23rd June 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Thursday the 21st of June, a group of around a hundred Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida gathered at the checkpoint outside of the Jabal Al Rahma mosque to protest against the constant delays, harassment and humiliation that happen in the area. A large amount of the protesters were young children and women, sitting peacefully by the checkpoint.
Residents of Tel Rumeida begin to gather at the Jabal Al Rahma mosque checkpoint on Thursday evening (photo: ISM)
The demonstration was prompted by a recent increase in strip searches carried out by Israeli forces on Palestinian citizens in the checkpoints of Tel Rumeida, which is in the H2 area of the city and so under strict Israeli control. Imad Abu Shamsiya, a resident of Tel Rumeida, stated that on Tuesday the 19th of June, Israeli forces demanded that residents took off their clothes when passing through a checkpoint to enter their homes. Up until now, inspections at the checkpoint have consisted mainly of ID checks, bag checks and body searches, where men are forced to lift up their shirts and the legs of their pants.
A man in Tel Rumeida is forced to remove his clothing at a checkpoint (photo: IMEMC)
A member of the Abu Aisha family who was visiting from abroad told International Solidarity Movement activists, “I was held at this checkpoint by Israeli forces for two hours when I came to visit my father because my name was not written in their book. My father lives here, my brothers live here, we have the same name – but I could not pass to see them in their house for all that time because of paperwork.” Eventually, after a long wait, he was allowed to pass.
On Friday the 22nd June, for the second day in a row, residents of Tel Rumeida participated in a sit-in at Shliva checkpoint to demonstrate against the constant harassment and humiliation, in particular the introduction of strip-searches, caused at the checkpoints in the area.
Residents of Tel Rumeida participate in another sit-in at Shliva checkpoint on Friday afternoon (photo: ISM)
Heavily armed soldiers were stationed at either end of the peaceful protest and after around two hours hours declared that demonstrators had two minutes on the clock to leave.
Heavily armed soldiers were stationed at both sides of the checkpoint on Friday (photo: ISM)
Taysir Abu Sneina, the mayor of al-Khalil, also came to speak with residents and sit in solidarity.
Taysir Abu Sneina speaks to demonstrators through the checkpoint before entering to sit in solidarity with residents (photo: ISM)
Translated by Badee Dueik and interpreted for written article by ISM members
Abdullah and Saleh live with their families in the Tel Rumeida area of occupied Hebron, under Israeli control. They are both twelve, and have been best friends for around four years. They are the youngest members of Human Rights Defenders (HRD), a collective of Palestinian activists who use journalism and video to expose the daily crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces and Zionist settlers in Al-Khalil. We talked to them about their work, their motivation and their experiences on the job.
Saleh and Abdullah, both 12
How did you become involved with Human Rights Defenders?
Abdullah: I love doing this. I had my camera with me most of the time anyway to film my friends, but I started filming for HRD about a year ago. Our dads [Badee Dueik and Imad Abu-Shamsiya, both prominent members of Human Rights Defenders and local activists] taught us how to catch violence from the army and humiliation of Palestinians by soldiers and settlers on video.
Saleh: I’ve been documenting the crimes of the occupation since I was about eight. Step by step, I learnt how to use the camera by filming the soldiers. Our dads helped with the technical side like editing, gave us ideas about how to make films or where to film from, and taught us how to protect each other.
And how do you protect each other?
Saleh: One of us is always filming the other. In February, we were filming soldiers detaining Palestinians by the Ibrahimi Mosque, taunting and humiliating them. Then they arrested Abdullah, but I managed to get away and made sure to film the whole thing. This helped with the arrest because we knew where they took Abdullah, and it was proof that he hadn’t done anything wrong. There was no media around – I was the only one there, so if I hadn’t filmed it we don’t know what might have happened.
Abdullah: Before that, in October, I was arrested and kept for a day by the soldiers, and Saleh filmed that too. I was on the way to visit my grandparents, when they arrested 18 kids including me because they said we had been throwing stones. My dad was in Ireland at the time, and only found out when he saw the video of me being taken on our facebook page.
Saleh: We use the videos as evidence – proof that it’s the soldiers who are committing the crimes, not us. We film to expose the violations of international law by the occupation.
Have you had to deal with any other problems when you’ve been filming?
Abdullah: In December, my uncle was sick and needed to get treatment at the hospital, so my other uncle went with him. At the Zaher roundabout, the army wouldn’t let them pass and began to beat my sick uncle. When my other uncle tried to protect him, the soldiers beat him too but he managed to get away. Then they took my sick uncle to the military checkpoint, and I went to film the situation. They told me to leave but I refused – I was not doing anything illegal. So they arrested me and kept me for seven hours.
Saleh: The last time they detained Abdullah was in February when he was taken for three hours. All the adults went to march through the souq to the Ibrahimi mosque, and Abdullah and I went to represent HRD. We were filming people being humiliated, body searched and stopped. The soldiers told us to leave but we stayed to carry on filming, so they followed us and arrested Abdullah, which I filmed.
Abdullah: My dad asked the soldiers why they had arrested me. They told him it was because I was filming them, and my dad said, ‘I taught him to do that’.
Saleh: We use these small Panasonic video cameras, like all the HDR members, because they are less obvious. But the soldiers and police often confiscate or break them, which is another problem we have to face.
Saleh shows us the video cameras that HRD use
Your job can be dangerous. We’ve witnessed both of you suffering from tear gas inhalation during demonstrations at different points in the past, for instance. How do you cope with that?
Abdullah: It’s scary. Yes, I do get scared when they fire tear gas, which makes us cry, and throw stun grenades as well as firing rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition at the Palestinian people who have nothing to protect themselves with.
Saleh: It’s dangerous but we try to protect ourselves by keeping a distance between us and the soldiers, and using the zoom on the cameras. We also try to protect the ISM volunteers by filming them.
Tell us more about what you have seen and caught on camera.
Saleh: One day the soldiers were humiliating students on their way to school in the Jaber neighbourhood by the Mafia checkpoint. Amir [another young member of Human Rights Defenders whose father, Aref Jaber, is also a local activist and part of HRD] was filming the evidence at a distance. When the soldiers saw they were being recorded they released the boy who was being searched and detained.
Abdullah: The culture of of kids being able to document the crimes of the Israeli Occupation Forces really scares them. The new law [the Knesset is currently considering a law banning the photographing or filming of soldiers, punishable with up to 10 years of prison] proves what we’re doing is working, that it’s making a difference. A kid can break Israel’s image with just a camera.
Saleh: The camera is our peaceful weapon.
Abdullah uses his camera outside his house in Tel Rumeida
What do you want to do when you’re older?
Saleh: We both want to be journalists, so we can continue to expose the crimes of the Israeli occupation. I want to work with international media, like Al-Jazeera, because it reaches more people.
Abdullah: Me too. We want to show the whole world – Arabs, Israelis and the international community – the evils of the occupation.
Saleh: I still want to work for HRD too.
Abdullah: But HRD isn’t international, remember.
Saleh: I’ll do both!
How do you get the best shots?
Saleh: Hold your filming wrist with your other hand and keep your arm holding the camera close to your body, to keep it from shaking.
Abdullah: Remember the rule of thirds – use the grid on the camera to balance what’s in the frame and leave space above the head of the person you’re filming to show where the incident is happening. We can also climb up walls and onto roofs to get a better view because we’re smaller than the others – so it can be an advantage!
Saleh: The main thing to remember is to stay safe: keep away from the soldiers and the violence.
The boys show us how to keep the camera steady
You are some of the youngest activists in the whole of Palestine! Can you tell us more about that?
Abdullah: We feel like it is our responsibility to show the international community the reality here, and one day we hope to go abroad to tell the world what is happening. I love doing this.
Saleh: Me too. It is an important message that we want to tell the world – there are kids here who are trying to show you what is happening. The occupation is not only an issue for the adults but also something the children have to suffer from right when they are born. We are documenting the daily injustices committed by Israeli forces, and this proves that even kids can use non-violent resistance to fight the occupation.
Abdullah: We record examples of what kids have to go through under this military occupation from our own point of view, like child imprisonment. Our videos can be used in the international criminal court. We upload our material to YouTube and then we can make documentaries, which many media platforms use.
Is there anything else you want to tell the people who will read your interview?
Saleh: We would like to encourage more children in Palestine to get involved by learning how to document the brutal occupation and expose the violence happening every day.
Abdullah: We want to ask international kids around the world to pick up a camera as a peaceful weapon to use against any injustice, however small.
A bemused neighbour watches as the boys enjoy being in front of the camera for once
All videos featured were filmed by Abdullah or Saleh for Human Rights Defenders.
View more of Human Rights Defenders’ work and follow here.
Sign the petition calling on Israel’s parliament to oppose the bill criminalizing the documentation of soldiers here.
This is a call for all those who believe in justice, equality and freedom to come to Palestine and support the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Palestinian women flying kites at The Great March of Return in Gaza (Mohammed Asad, via Mondoweiss)
The International Solidarity Movement is looking for volunteers from now until the end of August to join the Summer of Return campaign. Volunteers will assist actions across Palestine that raise global awareness of the Great March of Return, large-scale popular protests in Gaza, consisting of thousands of demonstrators each Friday demanding to implement their right to return to their land and homes. While the brutal siege of Gaza has transformed the strip into an open air prison camp, it is almost impossible to enter the isolated strip. However solidarity actions with the Great March of Return are taking place across Palestine. Volunteers will support nonviolent actions of popular resistance against Israeli occupation and apartheid. Human rights defenders will also offer accompaniment to Palestinians and their communities who face daily harassment, risk of physical violence and arrest by occupation forces and settlers.
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip attempted to cross the highly fortified fence separating the enclave (Al-Jazeera)
Since the start of the Marches, at least 135 unarmed protesters have been shot dead and more than 14,000 wounded by Israeli forces (UNOCHA), including children, medical staff, journalists, and the disabled. Gaza’s health system has been pushed to the brink of collapse, as hospitals struggle to handle an influx of serious and life-threatening injuries. Palestinians under siege in Gaza are marching home to the villages and cities from which they were expelled. They are marching out of the concentration camp that Israel has transformed Gaza into. They are marching to claim the international human right of refugees to return. Because of this, the Israeli occupying forces are murdering them in cold blood. The courage and sacrifice of this March demands all to stand up and end Israeli impunity and apartheid..
Palestinian youth play during the mass rally on April 11, 2018 (Xinhua/Stringer)
The ISM is a Palestinian-led movement which is committed to non-violent action. We will provide further information on our principles and other necessary information in a two day training course in our Ramallah office from the 2nd to the 4th July and from the 2nd to the 4th August.
4th June 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Nisreen in her garden, Tel Rumeida, Hebron
Nisreen Azzeh’s house sits high up on a hill in the Tel Rumeida area of the occupied city of Hebron (al-Khalil is the Arabic name of the city) in the south of the West Bank. The way to her house is difficult to find as the Israeli army blocked the main walkway after the death of her husband, a dear friend of ISM, in 2015. We climb the hill from Shuhada Street, emptied of normal Palestinian life a long time ago by the occupation, then find the way up an alley, then a short scramble up some rocks, through an olive grove, and find the door to Nisreen’s beautiful house. She is an artist, using oil pastels to express her feelings about the occupation of Palestine and the violence that she sees around her. Some of her images are sad and some are celebratory, showing images of women clinging to their olive trees in front of Israeli tanks, protesting the occupation. Directly behind her house up the hill is the Tel Rumeida Israeli settlement, casting a long shadow over Nisreen and her family. Since the army closed the normal route to her house from the road, this uneasy path is the only way for Nisreen and her children to move to and from the house. We settle in at Nisreen’s and admire her artworks decorating the walls and table as she tells us her story.
‘Old City of Hebron’, oil pastel on paper
Nisreen was born to Palestinian refugees from the 1948 nakba, or catastrophe, when Zionist militias forced 700,000 from their homes in historical Palestine in the brutal creation of the state of Israel. She met her husband Hashem in Jordan while she was studying art, and together they moved back to his home in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Like other Palestinians living in occupied Hebron, she lives under several complex layers of the brutal occupation. Hebron is the only place in Palestine where Israeli settlers live within a Palestinian city, and since 1997 has been divided into two parts: H1, under Palestinian control, and H2, under Israeli control. The 35,000 Palestinians living in the H2 area are subject to intense scrutiny and controls by the occupying Israeli forces, ostensibly there to protect the 500 or so Israeli settlers living in H2. Nisreen and her family, along with the other Palestinians in the H2 area of Hebron, experience the sharp end of the Israeli occupation, having to witness soldiers, checkpoints, border police and settler violence directed against them in a daily litany of militaristic abuse, alongside the more mundane humiliations of occupation: being stopped and searched, having a numbered ID card or not being allowed to open shops. Have a look at this short video to give you some idea of life for Palestinians living under Israeli rule in H2.
The view overlooking the city from Nisreen’s leafy garden
Nisreen has always produced art, but started to focus on her artwork more seriously during the second intifada after 2000. At that time, her neighbourhood became a closed military zone, and it was difficult for people to go to their jobs. She tells us it was a challenging time. With movement around the city so restricted, they had to spend a lot of time at home, always witnessing the violence of soldiers and settlers, with few distractions. During this time art became an escape for Nisreen, to channel her emotions into something productive, and a way of resisting. After encouragement by visitors to her home who saw her artworks, she began producing images for international buyers, and now sells her work all across the world for those looking to support a voice of resistance in Hebron.
Nisreen’s beautiful oil paintings fill her house
Perhaps the deepest cut of the occupation for Nisreen is the death of her husband Hashem in 2015. Hashem gave tours for international visitors to show them the difficulties caused by the occupation in Hebron, and was known and disliked by Israeli settlers and forces. Read more about his life and work here. He was suffering with an ongoing heart problem, and one day was badly affected by tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers against protesters whilst he was taking a group of international visitors around the city. He returned home having trouble breathing and fell unconscious on the sofa. Israeli soldiers do not let ambulances get through to Tel Rumeida from the Palestinian controlled H1 area, and so his friends carried Hashem to the checkpoint on Shuhada Street to take him to the hospital. The Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint would not let them through for 10 minutes while Hashem was still unconscious. By the time he reached the hospital in the H1 area of the city he could not be resuscitated. Nisreen could not host his wake at her and Hashem’s house because relatives living in H1 would not be allowed across Israeli checkpoints to attend. When Nisreen returned to her house after the wake, Baruch Marzel, an extremist settler and member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party who lives in the Tel Rumeida settlement, stood outside clapping, calling out ‘where’s Hashem?’ Two soldiers stood nearby pointing their guns towards her.
‘Woman at work using a traditional Palestinian bean crushing machine’, oil pastel and glitter on paper
Nisreen remains in her house with her four children. Selling her artwork is one of the only ways she has to support her family after the death of Hashem. She knows that the settlers nearby want to take the house and her land for themselves, which is why they direct a tirade of abuse and violence against her and her family. She is worried for her children seeing soldiers every day and witnessing the behaviour of the settlers. During heightened tensions in 2015, the area of Tel Rumeida became a closed military zone for nine months, stopping all outsiders, including journalists and human rights activists, from coming to the area. She overheard a settler telling a soldier in the street near the house “I need to see Palestinians’ blood in the street.” Frequently the settlers scrawl “kill the Arabs” on the walls of Palestinian houses in Tel Rumeida. Nisreen also lives with the memory of violent settler attacks against herself during the second intifada. On two occasions, women from the settlement came to her land, threw stones and shouted ‘go and die in your home’. After both attacks, Nisreen miscarried, once at three months and once at four months. The incidents didn’t lead to any prosecutions, which is not overly suprising as impunity for settlers’ violence is the norm in occupied Palestine: see here and here.
Nisreen with one of her popular designs, ‘I Need Freedom for Palestine’
Despite the settlers’ attempts to intimidate Palestinians like Nisreen, she refuses to give up her land to them. The soldiers come and invade the house a few times each year, checking the house, taking measurements and messing everything up in a deliberate provocation. She knows they are sizing the house up to support a settler invasion. They haven’t come yet in 2018 but she is prepared to be steadfast when they do. She tells us, “I will not leave my house, I am not leaving here. I resist here. I called to Baruch Marzel [when he taunted her after Hashem’s wake] ‘I live here. Hashem died but I live here.’ I am here, I resist.” Her artworks encapsulate Nisreen’s quiet and determined resistance to the racist bullying of the nearby settlers, supported by the full force of the occupying Israeli army. Some are sad, some are hopeful, all are beautiful, and importantly, they are her voice to the world from her struggle here in Hebron, Palestine. It is a voice that refuses to be silenced.
‘Drinks in the Old City’, oil pastel on canvas
To purchase Nisreen’s unique artworks and support her voice of resistance in occupied Palestine, please visit her website (mobile site under construction – please view on desktop).
11 June 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine.
In the two weeks since the Zahida family moved into their new house on Shuhada street in the H2 area of occupied Hebron, they have been subjected to repeated harassment by Israeli forces and Zionist settlers, resulting in their door being welded shut on multiple occasions whilst they were still inside. Israeli authorities in Hebron want to make Shuhada street an area exclusively for Israelis, and carry this out by closing the Palestinian doors that lead down to Shuhada street.
Shuhada Street in the H2 area of occupied Hebron (photo by ISM)
On June 1, Israeli forces entered the Zahida house and closed the only exit with metal cords. Due to the extensive harassment by Israeli forces, around twenty Palestinian friends and family gathered in solidarity with the residents. All were locked inside the house. After Palestinians managed to break open the door and exit the house, Israeli forces assaulted a 14 year old boy who had been inside with the family. A soldier hit him in the face with the butt of his rifle multiple times.
On Friday 7 June at 8 AM, Israeli soldiers entered the home again, gathering the family in one room, confiscating their phones and keeping them there for a brief period. After detaining the family, Israeli forces broke one of the windows in the house and exited through it. They allegedly said that if the family wanted to leave their home, they should also exit through the broken window from then on. The soldiers then proceeded to seal the house’s only entrance by welding it shut and locking the residents; a young man, his pregnant wife and their two children (age three and four) inside the house for several hours.
At around 11 AM, Palestinian residents of H2 and activists from Human Rights Defenders came together to open the door again and free the family. As the door was being opened, a settler known for harassing Palestinians arrived at the scene. He began to verbally insult activists from Human Right Defenders and film the people present. At the end the door was opened again with the help of neighbors and activists.
At around 9 PM, a group of settlers, protected by heavily-armed Israeli soldiers and police, gathered on the steps to the family’s home. The group of settlers consisted mostly of children and teenagers, who were having a picnic (whilst shouting and trying to intimidate passers-by) on the steps leading to the only entrance directly outside the door, thus trapping the family in their own home for the second time that day. The soldiers stated that the settlers were protesting, but when asked to clarify the reason of the protests, they had no comment. Another group of settler children also physically assaulted a Palestinian woman and a group of children on Shuhada street, whilst under the protection of Israeli forces. The settlers stayed for several hours and left at around midnight.
On the 8th of June, international activists were present in the house with the wife and two children after the Palestinian friends and family had left for work or iftar. A commander and two soldiers entered the house, taking the remaining Zahida family members into a room without their phone and without allowing the activist to enter. The commander then photographed their ID’s and allegedly promised the family that he would “do everything in his power to register them, so they would be left alone.”
An Israeli commander talks to residents of the Zahida family on the doorstep before entering the house (photo by ISM)
On the 9th of June, the same commander (pictured above) returned stating that he could not appeal their eviction order and that they had to leave their home.
In the early hours of the 10th of June, at around 1 AM, a large group of Israeli forces came to the house to weld the front door shut for the last time. Palestinian and international activists were prevented from getting near the house and were forcibly pushed back and assaulted by soldiers, so they wouldn’t be able to see or film what was going on near the house. A soldier, who was preventing people from coming near the house, assaulted a Palestinian child as he tried to pass onto Shuhada street.
A Tel Rumeida resident, Haji Mufid al-Sharbati, was trying to reason with the soldiers but was then detained. It was during his detention that he was assaulted by a soldier and subsequently collapsed. Israeli forces stood by as the elderly man lay on the ground, motionless for around ten minutes, before a stretcher was allowed through the checkpoint and he could be taken to hospital.
Haji Mufid al-Sharbati after being assaulted by Israeli forces (photo by Human Rights Defenders)
Allegedly an Israeli ambulance should have been on standby at the scene, but Haji Mufid Al-Sharbati still had to wait for a Palestinian ambulance to arrive and then for a stretcher to be able to pass through checkpoint 56, before he could get professional medical assistance. He was sent home the same morning and is reported to have recovered.
At around 3 AM, Israeli forces let the people gathered come back onto Shuhada street to check in on the family. By then, the door had again been welded shut. International activists were shown the new way out by a family member, which had been created by knocking down a wall next to their staircase. The new route takes much longer than going through Shuhada street and the staircase leading up to the entrance is very steep and unsafe, with no bannisters to prevent a fall to the street below. For a 4 month pregnant woman and two young children this is highly dangerous.
Yasmine Zahida stated, “I’m worried about our entry and exit now. There’s nothing to hold on to when you walk down the stone stairs and it’s especially dangerous in the dark for me and my children. But I’m happy it’s all over, for now”.
The brother of Sami Zahida informed international activists that Israeli forces had ordered the door shut for two years before they would consider opening it again.
