Category: Hebron

Speaking out and witnessing: what the Hebron camera project means to one student

17th March 2017  |  International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team  |  Hebron, occupied Palestine

Last week we reported on two of the training sessions run by Human Rights Defenders (HRD) here in Hebron for young people to use video as an activist tool against the occupation.  Today we wanted to find out more about what the students themselves think and I talked to Yasmin, a pupil at Qurtuba school in the heart of Tel Rumeida.  Yasmin looks quiet and shy as she sits next to me on the sofa, but as she talks it is clear she knows what she wants to say and what she wants to do: “I want to show what the Israelis do against my people here, how the soldiers and the settlers humiliate the students and the teachers.”

Qurtuba school sits above Shuhada street and the students have to approach it via a staircase controlled by soldiers, yards from one of the tiniest and most extreme settlements in the heart of H2.  Students and teachers are so frequently harassed that fear and anxiety is a constant element of school life.  Yasmin told me that only that same day soldiers had entered the school and made sexually harassing remarks to the young women there.  Soldiers also regularly block their way to school, although they know perfectly well that the children are students.

Settlers regularly insult, bully and assault children on their way to school and some of this has been already caught on camera.  The most notorious settlers are well known to the students who will run to avoid them.  A fortnight ago one girl broke her leg trying to get away from the settler Anat Cohen, whose history of assault and harassment of Palestinians and internationals is among the worst.

When internationals like ISM are there, then we report these events:  we reported when Yasmin’s friend broke her leg, when soldiers forced Qurtuba children to leave school early so that settlers could celebrate Purim without the presence of their neighbours, or when settlers invaded the kindergarten.  But we are not there all the time and Yasmin feels Palestinians should report events themselves: ‘when this happens I can have proof against the soldier – otherwise people will not believe – then they will have trust’.

In the middle of the interview settlers invade the garden of the house we are in.  Emad Abu Shamsiya and Badee Dwaik, activists with HRD, come out with their cameras and the settlers scatter: it is a neat illustration of the power of the camera.

And for the future? “I will work to finish my education – Israelis do not like us to have a good education – I will study to become a journalist and expose the occupation.  This project has given me extra motivation.”  I am sure Yasmin will make a formidable witness both now and in the future.

More young camera activists trained in Hebron

15th March 2017  |  International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team  |  Hebron, occupied Palestine

Today five young students from  Ibrahimi boys’ school took training in camera skills in H2, the Israeli controlled part of the city of Hebron.  Training consisted of camera skills, for video, stills and phone-camera; as well as the human rights and legal aspects they need to be effective and safe human rights campaigners in their own community.  Last week the same training took place at Qurtuba school when five girls got their training.

The project was started by Human Rights Defenders here in Hebron, who have a proud history of using cameras to document unjust situations and even on occasion, to prevent more injustice being done.  Only this week a Human Rights Defenders  activist filmed the arrest of a boy at Shuhada Street checkpoint for the alleged crime of carrying a knife.  Without the protective presence of the camera, Israeli soldiers could have acted extrajudicially.

The cameras for this project were donated by ISM Northern California.

Now a new generation of activists learns a new way to resist the occupation of their country and their community.

Curfew, harassment and break-in for Shuhada Street as settlers celebrate Purim

14th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli settlers on 12th March 2017 harassed and threatened Palestinians and attempted to break into Shuhada Street kindergarten, as the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) was put under curfew for Palestinians so that settlers could celebrate Purim undisturbed by Palestinian presence.

As on every festive occasion celebrated at the illegal settlements in here, Palestinians had to expect even greater restrictions than usual on their freedom of movement and their human rights (almost non-existent even on ordinary days).

Around 11 am and with no notice at all, Israeli forces closed the Shuhada Street checkpoint, the main access-point for Palestinians into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, leaving many Palestinians stranded outside the checkpoint unable to get home. This  was essentially a curfew, as Palestinians already inside the checkpoint could not leave their homes for fear of attacks from the settlers.

Colonial settlers marching through Shuhada Street as Palestinians are under virtual curfew

Hundreds of settlers marched from the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement towards Ibrahimi Mosque on Shuhada Street, while  Israeli forces ensured that settlers did not have to see so much as a single local Palestinian resident on their way. Qurtuba school and Shuhada Street kindergarten were unable to sent their students home, as soldiers denied them passage and the street they need to walk down was completely blocked by settlers, who have a history of harassing and attacking Palestinian children here. Israeli forces also invaded a Palestinian family roof on Shuhada Street in order to watch the procession of costumed settlers.

Colonial settler child dressed up as a occupying soldier

A group of settlers, including infamous and violent Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה), appeared at the kindergarten door and tried to break in, while children were still playing inside.  At this commotion the kindergarten children came outside only to see settler children trying to climb the fence that is supposed to protect the kindergarten. At the same time, settler adults started banging on the kindergarten door and trying to open it, insulting and yelling at the Palestinians inside. Instead of stopping this attack, Israeli forces attempted to prevent Palestinians and internationals from filming the incident. Only after more than an hour of idly watching the settlers harass, insult and verbally abuse the Palestinians (see a video, video credit: Human Rights Defenders) and attempt to break into the kindergarten, did Israeli forces present at the scene finally ensure that the settlers moved away to allow the children get home.

Colonial settlers climbing protective fence at the kindergarten

A new generation learns to ‘shoot’ the occupation

Human Rights Defenders have started a new project to protect the human rights of the children who have to live and study in the middle of the occupation and ghettoisation which is the centre of Hebron. Last Sunday, 5th March, the first of four schools, Qurtuba School, had training in how to use video cameras as a tool to resist the attacks and harassment they regularly face from settlers and Israeli forces. Three other schools will also receive training.

Qurtuba children learn to use cameras (photo courtesy of Human Rights Defenders)

 

The next generation of activists (photo courtesy of Human Rights Defenders)

The project is called the ‘Capturing Occupation Camera Project’.  Groups of students in each of the four schools will be taught to use the cameras, and to understand their own human rights and the legal situation as it relates to their own film-making and activism; they will be trained always to put their own safety first, last and always. They will be a new generation of human rights defenders who ‘shoot’ the occupation, with cameras and not bullets or stones. as they relate to their own film-making and activism; they will be trained always to put their own safety first, last and always.  They will be a new generation of human rights defenders who ‘shoot’ the occupation, with cameras and not bullets or stones.

As Badia Dwaik, from Human Rights Defenders says: ‘The camera is our gun. We use it to shoot the occupation. We need to use the energy of the kids in the right way.  To be a good resistance, you should be alive: you should keep safe, and resist for a long time. We don’t want to be killed. To be alive and keep resisting is the most important thing.’

Human Rights Defenders have a history of using cameras to fight for human rights in Hebron. When Badia’s house was violently raided by Israeli forces in November 2015, Badia filmed the raid until soldiers broke his camera.  When the ISM support group in Northern California heard of this they funded a further four cameras. One of these was used by Imad Abu Shamsiya to shoot the now internationally famous video [link  of the Israeli soldier Elor Azaria extra-judicially executing a Palestinian outside his house in Hebron in March 2016. Without Imad’s film there would have been no evidence and no international outcry.

Now ISM Northern California have funded more cameras as resistance tools to continue to fight against human rights violations in the city of Hebron.

Step by step Israeli forces limit access to Ibrahimi mosque area

7th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces on Monday night installed more concrete blocks near Queitun checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) further restricting Palestinian freedom of movement.

Israeli forces put a new line of cement blocks several meters away from Shuhada checkpoint, entirely blocking the access to the checkpoint for cars, only allowing Palestinians on foot to approach the checkpoint. This even further impedes the freedom of movement of Palestinians, and especially affects the elderly and people with disabilities, further clamping down on the already restricted movement of these most vulnerable groups.

New cement blocks blocking Palestinian movement

Accessing and passing checkpoints is only possible on foot, as Palestinians’ cars in the Ibrahimi Mosque area are entirely prohibited, creating a settler cars only area. Any Palestinian passing one of the many checkpoints in the area of the Ibrahimi Mosque is forced by the Israeli forces to pass through various turn-stiles, a metal detector, and to undergo a check supposedly for ‘security reasons’. Especially for the elderly and those with disabilities, this creates additional obstacles, as they have to wait standing or in wheelchairs until soldiers choose to open gates. Any materials, groceries or shopping has to be carried by hand through the checkpoint, and materials transported on a hand cart are at times denied to pass according whim.

Now, with the additional concrete blocks, any Palestinian coming by car, including those with mobility problems,  must walk even further simply to reach the checkpoint.  Slowly and surely, one by one, these measures are intended to restrict and minimize Palestinian freedom of movement and thus Palestinian presence in the area around the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Each is a small step in the gradual ethnic cleansing of Hebron centre.