in the cold. The soldiers had been ignoring his deteriorating state of health and despite locals demanding treatment, he eventually collapsed.
The Israeli paramedic finally examined him. While doing so, the army claimed he was acting. One of the soldiers was heard saying, ”Put his arm up, if his hand falls on his face he passed out, if it falls to the side he’s faking.” He was given several shots of medication before he regained consciousness. His peers attempted to monitor his health and were asking the soldiers to call an ambulance. Police and an armored vehicle with more soldiers arrived at the scene and tried to separate the crowd in order to evacuate him.
Finally a Red Crescent ambulance parked on the other side of the checkpoint in H1 (the Palestinian controlled part of the city). The paramedics crossed the checkpoint, put the man on a stretcher and examined him. They then took him through the checkpoint and into the ambulance. We later learned that he recovered after treatment in the ambulance.
Earlier this week another son of IS was reportedly attacked by a soldier at Gilbert checkpoint only a hundred meters away from checkpoint 56. IS’s wife works for the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem which helps Palestinians document abuses pertaining to the occupation. It appears the family is being targeted, as if the daily struggle with checkpoints and violence under occupation isn’t enough.
4th November 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday 2nd November the Israeli military issued five military orders on five families in and around Hebron. Families in Tel Rumeida are under threat of having their movement severely restricted. At the time of writing Sunday 4th November the objectives of the military orders is unclear.
A lawyer from the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (H.R.C.) is representing all five of the families who have received these orders. The families have been given five days to lodge their objections to the documents. A collective objection will be made by the lawyer representing the families but the complaint cannot be made until the military orders are completely understood. The H.R.C. met with the District Coordination Office (D.C.O.) on Sunday 4th November in an effort to clarify what the military orders pertained to. After the meeting the H.R.C. said that the orders were about the restriction of movement of the families concerned. The H.R.C. also said that some of the content of the orders was still unclear. It is a tactic of the Israeli occupation forces to make these orders as difficult to understand as possible. This makes legal challenges to the orders more difficult, it is also done to obfuscate the true intentions of the Israeli military. The orders are deliberately kept unclear so the Israeli army can then do whatever they want.
Imad Abu Shamsia and his family, who live in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, received a copy of the military orders issued to them in Arabic and Hebrew. The orders contained a map detailing their house and the surrounding area. It was assumed at first that the orders related to the roof of the house, the Abu Shamsia house has had a military watchtower on the roof for twelve years. It was thought possible that the Israeli military may be wanting to place surveillance cameras on the home.
On Sunday when being informed of what the H.R.C. had said and had been doing the Abu Shamsia family said that their movement would be restricted in the whole of the Israeli controlled H2 area of Hebron. This area covers the Ibrahimi Mosque, the souk, the old city and also the Abu Shamsia home in Tel Rumeida. At least one other of the military orders affects a family in this area.
The effect of denying the movement of the Abu Shamsia family in the whole of this area would be catastrophic on their daily lives. The route they take to school or to go shopping, their access to the whole of the rest of the city would be restricted. The uncertainty about what exactly these military orders mean, the uncertainty about their future and the future of all the other recipients, must have a devastating affect on the welfare and health of the family.
It would appear the Israeli occupation forces are planning to worsen the precarious existence of the Palestinian population of Tel Rumeida: how exactly is impossible to know at this point in time. There was one chilling phrase from the document issued by the Israeli army that was easily understood, “to put hands on this area.”
30 October 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Photo of the Abduction from Youth Against Settlements
At approximately 2am Israeli occupation forces climbed down from the roof at the back of a family complex on Shuhada street to apprehend student Abed Al Salayma, age 20. Abed was blindfolded and led from his home a short time thereafter while his distraught mother remonstrated with the soldiers. Thirty minutes later his mother Jamille Hassan Shalaldh, age 50, was handcuffed, arrested and taken away.
After the Israeli military forced entry, they did not provide the family with a written warrant or verbal explanation for why Abed was being siezed, therefore this event is a kidnapping. Hence the mother’s appropriate distress as she followed the soldiers out of her house and onto the street in aid of her son. While expressing her frustration Jamille collapsed on the street at 2.50am and was roughly handled for a number of minutes causing her to breakdown again. A settler got out of his car and spoke to the soldiers during the incident.
One family member brought a chair for Jamille to sit on. The army sat Jamille on the chair and promptly handcuffed her behind her back. She received no treatment from the soldiers during the event. An ambulance was called to the scene but the paramedics were denied entry through the checkpoint. At 3:15 the Israeli Police arrived and a few minutes later she was transported by vehicle to an undisclosed location.
As the situation stands there have been no charges pressed against either Jamille or Abed, and the family continues to be in the dark as to their whereabouts. Speculatively, Jamille is close by at a health clinic and is reported to be surrounded by soldiers.
Five months ago both were arrested, Abed had to pay money to be released. As in this instance there was no apparent reason for why the Israeli occupation forces apprehended them. There have been several instances of conflicts between the Salayma family and settlers, including one that involved a large mirror being brought to the Salayma household and thrown at Jamille.
Abed is Jamille’s only son, he studies at Hebron University and aims to be an English teacher. Before his detainment he translated for EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel).
12 October 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
In two separate incidents on Wednesday 10th and Friday 12th October 2012 settlers from the illegal settlement in Tel Rumeida, Hebron stole olives from two trees belonging to Jawad Abu Eisheh and attacked his family whilst they attempted to harvest from their land.
Between 2pm and 4pm on Wednesday 10th October 2012 settlers from the illegal settlement in Tel Rumeida stole olives from two trees nearby. The settlers carried out this theft in full view of the Israeli soldiers manning the Gilbert checkpoint only about ten meters away at the top of Tel Rumeida hill, who did nothing to stop them.
On Thurday 11th October 2012 three International Solidarity Movement volunteers accompanied Jawad to his land to record any further criminal activity from the illegal settlement as Jawad and his family carried on harvesting their olive trees. Jawad has permission from the Civilian Military Commander, Rami Ferris, to harvest his olives at this time.
Jawad and the volunteers were stopped at the Gilbert checkpoint by an Israeli soldier who said that Jawad could not harvest any olives today and that no international volunteers could accompany him to his land. Jawad phoned the police and started to make a complaint. On seeing that he was not going to accept this arbitrary decision the soldier radioed to his commander. After talking on the radio the soldier relented and said he did have permission to harvest his olives after all.
The remainder of Thursday 11th October 2012 passed without incident as the Palestinians harvested their olives.
The Abu Eisheh family harvesting olives.
On Friday 12th October, the Abu Eisheh family went to their land at 9.30am to begin to harvest. Shortly after, a soldier came over and told them to stop – Jawad informed him that he had been allowed by the commanding officer to harvest yesterday. No sooner that he had been stopped by the soldier, settlers began to appear from the illegal settlement nearby, “don’t harvest the olives, they are for us” they were heard shouting. At this point the soldiers told Jawad that he “must stop now there are settlers.” The family refused to stop as they had been allowed to harvest the previous day. Jawad told the soldiers “if I leave the settlers will steal my olives.”At this point a settler pushed over Jawad’s brother Wajdy, who fell to the ground, to which the soldiers did not respond.
The Israeli Army then attempted to arrest Yiyah Abu Eisheh (21) for refusing to leave the land, and as the soldiers grabbed him, Noor Abu Eisheh (27) got in the middle, so the soldiers bound both the men’s hands with cable ties and took them to the Gilbert checkpoint nearby.
At this point all the family was forcibly removed from their land by the army, and as they reached Gilbert Checkpoint there was around 30 settlers who started to attack the family and a number of Palestinian onlookers.
Settlers in Tel Rumeida who attacked the Abu Eisheh family.
Wajdy Abu Eisheh (25) was at this point injured by the settlers and needed medical attention. The army carried him into a vehicle which later transferred him into a Palestinian ambulance where he was taken to Al-Khalil Hospital.
An injured Wajdy Abu Eisheh being treated at the scene.
The Abu Eisheh family has suffered much from the illegal settlement in Tel Rumeida. Jawad used to run a brass mending and nickel, copper and zinc plating factory from his home employing twenty people. His factory amongst other work repaired parts for cars. The factory was closed by the Israeli Military along with other successful businesses in the area in the year 2000. His workshop has been broken into by settlers who destroyed chemicals and vandalized his electroplating equipment. The Jawad Abu Eisheh property had a wall to protect it from intrusion but after an illegal chicken farm was erected by the settlers next door they bit by bit broke down the wall by removing stones from it. About 18 months ago the settlers completely destroyed the wall which means that any time they want the settlers can come on to the property to vandalize or steal olives.
The Jawad Abu Eisheh family have lost their successful business because of the illegal settlement in Tel Rumeida and now they are losing the olives that grow on their land to thieves from the illegal settlement.
Jawad says: “They don’t like to see Palestinians working their land. How long must this family pay the cost of Israel’s Illegal settlement program?”
