Category: Hebron - Page 92 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli settlers attacked internationals and a Palestinian shepherd

15th September | Operation Dove | At Tuwani

On September 14th, two Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian shepherd and two international near the Israeli outpost of Mitzpe Yair, in the South Hebron Hills area. During the aggression, the settlers stole video cameras from the internationals and broke one of their phones. Israeli police detained the Palestinian shepherd and one of the internationals for six hours. There were no consequences for the settlers.

At about 9:00 a.m. four Palestinian shepherds from the South Hebron Hills village of Qawawis were grazing their flocks accompanied by two internationals, on Palestinian owned land nearby the Israeli outpost. Two settlers from Mitzpe Yair crossed a closed area (where the access is forbidden to everyone else) in order to attack one Palestinian shepherd, starting to chase away his flock. The two internationals present taped the scene.

Afterwards the settlers assaulted the internationals: at first they grabbed one by the neck and knocked him down, they snatched his camera and broke his phone; subsequently the settlers attacked the other one twisting her arm and also seizing her camera. The settlers ran back to the outpost holding the stolen cameras, and the Palestinian and the internationals went to Qawawis village.

The Israeli police came to the Palestinian village and asked the shepherd and internationals to follow them to the Israeli Police station in Kiryat Arba settlement, due to one settler claiming that they threw stones at him. The Police officers detained both of them for six hours and questioned them about the incident. Israeli police released them at 5:00 p.m. without consequences.

The South Hebron hills area has suffered from the presence of Israeli settlers’ since the 70’s. Eight Israeli settlements and outposts (among which Mitzpe Yair is one) almost completely isolate 16 Palestinian villages from the rest of West Bank. The settlers’ violence includes overt violent attacks on Palestinians and their animals, damages to private properties, and limitations to freedom of movement with many consequences on their daily life. Since the beginning of 2014, Operation Dove registered the arrests of 15 Palestinians, included minors, because they were on lands near the settlements. During the same period there were no consequences for Israeli settlers involved in the incidents occurring in the area.

In spite of the violence suffered by the Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills area, they keep on grazing and farming on their lands, resisting in a non-violent way to the Israeli occupation.

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

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

VIDEO: Seven-year-old violently detained, one child and two adults arrested

8th September 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

This morning in al-Khalil (Hebron), through the Salaymeh checkpoint, a seven-year-old was forcefully detained and three more were arrested, including another child.

At 07:40, approximately six young children started throwing small stones towards the checkpoint. A few minutes later a group of Israeli border police emerged running from a road close to the schools, and more border police ran down from the checkpoint.

Israeli forces threw two stun grenades and fired approximately three tear gas canisters towards the children standing outside their schools.

Two border police officers grabbed 12-year-old Yousef Hajajreh by the neck and walked him to the checkpoint where he was later arrested and driven away in a police car.

Two more border police officers forcefully dragged and carried Oday Rajabi, a seven-year-old boy, who was also on his way to school, and detained him for approximately 40 minutes.

Border police officers aggressively pushed Palestinian men, including teachers from the nearby schools, whilst they were trying to protect the children.

A teacher, Abd al-Aziz Hmad Rjob, from the UN school was forced into a headlock as he was trying to intervene with the crying seven-year old. He was also dragged up the road where he was arrested.

Palestinians and internationals then gathered at the Salaymeh checkpoint where an 18-year old man, Malak Salaymeh, working at the same school was also arrested as he confronted the soldiers. Another man was also briefly detained.

Palestinian children threw several more stones, and Israeli forces fired three more tear gas canisters.

An ISM volunteer who was present stated, “The situation was terrible, I felt like it was a planned operation where the aim was clearly to terrify schoolchildren and the soldiers were out to arrest.”

Yousef, Abd, and Malak were released at noon, roughly three hours after they were arrested.

Israeli forces have previously targeted extremely young children as they wait for school in al-Khalil; ISM has documented a number of these incidents while monitoring Salaymeh checkpoint as children pass through to go to school.

Orphans protest demolition of dairy factory

5th September 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, 300 orphans staged a protest following the demolition of Al-Rayyan Dairy Factory, north of Hebron, which occurred in the early hours of 1st September 2014.

The future of the children remains unclear as the two orphanages they live in, the Hebron Charity House for Girls and The Hebron Charity House for Boys, are dependent on the profits made by the dairy factory. Both the orphanages and the dairy factory are owned by the Islamic Charitable Society.

The dairy factory, which housed 150 cows and produced six tones of milk products, such as yogurt and cheese, had run for 24 years, ever since the Islamic Charitable Society received funding from the Kuwait government in 1991 to set up the factory. The purpose was for the Society’s orphanages and schools to have their own source of regular income, rather than relying on donations. The dairy products were distributed to Hebron and the surrounding villages.

The Israeli government, since 2002, has targeted the dairy factory. The first demolition order was based on concerns about environmental regulations, saying that the waste produced by cows was not dealt with suitably. Despite solving this problem, the dairy farm continuously fell under threat by the Israeli military, especially since it was located in Area C, the area of the West Bank completely under Israeli military control. Claims were also made by the Israeli Council for Planning that parts of the farm were illegally built; however, Abed Al-kareen Farrah, one of the lawyers working with the Islamic Charitable Society, confirmed that the farm received approval from the Israel Antiquities Authority for a license to build. He said, “The farm has been under fire for years with a lot of administrative issues, and Israel constantly put pressure on it to close.”

In June 2014, the dairy farm received a second demolition order, accusing the Islamic Charitable Society of having affiliation with Hamas because one of the dairy farm’s workers had been an administrative detainee for the past twenty months. The Chair of the Islamic Charitable Society’s Board of Directors, Hatim al-Bakri, stated that the society is not funding Gaza. On the 3rd of July 2014, Israeli forces confiscated all of the farm’s machinery before demolishing the entire farm a few days ago.

Hatim al-Bakri added that the farm would be impossible to rebuild, not only because it would cost two million dollars to do so, but also because of the heavy resistance they would face from the Israeli forces. Anything built on that plot of land would risk being demolished again and again.

“The future is dark for the orphans in Hebron,” he says. “I don’t know how we will be able to continue to fund the orphanages, or the seven schools the Islamic Charitable Society runs in and around Hebron. This question should be asked to the occupation.”

The demolition of the dairy farm is yet another example of how collective punishment affects hundreds of Palestinian people every day. Not only does the entire workforce of the farm have to lose their jobs because of one administrative detainee working there, but children, far removed from the workings of the farm, will also suffer the consequences.

When the school day ends with tear gas

2nd September 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

ISM watched over two different checkpoints in al-Khalil (Hebron) on the 31^st of August, Qeitun (209) and Salaymeh (29), both separating the H1 and H2 zone in this occupied city (H1 is supposedly under full Palestinian Authority control, H2 under full Israeli military control).

At the Salaymeh checkpoint, three tear gas canisters were fired at children on their way home from school. One child threw a stone in the direction of the checkpoint, and due to apparent problems with the gun, the soldier at the checkpoint did not fire.

A few moments later, a child approached the checkpoint in order to pass it and the soldier fired a tear gas canister right at the child’s feet. The gas filled the street and schoolchildren, some as young as six-years-old, had to flee the area coughing while their eyes streamed.

Later a group of three Palestinian children threw stones towards the checkpoint and the soldiers fired another tear canister at the children. The same routine repeated moments later. The tear gas lingered in the air for several minutes, irritating bypassing schoolchildren, teachers, and others residents walking in the street.

Similarly, children passing through the Qeitun checkpoint did not end their school day unharmed. A group of children threw stones towards the checkpoint from a rooftop. The soldiers fired a total of four tear gas canisters on the roof where the children were located.

This afternoon, September 2^nd, two ISM volunteers watched over Salaymeh checkpoint at school closing time. Two Israeli soldiers were stationed at the checkpoint to begin with, and as usual, children started walking home after a day at school. At one point two young boys threw stones at the checkpoint. This was shortly followed by a short-range tear gas canister fired by one of the soldiers, which was aimed at the stone-throwing children but primarily affected those who needed to pass the cloud of tear gas in order to reach their homes.

As two more tear gas canisters were fired, many of the smaller children became scared, crying and running in panic. Minutes later, two more soldiers arrived at the checkpoint. One boy threw five or six stones towards the checkpoint, as with other stones, none of them reached the checkpoint or the soldiers. Two more short range canisters of tear gas were fired, as well as three or four long range canisters, one landing inside the school yard and the others landing in the middle of a group of approximately 80 children, exiting the UN school further down the street.

One tear gas canister landed in the path of three schoolchildren, no older than six-years-old, who were walking in the direction of the checkpoint, the ISM volunteers saw how one of the two girls was dragged away from the tear gas by the boy, however the other girl did not run away, seemingly too shocked and scared to move.

An ISM volunteer present said, “I ran into the cloud of gas to get the crying girl away and into safety. In a situation like that it is difficult to show a child, who is so terrified and wary of the world around her, that she can trust you. Especially as it becomes difficult to see and breath when surrounded by tear gas. Thankfully she took my hand and I led her to the other two children who she was walking with.”

The groups of children affected by the teargas were more than hundred meters away from the checkpoint and were no threat to the soldiers in any way. This resulted in children being delayed on their way home, either because they had to wait for the gas to clear or because they were forced to take a detour home. It is clear to see how the Israeli army’s tactic of collective punishment is carried out in the daily lives of Palestinians, and children suffering from tear gas inhalation before and after school is not an unusual occurrence in Hebron.

Injured and forced to walk

27th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

It was a warm Saturday night in late August in al-Khalil (Hebron). For the Palestinian children school was starting the next day, and a feeling of anticipation and excitement for a new year of learning floated over the hot Palestinian night. A group of ISM members were invited to a barbecue with a local activist organization, which we happily attended.

After eating, I went with a group of from the organization that invited us, to a nearby kindergarten for Palestinian children from the neighborhood. The kindergarten had been created in an empty house last year so young children would not have to pass through a checkpoint everyday on their way to school. We went to bring some toys, clean up, and prepare for the coming invasion of toddlers. When I, along with the rest of the activists, wanted to leave the kindergarten again, three settlers from one of the illegal Israeli settlements of Hebron appeared and blocked the entrance. They accused us of bringing in building materials to the kindergarten, due to Israeli law, building an extension is forbidden for Palestinians in the H2 area of al-Khalil (H2 is under full Israeli military civil and security). The kindergarten was created in 2013, a bathroom was built, and then demolished by the Israeli army since it was an extension to the house and was therefore ‘illegal’.

As we tried to leave a group of settlers surround us and began to yell and scream in Hebrew. One of the settlers called the Israeli police and about 10 minutes later the army arrived. They escorted the settlers away and made space for the police on the narrow path up leading up to the kindergarten. The police then quickly searched the kindergarten for building materials and left after none were found.

Following this unprovoked confrontation, we drank tea on the fake grass of the outside kindergarten floor, a football was found, and the Palestinian kids enjoyed their newly renovated kindergarten in advance. Unfortunately I fell badly fall on my left side while playing with the children, resulting in a dislocated shoulder. Of course I had to go to the hospital and an ambulance was out of the question since all traffic, other than that of the Israeli settlers and the army, is forbidden in H2 except with explicit permission from the military.

Another ISM member had previously seen how injured Palestinians were carried through the checkpoint on a stretcher after a settler attack. The ambulance did not have the right permit to pass the checkpoint and the injured were forced to be physically rushed through.

I, and three ISM friends, decided to try to walk through the checkpoint and then find a taxi. The checkpoint we needed to cross in order to reach the hospital was Checkpoint 56 on Shuhada Street. During a clash a couple of days ago the checkpoint had been burned on the inside, and it was now closed for everyone except for the army. This is a form of collective punishment as it was still possible to cross if the soldiers decided to allow it. In recent days some people have passed and other have been denied.

The soldiers at the checkpoint could easily see that I was in pain. We asked the soldiers if we could pass, since it was an emergency, and the alternative route around the checkpoint would be extremely long and demanding. The soldiers did not really seem to take much notice of our situation; it even looked like they were having fun at my expense. When we asked a soldier for his name and ID, he gave two different answers the two times we asked him, even though the soldiers are required to provide that information when asked.

The encounter ended with the soldiers telling us, with plastic handcuffs in their hands that we had two minutes to leave the area or we would be arrested – even though it is out of their jurisdiction, and we hadn’t done anything illegal. We decided it was not worth it and started the long walk around the checkpoint to the Government hospital in H1 (under Palestinian Authority civil and security control).

Now I am sitting with my shoulder in a sling; the treatment was quick and very professional. The Palestinians at the hospital were extremely helpful, showing me the different places I needed to go in order to get the right treatment. Now I cannot help thinking of how it must be to live under these circumstances, when the way to the nearest hospital is hampered by several checkpoints, manned by soldiers who do not care about except settlers and their fellow soldiers. I was lucky that my injury was not more serious; in another situation the outcome could have been much worse.