Category: Hebron - Page 143 - International Solidarity Movement

Palestinians and international solidarity activists detained 5 hours in Hebron

by Aaron

7 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Friday night, Israeli soldiers at Checkpoints 56 and Gilbert in the town of Al Khalil (Hebron) detained Palestinian and International Solidarity Movement activists for a total of five hours for unexplained reasons. The detainees, a mix of activists and community members, were held for hours out on a cold night while groups of settlers and military squads arrived to heckle, shout, curse and point their guns. The soldiers of the recently arrived Golani Brigade, one of whom, a checkpoint commander, said their reasons where because “because [he] said so.”

The detentions occurred one after another and involved activists and community members being sent back and forth between checkpoints. Each time they thought themselves free to go they were again detained a short walk away. In each round of detentions, the problems started with arbitrary detention of a Palestinian, after which ISM and Youth Against Settlements activist observers were asked to show passports and detained by Israeli soldiers without any pretense of justification.

The first person held, a man returning home to the Palestinian-controlled “H1” zone of Khalil, had been in military custody two and a half hours prior to the arrival of solidarity activists. According to the soldiers, this was because the man lacked identification, but they were unwilling to accept his personal information (including passport number) and did not offer any other options. The man was finally released when the soldiers’ superiors arrived and ordered him released.

Activists were stopped again a mere 300 meters away, where passports/IDs were again checked and more soldiers were called. A number of illegal settlers arrived to offer soldiers tea and treats and shout insults at ISM and Palestinian activists. One settler returned again and again to make threats, attempted to block or take cameras, and at one point persuaded soldiers to give him the activists’ passports. When all but one of the detainees (Izzat of Youth Against Settlements) had their identification returned, the rest remained in solidarity and as a group returned to the checkpoint to demand the last activist be released. This yielded yet another round of ID inspections and a police visit before all were finally allowed to head home.

In the last two weeks since the Golani Brigade were shifted to checkpoint duty in the Israeli-administered H2 quarter of Hebron, military aggression and human rights abuses have increased, according to ISM activists and Palestinian residents of the area. While checkpoint stops and attacks on Palestinians have been historically commonplace in the divided city, Sami of Youth Against Settlements says that when the Golani Brigade is assigned the number of human rights abuses goes up many times over. Additionally with the Golani deployment in Hebron, military harassment of international activists has also increased, as witnessed by the repeat detentions of Friday night.

According to the Israeli news source Haaretz.com, the Golani Brigade has a ‘complex’ and special reputation for at once being particularly ‘tough,’ and routinely sent to front line combat “as a brigade that struggles with no small number of disciplinary problems and scandals, caused by bad behavior ranging from revolts against commanders to abuse of Palestinians.”

According to ISM and Youth Against Settlements activists this ‘bad behavior’ has been more than evident with the last few weeks’ upsurge in arbitrary detentions and harrasment.

On the following morning, one of the ISM activists detained Friday night was stopped yet again, her passport taken, threatened with arrest, and surrounded at her apartment. Another ISM volunteer asked, “Why do you keep breaking international and Israeli law?” The commander’s response, also present the night before, summed up his answer in four words: “I am the law.”

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

Israeli military drags its boots and guns into Ibrahimi Mosque

by Caroline Nordhammer

21 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Soldiers from the Israeli military entered the Ibrahimi Mosque located in the Old City of Hebron on December 21 in the afternoon. Male and female soldiers entered the mosque and the men’s place for prayer in what appeared to be a tour of some kind. It is a custom within Islam to take off shoes and for women to cover their hair when entering a mosque. Despite this custom, soldiers did not take off their shoes and female soldiers in the group did not cover their hair.

Furthermore, two of the soldiers where heavily armed in order to “protect” the group of soldiers. International volunteers from the ISM who happened to be in the mosque at this time asked soldiers why they entered the mosque. The soldiers responded that they “wanted to visit the mosque.”

ISM volunteers further questioned the soldiers’ choice to enter the mosque with shoes and weapons, and why the female soldiers did not consider the custom to cover their hair, but were refused an answer.

The refusal of the soldiers to consider religious customs while walking into a religious sanctuary should be put in the context of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank which is illegal under international law.

Recently, soldiers stationed in the occupied area of Hebron known as H2 have raided several homes, entered Palestinian property and either participated or done little to stop escalating violence and harassment committed by Israeli settlers living in the area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okoiSEvG-98?rel=0 After settlers occupied the parts of the Old City in the city centre of Hebron in the middle of the 1970s, Israel has imposed several apartheid laws including a heavy military presence, watchtowers, checkpoints, street barriers, road closures, house evictions and forced displacements which aims at restricting and controlling Palestinians only.

While soldiers and settlers move around freely inside the occupied area, Palestinians who want to enter the mosque, face many difficulties as a consequence of these restrictions and apartheid measures.

ISM consider today’s event and the obvious neglect of religious and cultural customs a severe violation of Palestinian human dignity and integrity.

Caroline Nordhammer is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)

Settlers and military jump pedestrians in Tel Rumeida

by Fida Far

16 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

When my friend and I decided to walk downtown, we didn’t expect that this walk could be dangerous. There was a funeral going on for a settler woman who had been killed by her ex-husband, who in turn committed suicide.

First we passed about 3 Israeli military jeeps and a couple of soldiers, and we followed the road inbetween two graveyards leading down to the Gilbert checkpoint.

When we arrived, there were many military cars and about 30 soldiers crowding the area as illegal settler cars and buses were coming and going.

Settlers were inciting Palestinians, by aggressively cursing at them and flashing lude gestures. But Palestinians were calm and did not react.

Illegal settlers and Israeli military team up – Click here for more images

After two buses came there were too many settlers. Some came from Kiryat Arba, where the deceased settlers were from, while other buses came from Shuhada street.

A settler spit on a Palestinian man, who also returned the gesture, causing a fight.

“After the Palestinian spit back, settlers started to beat all the Palestinian around. All the settlers came down and very angrily started to attack everyone. I saw how they attacked internationals and smashed their cameras, and some Palestinians were bleeding. Of course soldiers didn’t arrest any of them, they tried to arrest me and some of my friends,” said Issa Amro, a local Palestinian activist who tried to stop settlers from causing clashes.

Soldiers did not try to stop the settler who started the fight; instead they tried to arrest the Palestinians who were attacked. More and more settlers were running down from the graveyard and attacking all non Jewish people in the area. About fifty individuals were targeted by the settler violence, while women retreated into their homes for shelter. Palestinian men were actively seen defending themselves without causing transgression. After all, anything slightly malleable to mean “fighting” could have landed any of them in prison.

After our camera was smashed and settlers still wanted to beat us, we had to run away.

“I felt really scared when settlers were attacking me and the soldiers just supported them. When they wanted the card from my camera, they just smashed it. It was really horrible, when I realized that the soldiers are with the settlers, instead of protecting the people. I was so scared that they were gonna lynch us,” said one international activist, who wished to remain anonymous.

“I was so helpless and powerless, when I had to fight for my life and saw all that anger from settlers who were supported by the soldiers,” said another international activist, also wishing to remain unnamed.

Palestinians from about 5 households had to lock themselves in to avoid the settler mob. Afterwards the soldiers invaded the houses and took position to attack, stationing themselves atop the roofs of Palestinian houses.

After twenty minutes, when the situation became better, we wanted to go back and help the people that were in the houses, but soldiers didn’t let us go down and when they saw that we didn’t have our camera any more, they started to push us and beat and jab us with their riffles. One of them charged like a bullet into the room, pointing at us with his gun as he yelled, “I am gonna kill you all!”

Soldiers didn’t have the situation under the control and were out of their minds.

“When one of them went mad, and charged the riffle and pointed it at me I believed, that he was gonna shoot,” an activist said.

The atmosphere here in Khalil and all West Bank is escalating. Only this week the settlers burned two mosques, and last week they attacked a family and burned three houses.

This is evidence of apartheid here in Khalil, where there was so many soldiers who are not even aloud to arrest the settlers at all according the Israeli law.

Fida Far is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Israeli soldiers raid Hebron homes “to stay in shape”

by Carol Vans

15 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Today on December 15, Israeli soldiers raided private property and at least one school in what appeared to be a military excercise in Hebron. Around 7:30 in the morning soldiers entered the playground of Ibrahimi elementary school and claimed that children had been throwing pieces of plastic. When the director was notified and went outside to talk to the soldiers, the military captain picked up a piece of glass from the ground and accused the children of throwing glass as well. The captain then threatened to close the school if it would happen again, but it remained unclear as to what excatly he meant since he was in the schoolyard of an elementary school where children frequently play during their breaks.

In the occupied area of Hebron known as H2, soldiers entered a family’s residential building and positioned themselves on the roof where they threw soundbombs and pointed their weapons towards civilians on the street. When ISM was notified soldiers on the street prevented them and other residents in the area from crossing the permanent barrier. One man living in the area referred to the event as an “excercise madness” and raised concern over children living in the area. After entering the homes the soldiers later withdrew into the nearby observation tower but returned back to the house after a short period of time. When internationals from the ISM followed the soldiers tried to block them from reaching into the building. When asked about the reason for the exercise in someone’s private home, the soldiers claimed that they needed “to stay in shape.”

Families living inside the apartment had not been notified of the exercise and did not know the reason why their homes were being used as military training camp.

In the Old City soldiers entered several families homes and continued to move up to the rooftops were they took firing positions towards the street were men, women and children were moving. At one instance soldiers lined up approximately twenty teenagers against the wall choosing two of them to stay and ordering the rest to leave. The two teenagers that were left were encircled by 6 soldiers who staged an arrest in what appeared to be part of the exercise.

Israeli soldiers frequently raid Palestinian homes and property in the occupied area of Hebron known as H2.

ISM regards the recent aggression against Palestinian civilians as part of escalating harassment, violence and attacks made by Israeli soldiers and settlers stationed in the area and surrounding illegal settlements. Israeli occupation of the Westbank and Hebron is considered illegal under international law. Many international organizations and human rights organizations have expressed deep concern over the situation in Hebron where between 3000 to 4000 soldiers are protecting the approximately 500 settlers who are occupying the city centre from within.

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

“Like the Wild West:” Ex-prisoner lives with bounty on his head

by Alistair George

13 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement West Bank

“I see my situation as a cowboy film, like the wild west” says Hani Jaber, showing ISM a poster, written in Arabic saying: ‘Wanted: if anyone has any information about the whereabouts of the killer Hani Jaber, please call us on this number and you will receive a reward.’

The number goes through to an answer machine where the message instructs callers to leave a phone number, promising to guarantee confidentiality and to pay good money. Other leaflets have been handed out showing pictures of Jaber and other recently released prisoners, offering rewards for information and leaflets for soldiers so that they can alert settlers if Hani passes through a checkpoint. Reports in the Israeli media suggest that the reward is $100,000 for information on Hani’s whereabouts.

After serving eighteen years of a life sentence, Hani was released from prison on 18 December 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal which saw 477 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006.

In 1993, Hani, 18 years old at the time, took a kitchen knife and stabbed to death the settler Erez Shmuel, who Hani claims had attacked his nine year old sister as she came come from school. Hani’s rage had built as he and his family experienced frequent attacks by settlers over many years. Hani had his jaw broken during an attack by four settlers, on another occasion his leg was fractured. His cousin, Aziza Jaber, was shot and killed by a settler as she was in labour and on her way to hospital – she was 30 at the time.

Hani was sentenced to life imprisonment and was kept in isolation for a total of five years. He spent two years without seeing his family – the only person who could visit relatively regularly was his mother; his father only got permission around once a year to visit and he has a brother which he didn’t see for 18 years.

Despite his prison term, Hani looks strong and healthy, his beard neatly trimmed and hair carefully side-parted. He seems calm and relaxed as we talk in a quiet corner in a nondescript café in Hebron. However, Hani and his father, Rasami, are careful to sit with their backs to the wall where they can see the layout of the shop. Rasami has rarely left his son’s side since his release from prison. “It’s a very difficult time, I’m afraid to leave him in case something happens – I stay with him or his brother stays with him to protect him.”

“I take the situation seriously” says Hani – “I don’t give any opportunities to anybody. I believe that I won’t lose my happiness with my freedom but I should be afraid sometimes…I don’t have any weapons or anything to protect myself, I only feel safe when I am with my family”.

When he was released from prison, Hani was given clearance to travel anywhere in the West Bank. However, a few days after his release, the police gave him a verbal order that he had to remain in Hebron for his own safety and that he had to sign in with the DCO (District Coordinators Office) every two months. But Hani says that his confinement to Hebron makes him feel like he is living under huge pressure in a “big jail” and is more vulnerable from attacks.

He says that his primary fear is from Palestinian collaborators rather than from settlers or soldiers. He is also fearful for his family, who have been attacked by settlers many times since his release.

Hani Jaber lives in secret location in Hebron for his own safety, it is too dangerous for him to return to his family’s home in Wadi Al-Hussain, a valley situated on the edge of Hebron’s old city. Their house faces Kiryat Arba, an illegal Israeli settlement of around 7,000 people, a few hundred metres away on the opposite side of the valley.

The Jaber family’s house has always been a focus of attacks by settlers, due to its proximity to the settlement. However, the attacks have escalated since it was announced that Hani would be released from prison. The house was attacked on the day of his release and Ibtisam Jaber, 33, Hani’s sister-in-law, was beaten and suffered a miscarriage three days later.

“The settlers came and attacked the house. Ibtisam lost her baby, nobody else was here because we were celebrating [Hani’s release]” said Moutasem Jaber, 21 – Hani’s brother.

On 19 November 2011 thousands of Israeli settlers and Zionists crowded into Hebron for Shabbat Chaye Sarah – celebrating Abraham’s biblical purchase of land on the site of the Ibrahimi Mosque. The family experienced a surge in attacks; they were attacked around 10 times – at one point there was over 100 settlers outside the house. They threw stones, urinated in the family’s well, and chanted “We will kill you” outside the house. The soldiers responded by entering the house and forcing the family to stay in one room for seven hours.

According to Hani, the family’s shop has been attacked and the house has been attacked at least seven times since his release. The Jaber family have reported the attacks and the threats to kill Hani to the police but they don’t expect any action to be taken.

“The government does not do anything against the settlers,” said Hani. They also say that the Palestinian Authority is unable to offer any kind of protection to Hani and his family.

“My case is not the only one” says Hani – “Many people have the same pressure. There are much harassment to all Palestinians – even if you’re not resisting and no settlers have been arrested after they harassed my family. They have evidence against them but the Israeli government will not do anything.”

Now that he has been released, does Hani think he can ever have a normal life with the death threats hanging over him and a bounty on his head?

“I’m not a terrorist, I didn’t do anything wrong and I think that I deserve to live a normal life, to get an education, to get married and to live like normal people” he replied “but now after all this harassment from the settlers I’m afraid to get married because I will destroy someone else’s life.” Hani says that if he was to study or work it would be a huge risk to take at the present time.

Even considering the brutal attacks that his family has faced from settlers, does he not think in hindsight that his actions were wrong? Does he have any regrets?

“I believe that I haven’t done anything wrong, and I have the right to live a normal life, and I have the right to be a fighter if there is an occupation in Palestine. With all the attacks from settlers it makes people react and to fight and resist – this is the normal thing, it’s not normal to sit and do nothing.”

But does he still believe that this is the most effective way to resist?

“At that time I was 18 years old, it was impossible to take all this darkness from the Israelis except in this way. Even after 18 years in the prison I see that the settlements are larger, the occupation is stronger and everything is getting worse. I believe that I did the right thing at the time but now I want to live as a normal person. I believe that I have to stay in one place, and that is the only resistance I can do because I think the fighting time is over.”

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