Category: Hebron - Page 98 - International Solidarity Movement

Seventh festival of South Hebron Hills popular resistance

21st June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | At Tuwani, Occupied Palestine

Today in the village of At Tuwani, villages and popular committees in the South Hebron Hills and international activists, came together to celebrate the seventh festival of non-violent resistance in this area of the West Bank, and the end of a local children’s summer camp. Each year a summer camp is held in the South Hebron Hills for the children, with many different activities.

“This is the moment to give each other strength, to continue to fight without surrender to violence”, said Hafez Huraini, member of the Popular Resistance Committee of South Hebron Hills.

“We remember together our story and our hard-earned achievements. But we also want to send a strong message to everyone, Palestinians and Israelis, with our example: nonviolence is possible, is effective, and it is the only way to fight for justice, dignity, and peace.” – taken from the invitation by Operation Dove and At Tuwani village council

During the day speeches were held by the Popular Committee in the South Hebron Hills, the Mayor of Yatta, the Governor of Hebron, and international organisations such as ISM, CPT [Christian Peacemaker Team], and Operation Dove. Throughout the day the children showed the crowds what they had been practicing during the summer camp, performing dabke [a Palestinian dance], singing and theater shows. Discussions were also held in the area about experiences of non-violent resistance.

The festival then turned into a protest, moving to a hill in front of the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on. The children were flying kites and brought balloons, to send a colorful message of peace and justice. The Israeli military and Israeli police stood in front of the outpost and cut off the road. The protest was peaceful and calm, with no violence or arrests.

Settlers in the area often harass villagers from the South Hebron Hills. The settlers are living in the illegal settlements of Suseya, Ma’on, Metsadot Yehuda-Beit Yair, and Karmel. As well as the outposts of Hill 833 (Havat Ma’on), Avigayil, Mitzpe Yair-Magen David, and Lucifer Farm (Yair Farm). The settlers living in this area are highly nationalistic and considered to be some of the most radical settlers in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

The Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills are often prevented from accessing their fields to pick wheat, lentils, and olives. Settlers also regularly burn the Palestinians harvests and fields. The settlers have also destroyed Palestinian caves and poured poison inside water tanks.

In 1999 residents of this area formed the South Hebron Hills popular committee and began to non-violently resist against the Israeli military. The resistance is daily, consisting of rebuilding demolished homes, continuing to farm in spite of settler violence, and replanting destroyed olive trees. Several Israeli and international organisations support the committee and the people of this area, primarily through accompaniment work and legal aid.

During the last several years many Palestinian families who left the area decided to return to their village.

Israeli forces demolish structures in South Hebron Hills

20th June 2014 | Operation Dove | Khallet Forem, Occupied Palestine

On June 18th, the Israeli army, along with border police officers and DCO (District Coordination Office) officers entered in the Palestinian village of Khallet Forem, in South Hebron Hills, and demolished seven houses, a bathroom, and a shelter.

No demolition orders were delivered for these structures.

According to Palestinian witnesses, a woman was injured by the soldiers during the operation.

The seven houses, the shelter, and the bathroom were owned by the Abu Dahar family. These demolitions involved at least 26 people, 12 of them are children.

In the same day, Israeli forces demolished the main road of Ar Rifa’Iyya Ad Deirat and built a roadblock in order to prevent the access from that road to the bypass road 356.

According to PHROC (The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council), the recent wave of demolitions, arrests, attacks, killings, and total closure of large parts of the West Bank following the disappearance of three Israeli settlers is a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian people. This is in direct violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that forbid reprisals against protected persons and their property, as well as collective punishment.

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: Israeli soldiers invade more Palestinian homes in Hebron

18th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday the Israeli army invaded a family house in the H1 area, supposedly under full Palestinian Authority civil and security control, of al-Khalil (Hebron). The father of the family is very ill with heart disease; the family was forced in to one room and was not allowed to leave. The eight Israeli soldiers used the house as an unofficial army post, both to rest and to view the area. The soldiers stayed there overnight, terrifying the family, as they had no idea when the soldiers would leave. At approximately 11:00 am, the soldiers left the house, however they informed the family that they would return.

The soldiers then entered the next house, relatives of the same family, with four young children. First they searched the house, and then occupied the children’s room on the second floor. They moved the children’s beds to get more space and placed a black blanket to cover the doorway.

The soldiers took shifts, sitting in front of the room watching the family, while the rest were sleeping, eating, and viewing the area. The family told the ISMers present that the soldiers also took showers. The soldiers seemed very uncomfortable with the ISM volunteers in the house, and behaved very aggressively towards them, and the family members who were taking photos.

The family offered the soldiers to use the roof instead of the children’s room, but they refused.

The military presence in the house caused a lot of fear for the family, they were unable to carry out their daily routines, and the children were very upset that they could not enter their room; they were afraid the soldiers would take their belongings and break their toys.

After five hours the family convinced the military to leave, as they left, it was witnessed them joining with a much larger group of soldiers.

Since last Friday, there has been a large increase in home invasions all over the West Bank. This is part of the collective punishment inflicted on the Palestinian population, since the disappearance of three Israeli settler youth on Thursday.

House raids in Hebron

15th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

At approximately 3AM this morning, approximately 70 Israeli soldiers broke into a home inhabited by two Palestinian families. The home is located in the H1 region of Hebron, an area officially under full Palestinian authority, civil and security control.

The two families, composing of 10 people, were then asked to ‘choose’ a room in which they would all have to stay for several hours; the family decided upon a small bedroom next to the bathroom. However, they were not allowed to use it until a few hours after the Israeli military broke into the house.

The family was then told by the Israeli military that they would be occupying the house for two to three days, however the army eventually left at 1PM.

The mother of the home is very ill, suffering from diabetes, and failing kidneys. She was scheduled for a dialysis treatment for her kidneys at a nearby hospital at 8AM, and was forced to miss this appointment, as the soldiers refused to allow her to leave her home.

When asked why they denied the mother her treatment, the soldiers claimed that she refused to go to the hospital. In addition, two other members of the family suffer from hypertension. All being denied access to medication, and medical assistance, for several hours.

Food and water were also prohibited for several hours, when friends and family attempted to bring food to those inside, they were denied until 12:30PM, 30 minutes before the soldiers left.

The purpose of these house raids seems to be due to three Israeli settler youth, missing since last thursday.

In addition, the families’ cell phones were confiscated, preventing them from interacting with those outside.

Nothing in the home was broken, however, food waste and dirt dragged in by the soldiers, remained upon their departure.

The neighbouring home also was forcibly broken into, the rightful owners of that household are currently traveling; the soldiers left the gate and front door wide open as they left.

Another home inhabited by a family of seven, further up the same road, was subsequently broken into.

Al-Khalil (Hebron), and the surrounding districts, are currently under very constricted military security, with dozens of homes in the area being broken into; and with dozens more expected to receive the same fate in the days to come.

A friend of the family tries to bring food, the soldiers refuse to let her pass (photo by ISM).

Israeli military trains close to the Palestinian villages of Jinba and Al Mirkez (Masafer Yatta)

13th June 2014 | Operation Dove | Jinba and Al Mirkez, Occupied Palestine

From the 8th June until three hours ago, the Israeli military has been training in Palestinian-owned fields, close to the Palestinian villages of Jinba and Al Mirkez, in Masafer Yatta.

Hundreds of soldiers have occupied the land in front of the nearby Israeli military base with tents and military equipment, and were scattered in groups around the villages to carry out the exercises.

During the training, the Palestinian population suffered heavy restrictions on their freedom of movement, the fields were damaged by military activities, and shepherds were chased away with their flocks.

Some of these farmers reported that they were beaten by the soldiers.

During the night, the exercises continued with the use of explosives, and soldiers have even entered the villages themselves, frightening the people further.

The villages of Jinba and Al Mirkez are within the Firing Zone 918 and, pending the decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice, are still under the threat of expulsion by the Israeli army.