Category: Hebron - Page 28 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli forces harass 3 children in Occupied Hebron, arresting 1

25th January 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

At 8:30 pm on January 24th, two young Palestinian boys–14 and 12 years old–were stopped in the streets of the old city of Hebron by six Israeli soldiers, who were armed with assault rifles. They accused the boys of throwing stones. The soldiers forced them to go to a wider street, where they pushed the oldest one on the ground. Two of the soldiers jumped on him and tried to forcibly restrain him. They tried to get his arms behind his back to cuff them with a tire rap, but were initially unsuccessful–struggling with the child for more than 5 minutes. While the soldiers were busy trying to restrain the older child, the 12 year old boy walked away, forgotten by the soldiers.

On their way back to the army base with the boy, they captured another child, only 10 years old, and forced both children inside the gate.

Occupation forces army base between the Shuhada street and the Old City

After a few minutes the Israeli forces in the army base decided to release the youngest child, but transported the 14 year old to an undisclosed police station. These police stations are notorious for humiliating interrogation methods and physical and psychological abuse.

As the violence of the occupation escalates, the Israeli forces are even more concerned about negative publicity. The escorting soldiers threatened us and even took our cameras in order to destroy all pictures that were taken.

“No Pictures!” – Using photo cameras is not allowed in this ‘only Jewish Democracy’

This policy comes shortly after a soldier was sentenced for manslaughter because he followed an order from his commander and executed an already heavily wounded Palestinian. There have been more than 230 executions since September 2015. Only a few of them reached the mainstream media and only one led to a possible punishment, because it was captured on video and released on the internet.

There were questions over most other alleged ‘terror attacks’ and independent investigation was demanded, but none of these deadly incidents led to any action. Extra judicial killings of accused Palestinians, the theft of their dead bodies, and the destruction of their family homes are all common practices of this occupation. But, the world rarely is told of the atrocities and justice is rarely sought.

Violent raid on family home – Israeli forces keep family locked up

22nd January 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli Forces raided a Palestinian family home on Thursday night in the Jabari-neighborhood near the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

A group of approximately 50 heavily-armed Israeli forces, accompanied by a dog, surrounded the house at 1am and woke up the family for a house-raid. The soldiers prevented all the family members from filming by confiscating their cameras and mobile phones and forcing everyone in a single room. The Israeli forces then proceeded to take out each person, from the 6-month old baby to the grandfather, by themselves for a body-search, while keeping the rest of the family inside the one room. The family was kept in this room for more than two hours.

During this time, the soldiers raided the whole house, destroying furniture and walls with knifes – wreaking havoc on the house. Once they decided to leave, they told the family that they had to stay inside the room for another five minutes before being allowed to leave. The soldiers would leave the cameras and mobile phones in the kitchen. This clearly was meant to prevent any photo- or video-footage of the soldiers inside or even near the house.

House after the soldiers left.
Photo credit: Ayatt Jabari

Photos of soldiers: crime or joy?

23rd January 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

As an international, taking photos of the Israeli occupation soldiers is either considered wrong and harmful or a joy. Harmful…harmful to what exactly? The continuous illegal occupation? Yet, photos are a joy for the soldiers, when they are proudly posing with an ignorant tourist, who do not realize the silent approval and admiration that the photo implies for this illegal occupation.

Here is the difference: when you pose with the soldiers and give the occupation a nice and smiley face for your vacation memories, the soldiers are happy. On the other hand, if you take a photo of what everyday reality under military occupation of an army with (almost) complete impunity means to the civilian Palestinian population: you’re a threat. A threat to the ‘image’ of the ‘most moral army in the world’, a threat to… an illegal occupation that is dragging on, continually denying even the most basic human rights to Palestinians. They are threatened not by their lack of humanity towards the Palestinians, but by a photo proving this reality.

The most important question remains though: when is the Israeli occupation going to realize that it’s not the photos that ‘make them look bad in the world’, but their actions: their denial of human rights, their killing with impunity, their not-in-the-least humane treatment of the Palestinians, and their continuous and increasing attempts of ethnic cleansing. It’s not the photo, but the actions. The photo is merely a mirror that shows the occupation what it really is – an image the army clearly doesn’t like. But in order to change that, you can’t break the mirror; you need to change yourself – your actions. In the end, it’s not the photo that matters, but the actions. The photo is a means to make the international community – deliberately closing their eyes to reality – see what’s happening. The problem will never be with the photo, but the actions – and the inaction that allows it to continue.

Israeli Forces escorting Israeli colonial settlers through Palestinian neighbourhood

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

On the 14th of January, 2017, some 120 Israeli colonial settlers were escorted through the Old City by approximately 50 Israeli soldiers and Border Police, in occupied Hebron (al-Khalil). Escorted by countless soldiers from one end of the military base to the other, the settlers pass through the maze of the old city, often verbally harassing Palestinian shop owners and vandalizing shops.

Israeli Forces escorting israeli settlers through palestinian neighbourhood — Israeli Forces escorting Israeli settlers through Palestinian neighborhood

What the settlers are told explicitly on the tour is hard to tell. Not only do we not speak hebrew, we are also kept at arms length by the soldiers. However, we are occasionally described as terrorists and anti-semites, and it is not unheard of that we are either spat at, or verbally abused. Both as Internationals and Palestinians.

Like any other Saturday, today was marked by this event. Unlike other Saturdays, however, the number of participating settlers exceeded our expectations – 120 settlers had signed up for the tour, and with them came a herd of soldiers from different brigades.

One thing that remained the same, however, was the complete lack of interest in the stories delivered by the “tour-guide”. The participating crowd – many of whom are very young – are seemingly not there to listen. Instead, they line up right behind the soldiers only to point, spit, give us the finger and otherwise harass the population of the old city. As such, the tour has become a way of establishing the power relations between the settlers and the Palestinians. So while Palestinians have to ask for permission to pass the group in order to reach home, the settlers are allowed to walk freely, and verbally assault whomever they see fit.

Not only are they protected by the soldiers and their own arsenal of weapons, they are also protected by their legal rights. When you are a settler in this area, the border follows your corpus. If you pass into H1 area, your rights are still protected by the Israeli government. If you are Palestinian, however, it’s a completely different story.

Israeli colonial settlers and soldiers harassing palestinian shop owner in the Old City — Israeli colonial settlers and soldiers harassing Palestinian shop owner in the Old City

Friday Noon Prayer, Hebron (al-Khalil): Oppression, harassment and discrimination

13th January 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Friday the 13th of January, during the Friday noon prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron (al-Khalil), large numbers of Palestinians were delayed on their way to the prayer, and subjected to ID checks, bag searches and random detainments, carried out by Israeli forces.

Friday is the sixth day in the Islamic week, and as such it represents the day of congregation. It was a day celebrated by the prophet Muhammed, who declared the prayer of Jummah (the noon prayer on Fridays) as a weekly eid. And as such, it is important to many muslims that they are able to go their local mosque, receive the readings from their Imam, and perform the prayer.

Since the Ibrahimi mosque (the fourth holiest sights within Islam) is located in occupied Hebron (al-Khalil), muslim citizens of Hebron attend the Friday prayer here – though not without obstacles. At every entrance to the mosque, checkpoints are put in place, and a new ones built. It is impossible to enter the mosque without first passing through a metal detector and worshippers risk being detained till the prayer is over, which happens often.

On Friday the 13th, two ISM volunteers were stationed at the checkpoint located in the old city, in order to monitor and report back on the number of detainees and other violations of the right to free movement. 38 adult males had their IDs checked by a soldier and 10 were detained. On top of this, 9 boys where detained and had their IDs checked, while one female had her bag searched. Having already waited in line, about sixty individuals in total were hindered from entering to the mosque freely.

The weekly oppression at the Friday noon prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque, is one of many examples of how Israeli forces suppress the Palestinian people’s right to freedom of religion.