Category: Hebron - Page 89 - International Solidarity Movement

Second mosque burnt in the West Bank this month

12th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Mughayir, Occupied Palestine

At 18:00 yesterday, the Israeli army closed the main entrance to Mughayir village until midnight. At midnight the army infiltrated the village and patrolled its empty streets for the next four hours.

Sometime between 2:30-3:30 am, villagers noticed that the mosque was on fire. Failing to put out the fire, the fire brigade was called, but by the time they had arrived from Ramallah, the fire had already spread along the ground floor of the mosque and the toilets.

While local media reported Zionist settlers as the culprits, witnesses in the village did not see who was responsible. Mughayir mayor, Faraj Na’asan stated, “Of course we know who did it. They’ve done it before in 2012. Everybody was in their houses because the soldiers were patrolling the streets. It was either the soldiers, or settlers under their protection.”

The Mughyir mosque is the second mosque to be burned by settlers this month. Meanwhile the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is infiltrated by Israeli forces almost daily. The limiting of 50 Muslim worshipers a day, and the allowing of settler tours has sparked an upheaval in East Jerusalem and across the West Bank.

“It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time that the settlers attack a holy sight and especially after the attacks on al-Aqsa mosque in these past few days,” stated Sais Mughayir. “We are facing a hard time locally and internationally. So we have to be united to enhance the existence of people in their land.”

Israeli forces ignore settler attacking child

9th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

This afternoon in al-Khalil (Hebron), ISM activists witnessed a Zionist settler push a 10-year-old child to the ground. The settler was driving close to Salaymeh checkpoint, through a group of Palestinian schoolchildren walking home. He suddenly stopped, exited his car, and violently pushed the young boy.

ISM activists who saw the incident tried to speak to nearby Israeli border police, who stated that they had not seen anything, so were unable to take action. The ISM’ers pointed out that the settler was still present, and the young boy was crying and bleeding, and then the officers asked, “what do you want us to do?”

An ISM’er present stated, “We tried to say to the border police that they could at least speak to the little boy, and stop the settler from leaving the area, or even speak to the many witnesses present. However they refused to do anything, and even waved to the settler as he drove away in his car, smiling. We pointed out that if a Palestinian adult male had pushed a young settler child to the ground, they would have taken action whether they has seen the incident or not. They had no response to this.”

VIDEO: 14-year-old violently arrested in Hebron

6th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On October 30th, a 14-year-old boy was violently arrested by Israeli forces in al-Khalil (Hebron).

Due to a teachers strike in solidarity with underpaid public workers, school in Hebron finished at 10:00 in the morning. Several young boys threw stones towards the military, armed at Salaymeh checkpoint, and the soldiers then fired three canisters of tear gas.

The children threw more stones, and the soldiers fired approximately ten more tear gas grenades in several rounds. This continued until 11:00 when an army vehicle drove up from a side street at a high speed. Three soldiers jumped outside one of the school buildings, before running into a school yard and arrested the 14-year-old boy.

Settlers destroy Palestinian property under the protection of Israeli soldiers

28th October 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Tel Rumeida, Occupied Palestine

Today at approximately 1:30 PM in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), the head of security for the illegal settlements in the area attempted to destroy the property of a Palestinian man named Muhammad Knebi. Settlers have been destroying the newly built fence owned by Muhammad Knebi since October. The fence was built to protect the Knebi family’s olive trees. Settlers have made several attempts to cut and break down the fence.

This afternoon, the head of settler security arrived on Muhammad’s land with a small tractor. He was accompanied by several soldiers from the Israeli army in addition to another settler from a nearby illegal settlement. They came in order to remove the large stones that were put behind the fence poles for added support. The settlers also cut the fence with scissors. Jawad Abu Aisha, an activist from the Palestinian group Youth Against Settlements that helped Muhammad build the fence, sat on a stone to prevent the settlers from moving it. Jawad was detained for his actions for around half an hour. The previous day the owner, Muhammad Knebi, had filed a complaint against the constant destruction of his fence and was then told by the Israeli police that if the settlers tried to take down his fence again he should call the Israeli army and they would stop the settlers.

Earlier today, neither the Israeli police nor the Israeli army made any attempts to stop or arrest the settlers for trespassing on private property and for the destruction of Muhammad’s fence. The Israeli soldiers had already received orders to prevent the settlers from destroying and cutting the fence but they did nothing to stop them.

Israeli military demolishes a Bedouin village in the South Hebron Hills

28th October | Operation Dove | Um Al Kheir, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, Israeli forces demolished a total of seven structures in the Bedouin village of Um al Kheir. The structures demolished are, three houses made of concrete, a caravan donated by the United Nations (United Nations Human Rights Response Fund with the support of Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom) to be used as a home, a tinplated house, a tinplated kitchen, and a traditional oven.

The structures belonged to five families, with a total of thirty people affected. An Israeli activist and an international volunteer were brought and detained in Kiryat Arba Israeli police station.

At 9:20 am a convoy of eleven Israeli army vehicles and two bulldozers reached the Bedouin village of Um Al Kheir. At 9:34 the bulldozers started the demolitions while Israeli soldiers, border police officers and DCO [District Coordination] officers kept Internationals and Israeli activists away from the village, declaring it a, “closed military area”.

Around 10 am the Israeli police arrested an international volunteer and an Israeli activist with the accusation of remaining inside the area. Both were released during the same day.

Um Al Kheir is a Bedouin village in Area C, under Israeli civil and military administration. It’s located very close to the illegal settlement of Karmel, established during the beginning of the ’80s and expanded in the recent years, especially in 2013. The village routinely experiences harassment from Zionist settlers and the Israeli army.

Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills keep struggling in a non-violent way to claim justice and to defend their human rights. The South Hebron Hills Popular Committee, together with international volunteers and Israeli activists, will soon gather to re-build the demolished structures in Um Al Kheir.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.