7th April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Wednesday the 6th of April 2016 at 6 o’clock in the morning, Israeli forces demolished 6 homes in the village of Um Al Khair in the south Hebron Hills in the southern part of the occupied West Bank in Palestine. 36 people are now with out shelter. Most of these are children, who are now homeless.
Children standing on the land of their now demolished homes, Um Al-Khair
During the demolition of the 6 houses, the Israeli forces beat up an elderly man from the neighbourhood, who is the grandfather to some of the children, who was protecting the houses and trying to stop the demolition. The demolition order was made, to make an expansion of the near by settlement possible and to confiscate the land belonging to the Palestinian families.
Demolished homes in Um Al-Khair
This is not an unknown concept in the South Hebron Hills, which is an area that is very vulnerable and under constant threat of demolitions, because of the amounts of settlements and the lack of building permissions, that are not given. The two Hebron Hills villages of Tuwani and Susiya in particular are being targeted a lot, not just with demolition orders and subsequent demolitions, but also by settlers, who attack them often and by very violent means. The Palestinian children going to school in Tuwani who live out side of the village, need to have a military escort on the way to and from school, to avoid settler attacks while going through a piece of land that has been illegally stolen from the villagers, by the settlers.
Children being escorted to school by soldiers to avoid settler attacks
Just within the last few weeks, both Tuwani and Susiya have experienced demolitions and since the start of this year, more than 700 Palestinians have been left homeless and without shelter due to Israeli Forces demolishing Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank. In just over 3 months this is the same number for the whole of 2015.
4th April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Tel Rumeida, al Khalil, occupied Palestine
On Saturday 3rd of April 2016 settlers entered land belonging to Muhammad Abu Haikal in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron on the occupied West Bank in Palestine. The settler children built a tent and then brought other settlers who prayed and ate there. It took more than four hours from when the police arrived until the settlers actually left, still claiming that it was their land and running around so that the police would not be able to evict them.
The first young settler kids arrived at the land at around 9 o’clock in the morning and started building a tent out of wood and sheets that they had found and playing on the land. They were actually playing in Muhammad Abu Haikal’s garden, but the end of the garden has been declared a closed military area by the Israeli Occupation Forces, who have made a military outpost in the garden and cut off the end of it of with barbed wire. The settler children entered the garden using the staircase that has been built for the soldiers to reach the outpost: they stamped down the barbed wire and covered it with a piece of wood to prevent themselves from getting injured.
Settlers and their children trespassing illegally on Palestinian land.
Later on, while the family was trying to pick almonds from trees in the part of the garden that is not a closed military Area, the settler children returned with a number of adult settlers and more children. Muhammed Abu Haikal and the internationals present asked the settlers to leave the land, but they refused. He then contacted the police.
After the police arrived, the settlers once again claimed to be the owners of the land, with the right to remain there. The Palestinian family was asked to step back and had to stop harvesting their garden. Not until after the settlers had prayed on the land multiple times, brought food and played ball there, did the police finally try to get them to leave. The police asked all Palestinians and internationals to leave as well, as they said, “it is impossible to make Israelis leave, if there are Palestinians on the land”. It then took the police over two hours to evict the settlers. They then removed the materials that the children had left on the part of the land that is not a closed military area, but refused to pull down the tent, because, they said, it was not allowed on Shabbat.
Finally the soldiers closed off the closed military area with more barbed wire and allowed the family back into their garden. If Palestinians had been trespassing on settlers land, which is illegally occupied, they would probably have been arrested immediately, but when it is the other way around, which it usually is, the police do not use any kind of force.
3rd April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied West Bank
The Yes Theatre in Al-Khalil works with dedication, for a brighter future for the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank through a diverse set of cultural activities. Roughly eight new productions every year reach an audience of over thirty thousand Palestinians, and on occasion also tour theatres of Germany, France and Tunisia. Additionally, the Yes Theatre continually searches for new ways to share and develop its decade-long artistic practice, by engaging in dialogue with its local community, sharing their stories, hosting workshops, providing youth education, and internships with a job-guarantee. Their projects include Yes 4 Future, Yes 4 Kids, workshops that support women speaking in front of an audience, along with several plays that include female actors – something which is not a standard feature in Palestinian theatre.
ISM had a chat with general manager Mohammad Issa, and some of the artists, after having watched the powerful performance “3 in 1”, written collectively by Ihab Zahdeh, Raed Shiokhi and Muhamed Titi. The different stories of the play were inspired by meetings with the local citizens of Hebron, and depicts the everyday challenges of what Raed Shiokhi (actor) describes as the circles of life for Palestinians.
This play seems to evolve a lot around the occupation, but you also tap into the occupation of your own limitations?
“We like to say all the time that we live inside circles. We have the circle of the family, and then the circle of society. Then the circle of our government and the circle of occupation at the end. So occupation includes everything. So you go smaller and smaller and start with the family. They teach you what to do, and what not to do. Then the society, what is right, what is shameful and what is not. Then the government and the people in power who essentially are in full control, the governor, the mayor, and the religious leaders, who on several occasions in the mosques have mentioned and criticised our work. They corrupt our children and prohibit our cultural development. If we were to listen to their advice, we would have stopped a long time ago. Again and again we come to a point where it appears impossible to continue, but we remind each other of the message we have. As artists we feel stuck in between two fires. The fire of continuing your work of curiosity as an artist, and the fire of society trying to push you back.”
Artists of Yes Theatre in performance
The autobiographical struggle of the 3 artists in the play clearly resonates directly with the personal struggles of the audience, and the different scenarios and situations repeatedly spread overwhelming waves of laughter and uncontrollable giggles. Seeing a Palestinian smile or laugh is a surprisingly common sight, given the extremity of their situation, but this collective release of emotions seemed to connect the spectators in a deep and intimate manner. The Yes Theatre is profoundly interested in this shared space, in which cultural resistance occurs. General manager Mohammad Issa says that for them the resistance will not succeed through the use of physical force or politics, but through intellect, culture and the empowerment of women and the young generation. Sustainability and competence development are key words that go hand in hand as the Yes Theatre engages in social activities, and training programs that employs thirty graduates per year.
The Yes Theatre finds alternative ways of resisting the occupation, but you also protest against internal restraints of Palestine such as gender inequality, socio-hierarchical imbalances and even restraints of religion. Do you envision what future Palestine could look like, or is dialogue the main objective?
“I totally agree that we are resisting, in our own way. We can’t throw the Israelis out of Palestine. This is the reality. They have to live with us, we have to live with them. What the political formula will be, whether we are talking about two states or one state, this is something that could maybe be solved later on, or maybe this dilemma is something that lies in the hands of the young generation. This is part of our national struggle, but at Yes Theatre we don’t have a vision for that, we don’t wish to impose anything. What we get from the local community is the material, and this material is brought back to the community in a creative manner. And the discussions we have around the material, in its context, must also be circulated in the community. We look for input and feedback from different focus groups, even in more traditional productions like “Ali Baba” (currently in production at Yes Theatre). I have my own views on gender equality, but the locals might have its own ways, and we need to take that seriously. That doesn’t mean that we should not advocate, or raise awareness, but we need to reflect the status quo, in order to talk about it, and find the precise questions, which are not ours – they are the questions of the local community.”
Still from the award winning performance “3 in 1”
The artistic efforts that Muhammad Issa describes offer a space for its Palestinian audience, in which everyday terrors can be processed without fear. What might be referred to as “cultural resistance” has an essential significance for the Hebronites, as the daily struggle of facing the occupation, passing checkpoints, being searched, questioned, tear gassed or even shot, continues and worsens. Only in the last 10 days 3 youngsters have been shot dead in Hebron, withheld from medical attention, one of which was brutally executed by a soldier of the Israeli Forces, as has been seen in a viral video recorded Thursday the 24th of March. It might seem near impossible to imagine how Palestinians could truly resist or even end the occupation. The situation that they face daily is not only humiliating and dehumanising, it’s paralysing. Searching for education and togetherness through cultural meetings, if nothing else, might offer an opportunity for unity and common understanding. The Yes Theatre raises a question: How do the people imagine Palestine would look when, or if, occupation somehow, someday ends?
3rd April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
The two boys met us at the store, shouting the name of our Palestinian contact and waving us along. The cobbled stones in the alley made a nice contrast to the darkness of the night. My feet landed softly on the mud where we started our climb. Glimpses of trash were seen from the flickering flash lights, as if we were threading our way across the city dump. We were going to the house of Imad Abu Shamsiyyeh, the man who had managed to catch last week’s execution on film. His name was out in the media and he and his family had received death threats. The local illegal settlers had also put up posters with his name and face on them, saying they wanted him skinned alive. The house had already been firebombed. We were going there as an international presence to act as a deterrent to what seemed a likely further attack.
Imad in his family home
This night his backyard looked like your average neighbourhood barbecue, except that nobody was eating. Imad was sitting by the brazier alongside ten other men from the surrounding houses. His children were buzzing about, and his wife Faisa made sure everyone got their coffee and tea. When the soldiers showed up she made sure everything got caught on film.
There were three of them, all dressed in green, with black automatic rifles and some form of knee pads, which went well with the beret of their leader. They reminded me of turtles with their inability to look back over their shoulders. The execution had been condemned by president Netanyahu at first but later on, as the Israeli public opinion cleared in favour of the soldier, the shooting was surrounded with excuses. The situation for the messenger had however deteriorated.
As the soldiers walked in to the backyard a handful of camera LCDs lit up the night, like torches keeping the wolves at bay. Faisa brought her camera close to the officer’s face, where he hopefully saw a reflection of himself, a harasser of ordinary people.
The soldiers stood around for a while as they checked our passports and IDs. The situation was a bit tense but as everyone had the right to be there, they turned on their heels and left. They were the second delegation from the Israeli army that night. A lone soldier had come at first, to see if there was any protection present, and Issa guessed, to go back and tell the settlers. Luckily, there were a lot of people showing Imad and Faisa their support.
As the hours passed people started to leave for their homes. Our delegation from the ISM spent the rest of the night at Imad’s place. There was an Indian soap opera on TV, dubbed to Arabic, and the children surfed the internet. It could have been a quiet night in a home anywhere in the world, if it hadn’t been for the occupation, or the death threats.
29th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Sunday, the new team of Youth Against Apartheid was honored to meet with each other for the first time. The wonderful youth of al-Khalil city (Hebron) who have dedicated their time during the past few years doing voluntary work and activities to help their community, mainly in Tel Rumeida neighbourhood and Shuhada Street of al-Khalil City (Hebron).
Youth against apartheid
The members have never before been part of any group, but have happily volunteered with all groups and entities that have asked for their activism. Just a few days ago they decided to form and establish an organized group (popular committee) and officially named themselves, Hebron Youth against Apartheid.
Youth against apartheid
The group is filled with a mixture of very intelligent, energetic and enthusiastic youth while all of them are strongly attached to their people and land, all of who are hopeful for a better tomorrow. The group wishes show to the world what daily life is like under the zionist regimes occupation, the daily attacks and violations of human rights towards the Palestinian people, along with organising voluntary activities in their areas, nonviolent protests against zionist occupation, working for justice and human rights for their people at all levels and providing legal aid to the community. They are based in the old town of al-Khalil city (Hebron), mainly Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street areas.
This new team would appreciate your support and solidarity at all levels. Please share the word of the great work these young youth are doing and let the world know who they are.
