10th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
On Wednesday, 6th January 2016, schools in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) marked the start of the winter holiday by handing out certificates to the students and giving awards to the best students.
Teachers and students taking photos with report cards
At Ziad Jaber elementary boys school, school started at 9 o’clock with a ceremony where teachers handed out certificates to all the students, who had finished their final exams before the holidays in the weeks before. The best students from each class were also awarded certificates for their outstanding achievements.
Throughout the school year thus far, teachers and students have had to face harassment, intimidation and violence from both Israeli forces and settlers from the adjacent illegal Kiryat Arba settlement. At the military gate blocking one of the roads leading towards the school, teachers have been body searched before their students’ eyes on an almost daily basis. Even students, despite their young age, have often been forced by Israeli soldiers stationed both at the military gate and at another checkpoint on the other side of the main road to wait to either have their bags searched or to lift up their shirts and trouser legs.
Teacher forced to lift up his shirt by Israeli soldiersStudent forced to take of his jacket by Israeli soldiers
As the main road leading past the school connects directly to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement, settler harassment has also been common for both students and teachers. More than once, settlers have intimidated students and threatened violence or ordered soldiers to arrest children. In an incident on 30th December, infamous and violent settler Ofer, who usually drives in an ambulance even though he has no medical training, commanded soldiers to arrest children, claiming that they were throwing stones. Luckily teachers from the school were able to stop Ofer from entering the schoolyard.
Students looking at each other’s certificates
The impact of all the harassment, intimidation and violence students face on a daily basis on their academic achievements can hardly be estimated. That it impacts the accessibility of education – a basic right for every child – is without doubt. Growing up in Israeli military occupied Palestine takes a huge toll on childhood.
Students leaving school for the holidays with their certificates
8th January 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
In the afternoon of 5 January 2015 Israeli Forces raided Al Faihaa elementary school for girls in occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron). Children were not in school at the time, only teachers were present. The team of around 8 soldiers entered in order to retrieve video footage from the school’s security system and take photos from the roof which overlooks the checkpoint where a soldier was shot a few days prior. This is one stop of many places the military has raided in search of evidence of the unidentified shooter.
Israeli forces previously raiding the office (photo from ISM)
The headmaster of the school informed that she was kept at gunpoint and not allowed to leave for an hour. She asked the soldiers to call the Minister of Education and speak with them as she was alone in the office, but they confiscated both the school phone and her personal cell phone leaving her unable to make any phone calls or take pictures. This is not the first time Israeli forces have entered the school. In previous weeks, soldiers entered the courtyard during school time while students were preparing for exams to fire tear gas at a neighboring boys’ school.
Israeli forces in the school (photo from ISM)
The school is now on holiday for three weeks, and the headmaster, working at the school for 2 years, explains, “I should come to work during vacation 1 day a week, but no teachers or anyone will come so its not safe.” In addition to facing terror from soldiers, teachers and students have also endured harassment and attacks from settlers. The school’s population has dropped in the last year from 260 students to 252, but the headmaster explains that she refuses to transfer students to other schools because “they” (the Israeli Forces and settlers) want this area and the school closed. The school and the neighboring family home where soldiers also entered to take photos, are the only things still open in the area right next to the closed Shuhada street where Palestinians are forbidden. Thus keeping the school open and running is important and a form of resistance against the occupation.
Harassment and closure at the school last year (photo from ISM)
January 6th 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
At the end of December Israeli forces re-opened the newly expanded Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). The checkpoint had been closed since December 7th, when Israeli forces had declared they would be conducting “renovations” for a then-unknown period of time.
Officially known as Checkpoint 56, Shuhada checkpoint separates Bab al-Zawiye, a Palestinian neighborhood in the H1 (nominally Palestinian-controlled and administered) part of al-Khalil and Tel Rumeida, part of Israeli military-controlled H2 and currently covered in part by a closed military zone order first issued on November 1st.
Palestinian family leaving Tel Rumeida, crossing toward Bab al-Zawiye
The checkpoint was rebuilt with a high fence blocking the entire street and additional turnstiles and metal detectors. The turnstiles make it very difficult for anyone carrying heavy, bulky luggage or even several bags of groceries to pass. Israeli authorities also added a completely closed off room in the center of the checkpoint, where Palestinians are questioned and searched entirely out of site of any onlookers, media, or human rights monitors.
As in previous versions of the checkpoint, there is no possibility for any car or truck – even an ambulance responding to an emergency – to pass; any vehicle larger than a baby carriage must take a time-consuming detour in order to enter or leave Tel Rumeida.
Shuhada checkpoint as seen from a nearby window in Bab al-Zawiye, an imposing barrier Palestinian families living in Tel Rumeida must navigate
The new checkpoint has already become a flashpoint for Israeli military aggressions against Palestinians, which include the arrest of 38-year-old Wafa’ Sharabati on Monday afternoon by Israeli forces who first claimed she had a discrepancy in her ID then accused her of being a troublemaker and threatened to plant a knife on her. Wafa’s family and local activists staged a sit-in outside Shuhada checkpoint to protest her treatment and the continued humiliation and harassment faced by Palestinians forced to endure the checkpoint and the closed military zone.
Wafa Sharabati’s family staged a sit-in awaiting her releaseA large group of local activists and residents gathered after Wafa’s arrest in front of the checkpoint, which has has been the site of countless demonstrations against the Israeli occupation of al-KhalilHe never fired, but this Israeli soldier spent much of Monday afternoon on the roof of Shuhada checkpoint, prepared to attack nonviolent Palestinian demonstrators with potentially deadly rubber-coated metal bullets
A sign on the H1 side of the checkpoint explains the protocols for passing through: metal detector, bag search, no animals allowed through, checkpoint closed if there are any clashes. The 4th instruction reads “wait until the soldier will allow you to pass.” Sometimes people can pass in six minutes; sometimes they must wait for over an hour, outside and exposed to any weather, before being allowed to pass the few meters of turnstiles, metal detectors, fences and walls between them and the streets leading to their homes.
Lines on Monday evening left many, including young children, waiting for nearly half an hour in the cold night. Only Palestinians who are registered in the closed military zone can ever pass through the checkpoint; family members of residents, journalists, human rights defenders and internationals have all been barred. Even Palestinians who are registered have reported being forced to wait for over an hour only to be harassed and threatened by the soldiers inside the checkpoint.
Activists have planned another protest for Thursday morning to continue the struggle against the closed military zone, the even harsher regime at the newly reopened checkpoint, and the continued closure and Israeli military occupation of al-Khalil.
A young Palestinian boy enthusiastically fanned the fire local residents and activists gathered around on Monday night to protest the checkpoint and all it represents
The three boys – Awne Abu Shamsiyye (16 years of age), Moataz Irfaiie (17 years of age) and Nizzar Salhab (16 years of age)- who were shot on their way home on the evening of the 1st of December have since then been harassed by Israeli forces and their families have been left in the dark about what kind of unlawful punishment will await their children.
Nizzar was shot in the upper thigh, lower torso and hip and a piece of the metal from the bullet penetrated his testicle. He was hospitalized in the Ahli hospital in Al-Khalil (Hebron) for five days and had to undergo two surgeries. The other two boys were hospitalized in Al-Khalil Alia hospital. Sixteen-year old Awne was shot by live ammunition in the sole of his foot, where the bullet exploded. He had to undergo two surgeries and stayed in the hospital for eights days. Moataz was shot in his calf and had to undergo one surgery.
Paper from the Israeli Civil Administration Photo credit: Human Rights Defenders Group
After being discharged from the hospitals, all three boys returned to their homes in Tel Rumeida, where they continue to undergo medical treatment. Shortly after all boys had been discharged, Israeli forces came to the homes of all three boys looking for them. The Israeli forces thoroughly searched Awne Abu Shamsiyye’s house and even the homes of his neighbors; Awne was luckily not around at that time. The Israeli forces returned following day at 2:00 am to search the house for Awne again and when they couldn’t find him they came back at noon to give the family a paper. The paper ordered the family to deliver Awne to the Israeli Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. The other two families also received a paper giving them a deadline to deliver their sons to the Israeli DCO (District Coordination Office) by Sunday the 20th of December 2015 at 2:00 pm.
On the 20th of December the three boys went to the Israeli DCO in Al-Khalil accompanied by their families and a lawyer provided by the Human Rights Defenders Group. After waiting around at the DCO the boys were told to go to the police station located in the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba in Al-Khalil (Hebron) instead. Upon arrival at the police station they were sent back to the Israeli DCO on the claim that it was the responsibility of the DCO to deal with the boys. The families refused to go back to the DCO the same day and the police took the phone numbers of the fathers of the three boys. The families were told that the commander would get in touch with the families the next day to inform them about the unknown fate that awaits the three boys. However, until now the commander hasn’t got in touch with any of the families.
Waiting in front of the police station in Kiryat Arba Photo Credit: Human Rights Defenders Group
The families are deeply concerned about the safety of the boys and feel highly uncomfortable because the boys could be arrested, attacked or shot at any time. The boys are still under threat and need to be extremely careful when moving in their neighbourhood, which has been a ‘closed military zone’ since November 1st 2015. Earlier today, the 3rd of January 2015 the commander stopped the father of one of the boys, Imed Abu Shamsiyye and told him that if he saw Awne again he would shoot him. Not only is this a direct threat to the life of Awne, it also confirms the concerns voiced by the families about the safety of their children and their concerns that the Israeli forces would attack the boys “when nobody is watching”. Although Imed told the commander that the families had followed all of their orders and have proof thereof, it is only a matter of time until the Israeli forces will resort to yet another crime.
2nd January, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
On the 2nd of January 2016, thousands attended the funeral of 14 martyrs in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). A demonstration following the funeral, against the continued killing of Palestinians with impunity by the Israeli military and Zionist settlers, was attacked by Israeli forces.
Part of the massive funeral procession walking up the road toward the Martyrs’ cemetery
The new year in the occupied West Bank began with the handover of 23 bodies that the Israeli government had been withholding from their families, some for over two months. These 23 young Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or settlers claiming that they had been carrying out attacks; in many cases, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces planted evidence on the bodies or killed the alleged attackers when they posed no imminent threat. Israeli forces then took the bodies of the Palestinians killed and the Israeli government refused to return them to their families, denying them funerals and proper burial.
17 of the 23 bodies that were finally returned to their families were from the al-Khalil district. Of these 14 were from al-Khalil city itself, and were thus buried on Saturday in the Martyrs’ cemetery of al-Khalil. Thousands of people marched in the funeral procession from the Hussein mosque to the cemetery, with the fourteen bodies carried on the shoulders of their families. The families of the young men killed finally had the chance to bury their loved ones in an appropriate manner and grieve their loss.
One of the 14 bodies of Palestinian youths being carried down the road in al-Khalil
As the procession was passing by a road that leads down toward Shuhada checkpoint, Israeli forces threw stun grenades into the street even though no one was approaching or even near checkpoint.
The fourteen people buried this Saturday in occupied al-Khalil are:
The three Palestinians buried in the al-Khalil area are:
Hamzeh Moussa al-Imla, 25, shot dead on 20th October 2015. Buried in Beit Ula
Fadi Hassan al-Froukh, shot dead on 1st November 2015. Buried in Sair village
Omar Arafat Issa al-Zaaqiq, 19, shot dead on 27th November 2015. Buried in Beit Ummar
After the funeral procession for Omar al-Zaaqiq, Israeli forces injured 12 protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets, including two that were shot in the head.
After the funeral in al-Khalil dozens of young Palestinian men braved wet, cold weather to gather in the streets of Bab al-Zawwiya neighborhood around Shuhada checkpoint to protest the murder of these martyrs. Israeli forces advanced from Shuhada checkpoint and threw stun grenades into the streets. They also pursued a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance that was driving up the road with its lights and sirens on in the H1 area of al-Khalil, the part supposedly under full Palestinian control. Israeli forces stopped the ambulance and threw a stun grenade at it, forcing medics to drive back in the direction they had come.
Israeli forces occupied a building and roof in Bab al-Zawwiya, using their vantage to aim down at protesters, mock the demonstrators and throw stones at them.
Palestinians and internationals documenting the Israeli forces’ violent attackon the demonstration were directly targeted by Israeli forces. Local activist Imad Abu Shamsiya was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated metal bulle by Israeli forces. One international was hit in the hand with a rubber-coated metal bullet when clearly holding a camera filming the event. “We were standing in the street taking photos of the soldiers aiming their rifles at demonstrators and realized that they were aiming right at us when a rubber-coated metal bullet hit right above my head,” another ISM activist recalled.
Photo taken just before Israeli border police aimed a rubber-coated metal bullet just above an ISMer’s head
Israeli forces indiscriminately fired rounds of plastic-coated metal bullets that, in contrast to the rubber-coated metal bullets, were not aimed and targeted at individuals but would instead hit anyone in the vicinity. The clashes ended after over two hours of confrontation with Israeli forces, with no severe injuries.
While the families of the 23 young Palestinians returned on New Year’s Day were finally able to bury their loved ones, other families are still waiting and demanding the return of the bodies of their family members killed by Israeli forces or settlers. This inhumane tactic of keeping the bodies from the families, thus denying them the possibility of holding a funeral according to their beliefs, clearly violates article 17 of the 1949 Geneva Convention: I “[Parties to the conflict] shall further ensure that the dead are honourably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged, that their graves are respected, grouped if possible according to the nationality of the deceased, properly maintained and marked so that they may always be found.”
