Category: Hebron

Golani Brigade Report: Incidences in which Golani soldiers arbitrarily detained Palestinians and/or denied them access to roads or walkways.

14 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement and Christian Peacemaker Teams

Since the arrival of the Golani Brigade in Hebron on December 27th, international accompaniment organizations (Christian Peacemaker Teams, International Solidarity Movement, and others) have documented an increase in the number of serious human rights violations against the Palestinian people, particularly youth and children in the Old City and Tel Rumeida.

All recorded incidences have been documented through first-hand observation and/or the victims’ testimony. The following report demonstrates a sharp increase in harassment, violence, and human rights violations by the Israeli military towards the Palestinian population of Hebron. Contrary to given justifications, none of those involved were observed to voice or pose any threat to the soldiers. As the Golani Brigade is expected to remain in Hebron another two to five months, members of these international observer organizations fear that such abuses will escalate and make life unbearable for the Palestinians living under occupation in Hebron.

The International Solidarity Movement will publish each segment of the report in a series of articles. To download the full report, please click the following link: FULL REPORT- Under Attack: The Golani Brigade’s war on the Palestinian population of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Contacts:

International Solidarity Movement, palreportskhalil@gmail.com (972/0 59-550-02864)

Christian Peacemaker Teams, cptheb@cpt.org (927/0 59 810 4549) (972/0 54 342 0117)

2. Incidences in which Golani soldiers arbitrarily detained Palestinians and/or denied them access to roads or walkways.

Wednesday, December 28th: A Golani soldier prevented several members of the Youth Against Settlements organization from walking down a path from their center towards their homes. The soldier claimed that this prevention was because settlers were walking up the path, though none were seen, and further explained, “They must wait when anyone walks past. Even if a dog walks, they must wait.”

Friday, January 6th: A soldier stopped a 19 year-old resident of Shuhada Street and ordered him to show what was in his boots, unzip his jacket, and put his face and hands against the wall.  When the soldier began to hit the man, a neighbor and internationals observers began to film, after which the soldier stopped, but detained the man and his neighbor another 15 minutes.  The youth said the same soldier had stopped him to check his ID four times in one week.

Saturday, January 7th: Golani soldiers held a Palestinian for over three hours at Checkpoint 56.  The soldier explained that he was detaining the man because “he did not like him.”  The two soldiers at the check point continuously reminded the Palestinian man of his detainment by asking him, “How long have you been here?” and forced him to urinate where he stood rather than allowing him to leave.

Tuesday, January 17th: Golani patrolled through the busy Palestinian market in H1 at midday. As they marched, they forced everyone to stand aside and randomly stopped two Palestinian men to check their identifications. A younger man had to stand with his hands raised high on the wall for six minutes to check his ID.

Monday, January 23rd: Golani enter into H1 to search cars in Haret i-Sheik.

Monday, January 23rd: Golani denied a Palestinian man access to return to his home in the Old City because they said entrance was closed after 9 pm. Internationals observed for 40 minutes, as the soldiers denied him access at multiple checkpoints, forcing him to walk back and forth carrying a heavy sack. The soldiers insisted it was the man’s own fault, but finally appeared to relent and took the man on an alternative route.

Tuesday, January 24th: Golani soldiers stopped the Abu Aisha family at Gilbert Checkpoint as they were on their way home and refused to allow them through the checkpoint.  They did not tell the family why they were not allowed to pass.  After some time, they told the family to take a much longer route home, which they did.

Tuesday, January 24th: Soldiers at Checkpoint 56 harassed Palestinians leaving H2 by “playing” with the electric doors of the container box. After people entered the structure, soldiers closed all the doors simultaneously, trapping them inside, and then opened and closed an exit repeatedly. Finally the soldiers opened the door from which the people had entered, forcing them back out the way they had come.

Monday, January 30th: Golani soldiers held a man outside in very cold rain for one hour because he was fixing the satellite on the roof of his house in Tel Rumeida. They told him that they had seen him on his roof through a camera, and that in the future he would need special permission to be there.

Al Ma’asara: House on the seam of looming Apartheid Wall becomes center for peaceful resistance

by Aaron

14 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

There is a place where a ground-level concrete line runs beside a country road through olive orchards, grape vines, blossoming almond trees, and homes—all Palestinian. This is the projected path of a new segment of Israeli Apartheid Wall through Al-Ma’sara, a small village 13 km south of Bethlehem in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Since 2006, protesters have held weekly demonstrations opposing the Wall’s construction—which was halted in 2009, possibly due to financial constraints. But attacks on Palestinian homes and infrastructure are on the rise, and plans have been announced to renew construction in the near future. One of the few remaining obstacles to the Wall’s extension is the Taqatqa house, a private home in the path of the wall extension, that has become the target of settler attacks and vandalism. In coming weeks the people of Al-Ma’sara, together with Palestinian, International, and Israeli solidarity activists, will converge on the house to restore it and transform it into a center for resistance against the Wall and settlement land theft.

There are many things about this house that recommend it as a site of popular resistance to the next phase of Wall construction.

Located in a fertile valley, the property remains a viable agricultural space in spite of attacks, intimidation and settlement expansion. Where apricot and olive trees were once cut, the family planted grape vines and vegetables. Neighbors said that when Khader Tayatqa, late father of the building’s current owner, suffered a fatal heart attack, it was due to the stress of attacks on his land and family. Nearby lie other properties in contention, including a hill belonging to Raed Taqatqa, who has made his continued presence also into an act of resistance, in spite of determined efforts of Israeli violence to drive him off his land.

After Raed refused to sell, Israeli soldiers removed supporting rocks from beneath his caravan to build a roadblock, damaging it irreparably “by accident.” His home destroyed, Raed built a makeshift structure of cardboard and found materials, which was leveled by settlers.

Such vigilante attacks on Palestinians who resist, on the parts of settlers and Israeli soldiers both, are common—such as an attack on the village of Burin last week.

Along with a favorable location, is the building’s history. Built in 1960, before Israel captured the West Bank and lay claim to its lands, the home is ‘legal’ even under Israel’s stringent permitting system, prejudiced such that Palestinian homes are often demolished using red herring justifications for their ‘illegality.’ As long as repairs only restore and add no additions, demolition of the building cannot be legally supported by the Israeli state. There is also already a history of resistance at this site, where years of weekly demonstrations and a Land Day demonstration have impacted the Wall planning process, such that far less land would be walled off from Al-Ma’sara than from neighboring or similar communities.

House at the Seam – Click here for more photos

The most serious threat now is from settler and soldier attacks which, like those on Raed’s property, are intended to damage the building and discourage resistance. Thus far, while settlers have stolen a door, some electrical wiring and a transformer, the house needs few repairs before it can be inhabited and used for events. As long as it is inhabited, it cannot be taken by the antiquated Ottoman land laws—another tool used to rescind Palestinians’ property rights after they are driven off their land.

“This [house] is a real strong point,” says Mahmoud Zwahre, an organizer from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee and resident of Al-Ma’sara.“Legally, if we are able to keep this house we are able to keep the land.”

The bizarre set of circumstances that have made Al-Ma’sara, a rural village of about 900, one of the front lines in the battle against Israeli expansionism are sadly familiar to most Palestinians and their international and Israeli supporters. Although the village lies roughly 10 kilometers west of the 1948 “Green Line” (the only internationally recognized ‘border’ between Israel and Palestine) the massive “Gush Etzion block” of seven Israeli settlements (pop. 60,000) lies nearby, products of Israeli’s campaign to produce illegal “facts on the ground.”

These ‘facts,’ in turn are used to justify giving the Israeli military full control of most of the village’s lands and the annexation of thousands of dunums of land via planned Wall construction.

Not only would the wall’s route cut off 3500 dunums of Palestinian lands in Al-Ma’sara and limit access to services in larger communities, but it would also cut off the village’s water access and the primary routes between Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah—three of the largest cities of the West Bank.

Any one of these developments would hit Al-Ma’sara and surrounding villages hard, but together they are intolerable and demoralizing. Even though there is no barrier or construction currently underway, some Palestinian farmers have chosen to stay off lands east of the Wall’s projected path, fearful of settler and military attacks. Others, however, have decided to resist—using the Tayatqa house as a focal point.

When asked what his vision for the house is, Zwahre describes a vibrant social and information center, with Palestinian flags flying and walls painted red, green, white and black. From terraces, he imagines people sitting to drink tea and looking across olive groves and fruit orchards. Farmers avoiding their land below the settlements for fear of attacks by settlers would feel safe working on it. But, he adds, that is just his vision, and it is for all those involved in the development of the center to create it.

The Popular Committees have issued a call for supporters to join them in making this center a reality. They can be contacted at www.popularstruggle.org. Weekly protests against Wall construction are held Fridays at noon, starting from the Al-Ma’sara city center.

Aaron is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Golani Brigade Report: Incidences involving the detention, intimidation, abuse, or arrest of children and youth.

13 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement and Christian Peacemaker Teams

Since the arrival of the Golani Brigade in Hebron on December 27th, international accompaniment organizations (Christian Peacemaker Teams, International Solidarity Movement, and others) have documented an increase in the number of serious human rights violations against the Palestinian people, particularly youth and children in the Old City and Tel Rumeida.

All recorded incidences have been documented through first-hand observation and/or the victims’ testimony. The following report demonstrates a sharp increase in harassment, violence, and human rights violations by the Israeli military towards the Palestinian population of Hebron. Contrary to given justifications, none of those involved were observed to voice or pose any threat to the soldiers. As the Golani Brigade is expected to remain in Hebron another two to five months, members of these international observer organizations fear that such abuses will escalate and make life unbearable for the Palestinians living under occupation in Hebron.

The International Solidarity Movement will publish each segment of the report in a series of articles. To download the full report, please click the following link: FULL REPORT- Under Attack: The Golani Brigade’s war on the Palestinian population of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

Contacts:

International Solidarity Movement, palreportskhalil@gmail.com (972/0 59-550-02864)

Christian Peacemaker Teams, cptheb@cpt.org (927/0 59 810 4549) (972/0 54 342 0117)

1. Incidences involving the detention, intimidation, abuse, or arrest of children and youth. 

Tuesday, January 3rd: Fifteen Golani soldiers approached a group of children playing outside in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood, looking for children that were throwing stones. They had started to arrest a 15 year-old boy when elders, women, and family members came outside to stop them.   In response, soldiers hit a woman, a three year-old boy, and a 70 year-old man before firing three sound grenades and detaining two men.  These men were taken to the military base and held for two hours.

Saturday, January 7th: Patrolling Golani entered an internet cafe in the Old City and made an apparently arbitrary arrest of a young teenager for not having his ID.

Thursday, January 12th: Golani dragged a developmentally disabled young man into an alley and hit him repeatedly after he knocked on the checkpoint door, which they closed in front of him. This occurred near his home next to the Quiton checkpoint.  When his father ran to the alley, the soldiers stopped and released the boy.  That same evening, the soldiers entered the family home to attack his mother and beat the boy with nightsticks and fists.  The boy’s brother, hearing a noise, came downstairs, where he was grabbed and beaten in the same way.  The soldiers then threw him to the ground, searched him, and beat his head with rifles.  Both boys were brought to the police station where they held were for an hour and a half.  They then released the developmentally disabled young man to his home and transported his brother to Jabara prison, from which he was released later that night. His family took him to the hospital to receive care for a cracked skull, sutures, and care for his hands, which he could not move.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KdOuy233QyM%22%3Ehttp%3A

Friday, January 20th: Golani held a 10 and 12 year-old boy behind the gate of the Beit Romano settlement. Soldiers told witnesses and family members, who were present outside the gates, that the boys were detained for “throwing rocks”.  A witness said the boys had been wearing ski masks because of the cold weather, but had not been throwing rocks. When the parents arrived at the gate, soldiers approached them with a list of five other boys from the Old City, saying that if the parents brought them to the gate, their sons would be released. The parents did not, but the boys were released two hours later.

Saturday, January 21st:  During the settlers’ tour, around 4 pm, Golani soldiers took the 15 year-old brother of the two detained boys from his house and detained him.  He was released later that day.

Thursday, February 2nd: Fifteen Golani soldiers detained two children, ages 12 and 13, for 45 minutes on Shuhada Street near the entrance to the Muslim cemetery.  Later, six of the soldiers brought the boys up through the cemetery to a military base. In all, they were held for two hours. Both boys were too young to have IDs.

Saturday, February 4th:  Eight Golani soldiers in Bab al Baladia grabbed four boys all around the age of nine and detained them in an alley, claiming one of the boys had thrown a stone. No witnesses saw them throw the stone. International observers told the soldiers that the boys were not old enough to be arrested, and the soldier replied that in that case he would “arrest their fathers.” They released the boys 30 minutes later.

Monday February 6th:  Six soldiers detained two 11 year-old boys at Quortuba School in Tel Rumeida as school was letting out, telling them that they would be arrested for throwing stones. Several teachers and the principal of the school told the soldiers that they boys were not throwing stones. The soldiers replied, “we will let the boys go this time, but if they ever threw stones against the Israeli people again, we will arrest them and cause problems for your entire school.”

During the calendar month of January 2012, international observers witnessed a sharp increase in the number of Palestinian teenage and school-age boys body-searched by Israeli forces, who had reportedly agreed that soldiers would not search bags of children attending school. This number has not been documented through the course of this report but is clear to observers on the ground. Furthermore, according to residents, compared to previous brigades stationed in Hebron, the Golani have greatly increased this type harassment.

“It’s Hevron. It’s very dangerous” warn occupation forces in Al Buwayra

by Pascaline

12 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Sunday 12 February, about 200 settlers, mainly youth, gathered at the bottom of Assima settlement in Al Buwayra to cultivate and steal Palestinian land with accompaniment by the Israeli military.

They were carrying Israeli flags and posters. The military opened a gate leading these illegal and typically violent settlers onto Palestinian land and marched them to Hilltop 25. They remained there for a while and then moved to the other side of Road 60 leading to the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba and planted trees.

The Israeli Occupation Forces and police were faciltating the planting, and they let the settlers play music loudly from a car equipped with amplifiers to disturb the peace while making their presence a loud infringement on Palestinian land.

As ISM and Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel members walked up to visit Palestinian families, they were stopped by Israeli police, who checked IDs. When they were asked why they were checking their passports, the answer police answered that, “This is not Israel, it’s Hevron. It’s very dangerous.”

The Palestinians families told internationals that the illegal settlers had thrown stones at the house and broken a window. The settlers left shortly after the internationals got there, but were heard saying they would come back the following day.

The land where they planted trees is meant to be used to build houses for the children of the Palestinian families.

Pascaline is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Meitar Checkpoint: Women demand an end to strip-searching by Israeli military and prison administration

12 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A demonstration was held Sunday, February 12th at the Meitar checkpoint north of Beer Sheba in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in the Naqab (Negev) region as well as their family members who must pass through this checkpoint to visit them. The demonstration was organised by the Al-Khalil (Hebron) chapter of the Palestinian Prisoners Society and was attended by affected families, along with Palestinian and International supporters.

Solidarity for prisoners at Meitar Checkpoint - Click here for more images

This morning at 9:30 AM a group of about 100 demonstrators arrived at Meitar carrying banners, flags and pictures of loved ones held in Israeli prisons. The protesters made speeches and chanted slogans calling for freedom for political prisoners and for Prisoner of War and political recognition from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is charged with upholding International Human Rights Law in times of peace and war. From the beginning Israeli border police surrounded the peaceful demonstration, and as the group approach the border terminal, they began shoving. Despite this aggression, after one and a half hours the demonstration ended peacefully.

A young Palestinian woman named Fadwa told ISM that to visit her brother Jihad, who has been held in Israeli prison for a decade, she must make a 12-hour journey involving strip searches and extensive interrogation at Meitar only to be repeated again at the prison. She recalls that several times she has been forced to leave her shoes and jacket in the interrogation room and pass through the checkpoint barefoot, even in cold weather.

Ranna, whose husband Yasser has been held in Rimon prison in the Naqab for nine years, recounts a similar story of humiliation by Israeli border authorities. When arresting her husband, Israeli soldiers beat him so severely that he lost his right eye, and they refused to tell Ranna where he was to be held or what his charges were. Now she, along with her three children, must endure an ordeal like that of Fadwa, when visiting her husband in Rimon. Ranna says it is not only she that has been strip searched, but “women of all ages, even old women.”

Approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, the vast majority in contravention of international law which prohibits the transfer of a people from occupied territory to the territory of the occupier (within Israel’s 1948 boundaries). Many of these were never formally charged or given access to legal defence. Palestinian prisoners and solidarity groups have been organising to protest Israel’s systematic abuse of Palestinian prisoners, which has been thoroughly documented by human rights organisations like B´Tselem, Adameer, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Soldiers at the Meitar checkpoint, along with forcing hundreds of families to endure extensive delays, interrogations and intrusive searches, have recently begun strip searching female relatives also, which the women fear is being videotaped. That this humiliation follows mass hunger strikes and other prisoner organising, has led activists such as Amjad Najjar (media spokesperson for the Prisoner Society) to decry this harassment as “collective punishment,” not only of prisoners but also of their support network. The Prisoners Society plans to continue staging protests at Palestinian ICRC branches (including Khalil) until their demands for compliance with international law are met.