Category: Hebron

In commemoration of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre: #DismantleTheGhetto take the settlers out of of Hebron

14th February 2017 | The National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron “Dismantle the Ghetto” | Hebron, occupied Palestine

February 25th marks the 23rd commemoration of the Ibrahim Mosque Massacre in Hebron. This year’s commemoration coincides with Israel’s unprecedented escalation in seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank for settlement expansion. This has been accompanied with ideas from Israeli ministers to construct settlements and annex most of the C areas in the West Bank. The commemoration also coincides with Israel’s increasing campaigns to Judaize the Naqab, similar to what has happened in Um Al-Hiran recently, with a general rise in the policy of demolishing Palestinian houses whether in the occupied territories or within the Green Line.

Following the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, the Israeli Occupation closed the Mosque for six months. Palestinians were punished by an imposed 40-day curfew and movement restrictions within the city. The Occupation also divided the Mosque into two parts whereby one part was converted into a synagogue. The Israeli government also increased settlement expansion within the heart of the City which further restricted the presence of Palestinians there, turning the city center into a ghost town.

The Israeli escalation continues in the heart of Hebron until the present day. The closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinian vehicles following the massacre, and then closing it for the Palestinian pedestrians and residents after the Al Aqsa Intifada was followed by the closure of Tel Rumeida neighborhood and whatever was left accessible of Shuhada Street in November 2015. They also continue to kill Palestinians on checkpoints and in restricted areas in Hebron. As of today, the number of those killed by the Israelis since October of 2015 within the closed area and surrounding it has risen to 22 people. The Israeli occupation’s practices against Palestinians amount to the level of ethnic cleansing, given the increasing checkpoints, restriction of movement, and the numbering system implemented to enter the closed areas in the Old City. This creates a Ghetto-system.

In light of the bleak reality, and given our belief that the best way to end the occupation and its discriminatory policies is by resisting it, the national parties, popular committees and civil society organizations in Hebron announce the launch of the “National Campaign to End the Closure of Hebron” through a series of different events. In commemoration of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre we call on our supporters and allies in the struggle, as well as members of our community, to participate in the campaign events, rejecting the Occupation’s practices in the City, and to demand the dismantling of checkpoints and barriers in the City, as well as the removal of settlers in Hebron.

These events will happen as part of the larger struggle to resist the Judaization policies within the Green Line and in an effort to bring greater awareness of the increasing campaigns from our friends and allies around the world that demand the dismantling of the Ghetto and removal of restrictions so that Palestinian citizens have freedom of movement inside Hebron. These events will also happen as part of the larger Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).

Our campaign is based on principles and rights sustained in international humanitarian law and the United Nations’ resolutions that consider Israeli Settlements and collective punishment as forms of war crimes. As such, UN Security Council decision 2334 calls on the Israeli government to stop all forms of Settlement activities in Occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

Let the struggle to lift the restrictions and the removal of settlers in the Heart of Hebron continue.

The National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron “dismantle the ghetto”

 

Total impunity to mess with lives

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

Israeli forces, again, or rather still, are using their impunity as occupiers to humiliate, harass and intimidate Palestinians and internationals crossing Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

The Israeli forces at this checkpoint sit behind bullet proof glass in a closed checkpoint-box, that nobody can see into.  Anyone attempting to pass rings a bell to alert the soldiers inside, then waits for the soldiers to release the turnstile, which leads into the closed box. There you can see soldiers playing on their phones, gossiping, or even sleeping. When you enter the box, you have to put all your belongings, shopping, handbags, phones, change, and anything from your pockets on the table, before passing through the metal detector.

Then,  depending on the soldiers’ mood and whim, you might be allowed simply to leave and go on your way, or you could be asked to unpack all your bags, pass through the metal detector again (even if you didn’t set it off).  You might be asked to show your ID or passport, or asked for your resident’s number (all Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida have been registered and assigned numbers since the declaration of the area as a closed military zone since 1st November 2015).

Some soldiers are entirely uninterested in the whole process and allow people to pass without further ado, but many seem to enjoy the almost infinite power bestowed upon them with their Israeli army uniform. This stretches from making Palestinians wait in the rain  and ignoring the bell they need to ring to come through, to asking people to go back again and again through the metal detector for no reason, put babys on the ground in freezing temperatures, or denying them passage completely even after finding their resident’s number on the list. Palestinian school students and teachers attempting to reach their school are not exempted from this treatment.

But it goes even beyond that.

Soldiers often act without any clear rationale except disruption. For example, last week a soldier yelled at a woman to take off her shoes, as they set off the metal detector.  She goes through every day and the soldiers know that the shoes are what sets off the alarm, which she points out to him.  But today he starts yelling and tells her to shut up.  She refuses to take off her shoes and the soldier comes into the checkpoint box, uncomfortably close to her, yelling that he thinks she might have something else on her body. This alone can be considered a threat, as Israeli soldiers have shot a number of Palestinians at checkpoints here in the last year on the suspicion of ‘having a knife’, not necessarily attacking with it or even having it in their hand.  It is impossible to get new kitchen knives home from the shops for just this reason.

In the end, the soldier, meticulously and with a grin on his face, goes through the woman’s bag, ignoring the plastic-bag of groceries right next to the handbag on the table. The purpose is to harass, humiliate and intimidate, to make life difficult and hateful for the Palestinians who need to pass through several times daily.  Meanwhile growing numbers of Palestinians gather outside waiting to get through and home, hoping that it is not their turn to be humiliated by this occupying army.

Being yelled at, insulted, humiliated and harassed is rather the norm than the exception. It’s a calculated norm intended to make Palestinians’ life so unbearable that they will leave the area easing the way for more settlement expansion in the centre of the city. This, under international law is called creating a ‘coercive environment’ for ethnic cleansing, a war crime.

#DismantleTheGhetto: start of campaign in al-Khalil

10th February 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces and colonial settlers on Thursday, 9th February 2017, disrupted a peaceful protest near Qurtuba school on Shuhada Street in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). Settlers attacked and injured one female student, and prevented Palestinian teachers and students from leaving the area. The event was organized by the National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron as part of the ‘#DismantleTheGhetto: Take the Settlers out of Hebron’ campaign.

The day started with a celebration at Qurtuba school, which is located just above Shuhada Street, where most of the houses and businesses have been ethnically cleansed of Palestinians by the Israeli forces in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. Students performed a play, sang songs, and the best students from each class were honoured, along with teachers.

Afterwards, the group walked towards the Qurtuba school stairs, which used to be blocked for access for Palestinians by the Israeli forces since the area was declared a closed military zone 31st October 2015. Now, depending on the whim of the soldiers, most days teachers and students are again allowed to go up and down the stairs to school.

As the Palestinians were chanting slogans against the occupation and for freedom for Palestinians in al-Khalil and for an end to the closed military zone and the ghettoization of this part of al-Khalil, soldiers at the bottom of the stairs immediately called for reinforcements and settlers started gathering.

Settlers gathering on Shuhada Street, insulting and threatening Palestinians.

The settler Anat Cohen, who is infamous for violently attacking Palestinians and internationals with complete impunity (search YouTube ‘Anat Cohen Hebron’ for several filmed examples, ran up the slope that separated the children from the soldiers on Shuhada Street and began violently to attack the schoolchildren. She was joined by another settler with a violent and aggressive history. This had been an entirely peaceful demonstration where children demanded their own freedom of movement and an end to the occupation of Palestine, according to their human rights. There was no provocation.

Infamous settler Anat Cohen harassing studnets and teachers

At the same time, students who were trying to go down the stairs to get home were detained by Israeli forces, while colonial settlers gathered on the street and at the illegal Beit Hadassah settlement opposite, ridiculing and threatening the Palestinians as seen in this video. As children were eventually allowed down the stairs they faced aggressive settlers, some armed with assault rifles, and Israeli soldiers chasing them down the street and yelling at them.

Palestinian student support down the stairs while settlers harass them

One female student was injured and unable to walk, and had to be supported by two teachers down the Qurtuba stairs, as Anat Cohen stood by filming them. Once she was down on Shuhada Street, the girl had to be carried in a chair by teachers towards Shuhada checkpoint so that she could get an ambulance on the other side. Palestinian vehicles, including ambulances, are not allowed on this tiny strip of Shuhada Street. Palestinians are only allowed to walk, not drive, and then only if they are registered as residents (for which they are checked by number not name).

Palestinians carrying the girl on a chair to the checkpoint

Israeli military forces and Israeli police officers were present and did nothing to protect this girl or any of the Palestinians and internationals present.

Non-violent action in At-Tuwani

10th of February, 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

On Saturday, February 4th, a group of villagers from At Tuwani, South Hebron Hills, held a non-violent demonstration against the settler violence and illegal settlement expansion that affects their village. At 10:00, a demonstration consisting of about 15 Palestinian villagers, supported by international and Israeli activists, left the village of At Tuwani to march through the lands stolen by the illegal settlers’ out-post, Havat Ma’on. This is an area where local Palestinian children experience violence and threats from settlers while going about their daily lives. The demonstration was mostly women and children from the local village, protesting against the violence they experience and the continued expansion of the settlement.

At-Tuwani - Village in the South Hebron Hills.
At-Tuwani – Village in the South Hebron Hills. (Archive)

The demonstrators walked through the land, which is constantly threatened by the ever-expanding settlements, sang and planted olive trees. While this was happening, a settler from the illegal out-posts came down, openly wearing a gun, started to harass the demonstrators, began filming the protest and called for the Israeli army and police.

Shortly after, a large group of Israeli forces arrived and the demonstration moved to another piece of land. The demonstrators continued singing songs and planting more olive trees. At this time, around 8 Israeli army vehicles and two Israeli police vehicles drove around the demonstration. The soldiers and police stood talking to the settlers before they came to the demonstration and declared the area a “closed military zone”. They used this excuse to disperse protesters while the non-military settlers were allowed to remain where they were. The demonstrators non-violently resisted the order. The Israeli forces threatened a Palestinian man with arrest, only releasing him when the demonstrators agreed to move.

While this was going on, a group of about 20 settlers from the illegal out-posts invaded the local Palestinian village At Tuwani. They were met with strong nonviolent resistance from the village as some of the people from the demonstration rushed back to help the village. The Israeli army and police came to protect the settlers. It was only through the persistence and determination of the demonstrators and villagers that the settlers finally left.

At Tuwani is a village in the South Hebron Hills, which has experienced many problems from the extremist illegal settlements and out-posts built on and around their land. Children of the village are faced with violence and intimidation by settlers and the Israeli army while walking to school. Shepherds and anyone trying to access the village are met with similar intimidation and violence. For many years, this village has used non-violent resistance to defend their land and oppose the occupation.

Humiliation

3rd February 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

No one can describe this feeling,
when occupation did what it does best:
humiliate, harass, humiliate.
There is no words to say, today,
I was treated like I’m not a human being.
No words, that can put across the actual meaning.
The daily humiliation, it can not,
it will never become ‘normal’,
it can never be acceptable.
The arrogance of occupation, that
humiliates and harasses you,
yells at you, insists and demonstrates,
that there is no laws regulating it.
That it can do whatever, it can humiliate, harass,
yell, sexually harass, intimidate, kill.
It can kill by shooting, but it can also kill slowly,
killing the spirit, slowly, daily,
through humiliation and harassment.
Slowly by slowly, wearing down the spirit,
showing that this occupation has long lost any sense of humanity.
The subjects are only there to be destroyed,
to be harassed, humiliated.
Humiliation can kill.
It kills the spirit, it demonstrates that in the end
occupation is free, free to humiliate,
free to harass, free to kill.
Daily humiliation,
from when you step out of the door
till you reach your home again.
At the checkpoint, on the street.
Ubiquitous. Everywhere. No escape.
Even in your home, your not safe from humiliation.
Occupation rules by humiliation.
There’s nowhere to feel safe.
No hope if you expect to be seen as what you are:
a human being