Volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement are encouraged to write personal reflections about the work they engage in with Palestinian communities, the events they experience, and the people they meet. These journals offer the human context often missing in traditional reports or journalism. These articles represent the author’s thoughts and feelings and not necessarily those of the International Solidarity Movement.
The walk to the graveyard where Ayşenur is buried made me feel as though I was back in rural Palestine: the olive groves on either side of the dirt road, the farmers harvesting olives using the same methods I’d seen them use in the West Bank as well as simply the serene beauty of the landscape.
It felt strange visiting her grave when exactly two months ago today I met her for the first time in Ramallah four days before she was brutally murdered by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), and I almost feel a sense of guilt for being able to visit her hometown in Didim, Turkey while she is unable to. Why was it her who was shot and not me?
In the wake of her death, numerous well-meaning people have said to me “any one of you could have been killed like Ayşenur was” but I think this misses the point: many Palestinians ARE shot like Ayşenur was, many more are bombed and burnt to death and unfortunately, as Ayşenur herself would say, their deaths receive a fraction of a fraction of the attention her death received.
The grave itself was incredibly peaceful. I was the only one in the graveyard apart from the birds above me, whose chirping added to the serenity of the scene. The peacefulness brought me comfort as it stood in stark contrast to the chaos of the days following her death. Those who attended the protest with her were speaking to journalists non stop for days while the rest of us were doing our best to support them as much as we could and her funeral in Palestine was plagued by diplomatic issues between the Turkish and American governments over where she would be buried. We never got a chance to mourn her in the midst of all this.
Of course, Ayşenur is but one out of hundreds of thousands who have been killed by the IOF in the last year alone. Now, two months after her murder, settler attacks and deportations of foreign activists have ramped up in the West Bank, the north of Gaza has been under siege and has been subjected to massacre after massacre, many parts of Lebanon have been bombed (along with Syria, Iraq and Yemen) and the IOF shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
It can be easy to feel hopeless and helpless in the face of such monstrosities, but if the Palestinians on the ground haven’t given up the popular struggle for an end to the occupation then we shouldn’t either. I think Ayşenur would have said the same thing.
They could have just asked for the key!!! As the door flung open we all saw the face of Ayşenur looking back at us. … Ayşenur Eygi is a fellow volunteer who was shot and killed by an IOF sniper as she stood beside me just four weeks ago.
October 11, 2024 | Helena Sully | Qusra
Tonight the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) including police and soldiers raided the home in Qusra in the occupied West Bank, where myself and 16 fellow international peace activists were staying. We were resting after a day at the olive harvest after providing protective presence to the Palestinian farmers.
Four police and army vehicles were parked on the road outside our building. Ten plus armed soldiers and police marched through the backyard and ordered the activists to line up outside. We were surrounded by these masked men carrying rifles and I would be lying if I said it was not frightening. I was thinking how grateful I was that I had just gone to the toilet!
We recognised two soldiers who were at the olive harvest earlier in the day when the IOF ordered Palestinians to stop harvesting and to leave their olive grove.
I was standing apart from the rest of the activists and a soldier asked me why. I pointed out that their rifles were in the way, with the barrel of the gun almost touching me.
The commander demanded we be ready to show our passports.
The soldiers warned us not to use our cameras. They photographed all our passports.
They could have asked for the key but they chose to smash open the steel door to the dormitory. It did take sometime. Really? They could have just asked us for the key!!!
As the door flung open we all saw the face of Ayşenur looking back at us. A poster of Ayşenur was hanging on the inside of the door. Ayşenur Eygi is a fellow volunteer who was shot and killed by an IOF sniper as she stood beside me just four weeks ago.
I chose to sit and pour myself a coffee (it was the best I could do to try and demonstrate I was not afraid). At one point two soldiers lifted their rifles with very bright lights and aimed it directly at me. I wasn’t sure if sitting down and poring myself a coffee was pushing it too far. All I could do was to raise my hands questioning their behaviour. I only found out later that a fellow activist standing right behind me had tried to use his camera and they basically were threatening to shoot him for this transgression.
At the end of this ordeal the commander said that they had received a report that we were doing something illegal but found no evidence of this and thanked us for our cooperation.
Welcome to the occupied West Bank. And yes, I got some photos.
Helena Sully is a grandmother of seven from Australia who works as a Social Work Field Educator.
Today was the anniversary of Israel’s colonial occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Thousands of right wing colonists marched through East Jerusalem – terrorising Palestinian residents and shopkeepers. Racist Security minister Itamar Ben Gvir was among them.
I was in Jerusalem this afternoon, and saw the police, armed with baton rounds, automatic weapons and tear gas, closing off Jerusalem’s old city to make way for the flag draped settler mob.
We arrived in the late afternoon to the hamlet of Um Dhorit in Masafer Yatta – to stay with a family who have been steadfastly staying in their home despite countless acts of violence from the settlers of Avigail intended to push them out. That violence has accelerated sharply since October 7th.
Last week Israel’s far right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the outpost of Avigail to award it with legal status. The colony of Avigail was set up in 2001, on stolen Palestinian land. It remained technically illegal under Israeli law until last week when the settlers and Smotrich celebrated the creation of Avigail as a ‘legal’ settlement (still illegal under international law).
But the colonists of Avigail are not content with what they have already stolen. The settlement is constantly expanding – and the settlers are using intimidation and violence to try to force Palestinians out of their homes. They have established a new outpost just a few hundred metres from Um Dhorit, and are using it as a staging post for attacks on the community.
This evening, as the settler mobs attacked people in the city of Jerusalem, the settlers of Avigail had a party at their new outpost to celebrate Israel’s past and present campaign of colonisation.
As always – their colonisation is based on violence and intimidation. To give just one example, the settlement of Avigail has stolen four wells belonging to Um Dhorit. Settlers can regularly be seen bathing in the wells which they have stolen from the Palestinian residents.
On top of that, settlers have come in the night and poured gasoline in Um Dhorit’s remaining wells, in an attempt to render life unlivable for the people here.
For the Palestinian residents of Um Dhorit the act of remaining in their homes is a form of steadfast resistance. This steadfastness (‘sumud’ in Arabic) in the face of colonisation is what connects together people resisting in isolated hamlets across rural Palestine – it is a sense of collective struggle that is rooted in community, belonging and the land. It remains brave and resilient in the face of the occupier, despite the violence and coercion people face here daily.
2024 (rolling) | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied West Bank
As the Israeli occupation continues its genocidal war in Gaza and Western governments fail to take decisive action to end their complicity in the massacre, the mass movement around the world in solidarity with Palestine is growing stronger and larger. Students have occupied numerous university campuses around the world, often facing a brutal repression by police called by the same university complicit in the Israeli apartheid. Demonstrations have continued and pressure to boycott and divest from the occupation regime are mounting.
This post will cover the situation on the ground in the West Bank, with direct witnesses from Palestinians and international activists.
Illegal settlement expansion in Masafer Yatta
Settlers’s trucks working on recently established illegal outpost. @ISM.
In the community of Um Dorit in Masafer Yatta, settlers from Avigail established a new outpost three months ago on the community’s land. ISM is part of a 24 hour protective presence in Um Dorit alongside Israeli comrades.
The settlers have placed vehicles on the hilltop, the closest is just 50-60 metres away.
This is just the furthest extent of the settler expansion. Since October 7th, the settlers of Avigail have been expanding fast across the hilltops overlooking the Palestinian hamlets of Sha’b al Boton and Um Dorit.
The settlers use the new outpost as a staging post for attacks on the community. Settlers come and throw stones at the people, come at night and vandalise fruit trees and vines and pour petrol down the village well. The people in Um Dorit have had their vehicle torched several times overnight.
Right now I am sitting on sofas overlooking the outpost and watching the settlers construct a barn on the nearby hilltop, while truckloads of hay arrive. A week ago, armed settlers barged into the family’s living space and sat arrogantly on their sofas. Settler militia members – who have been kitted out with military equipment and uniforms – come frequently to the community to harass and intimidate.
Settlers also pushed one of the families out of their home after October 7th, and the family had to move to Yatta temporarily, when they returned it was ransacked and largely destroyed.
Meanwhile, in nearby Susiya, settlers started a fire a few days ago in olive groves just metres away from a family home. The fire was luckily extinguished quickly, but it could easily have spread and set fire to the houses.
Settlers invade family house in Masafer Yatta
The settler-soldier who entered on May 14. @ISM
The account from international activists who were present when a family house was invaded by settlers on May 15, in Masafer Yatta.
The family here was violently displaced by settlers after Oct 7th, their home destroyed, wells poisoned, and car burned twice. It is difficult to convey the level of surveillance they experience at all times since returning to their home. Settlers surround them with their illegal outposts. New Israeli flags pop up illegally marking territory. Settlers harass them on a daily basis.
On May 14, we were here an armed settler soldier with a semi-automatic longarm walked onto the property. He looked at the family’s well and pet the family puppies. They often try to befriend the dogs so that they are less likely to bark if the settlers come to harass the family at night. The settler spoke into his radio and then stared at my comrade in a threatening way for several seconds. His face was covered. He was dressed in military fatigues but walked or held his gun as if he were untrained. He was most likely given the military fatigues for harassing Palestinians, and thus made de facto military as a reward for his violence. He was likely gathering information for some kind of plan regarding stealing or damaging more of the family land.
The following day was Nakba day, a significant day for Palestinians. Four settlers, all teenagers or young men, walked onto the property and into the family home. They looked into each room, most likely to collect information about the location of rooms and cameras for reconnaissance. Then they sat down on the patio and rolled themselves cigarettes which they then smoked in front of the family. The whole incident was scary since we didn’t know what they were going to do. The father of the family called the police, but the settlers left before anyone arrived.
Eventually the military arrived instead of the police, but they did not take any step regarding the incident.
Weekends in Masafer Yatta
May 11 – Saturdays are usually really busy in the occupied West Bank as it’s the holy day for settlers. They like to observe their Sabbath by terrorizing Palestinians.
We observed settlers grazing their sheep on Palestinian land which has been recently designated as a firing zone. To support the family, we joined them from the top of their driveway and waited for the police to respond to their call about the settlers. This is the same driveway a bulldozer used to gain access to and destroy a home just a few days ago. On our way there, we spotted two armed settlers skulking in the olive tree groves, watching us. When we reached the family, myself and one comrade stood by and documented settlers in three different parts of the valley so cavalierly shepherding on stolen land with impunity. The police arrived, made a report, and then went to remove the settlers (a rare event).
We thought it was over and done with until an armored vehicle pulled up to the top of the driveway again. Five soldiers got out and one was pointing at me, telling me to come over to them. My comrade and I responded and walked toward them and they demanded our passports. We refused, as the only legal entity with authority to see our passports are the police. Unluckily for us, the police were coming down the hill from the other direction and the army stopped them for backup. The police officer got out and started yelling at us for our passports. He took them and walked away and the soldiers told us we weren’t allowed to record. It was just my comrade and I and I was scared. They held us and our passports for a while and I stayed on the phone with an Israeli activist who coached me through how to handle the situation. At one point, the police demanded that I go fetch “the other tourists” and I told him there was no one else, and he said “if you don’t get them, I’m coming in and getting them myself” and it was super threatening. I swore it was just us over and over again.
They didn’t give us a reason for detaining us. We didn’t know if they were a part of Ben Gvir’s new task force that targets foreign activists. We didn’t know anything and it was terrifying.
When he finally returned our passports, he gestured widely to the valley and the illegal settlement next door. He said “you’re not allowed to go over THERE!” I was like… “uhhh.. ok, wasn’t planning on it” because why would I want to go to the settlement?
They got in their vehicles and drove away and my comrade and I took a back way out through some trees and rocky terrain.
I got back to the house we stay in and started looking through my footage when I noticed one of the soldiers that detained us was wearing an NYPD hat. How does that chant go again? “APD [NYPD], KKK, IDF, they’re all the same!”
Free Palestine 🖤🇵🇸
The 2 videos show the settlers grazing with Palestinians gathering to watch and documents; and then the police speaking to the settlers and them returning to the settlement. The settlement is clearly visible with non native trees planted around it.
1 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Kafr Qaduum
Palestinians gather in the village main road. @ISM
It is Friday, and the call to prayer is heard in the rural village of Kafr Qaduum, West of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank. The streets are quiet, empty except some children playing and a few cars heading early to the masjid. Around 11am, some men and boys gather and drink coffee off the main road next door. Younger children play and laugh. The scene appears calm if expectant, with an underlying tension. Like every Friday, after prayer, villagers march in protest of the closure of their village’s main road and against the Israeli Occupation.
Protests are a regular part of life in rural villages across Palestine–some as far back as the second intifada. But in most parts of the West Bank unarmed protest marches left off after October 7th, when soldiers and settlers took advantage of Hamas’ attacks to unleash a wave of violence, terrorism, land and resource theft against their Palestinian neighbors. While before, the military used principally tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber coated steel bullets to disperse protestors, since the 7th villagers of Kafr Qaduum report encountering exclusively live gunfire.
Israeli drone flying over the protestors. @ISM
But protests in Kafr Qaduum never stopped. Abu Masseib, former mayor of the village, proudly states they have marched for the opening of their main road every Friday for 13 years–ever since the Israeli courts refused to uphold their rights. He reports that while military aggression has made protesting more dangerous, the villagers have persisted, adapting their practices to minimize harm. Fewer villagers go out each week, they move cautiously and report back and withdraw quickly if military movements are observed. In spite of these precautions, Masseib reports that the military have caused serious injuries. Since 2011, he states that over 100 villagers have been shot with live ammunition. Over 150 were arrested, he says, for weeks to as long as a year. While none have died, 2 children suffered horrifying brain injuries from “less lethal” rounds to the head. Just last week a youth was shot in the face, but survived when the bullet rebounded into his jaw. Many more villagers have lost eyes or suffered serious injuries to legs or stomach. In a group of 14 Palestinian youths and adults sitting with us, he says “10 of us have been shot with live [ammunition]”.
When asked why he thinks the people of Kafr Qaduum continue to protest when other villages have paused marches, he says, “We had this issue before Oct 7th; we want a free road. We have suffered too much; we understand the Occupation.” Over 50% of the village is in Area C–parts of the West Bank annexed by Israel, made available for Israeli settlement and off limits to Palestinians. This includes most of the villagers’ olive trees, their primary agricultural production and of immense symbolic value. “It hurts all the people of the village,” Abu Maseib says.
Today the military presence is mostly hidden. A low flying drone watches overhead, and four soldiers’ helmets and hair peek out over the closest hill. The protest moves conservatively, quietly, without shouted slogans or flung stones. Still the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance and media are ready to respond and document military aggression. The protest ends abruptly when report comes of military movements, and we — the only internationals present–are shuttled safely out of town before anything escalates.
The illegal Israeli settlement just outside Kafr Qaduum. @ISM
It is hard to guess whether solidarity activist presence acts as a deterrent these days. Indeed, organizer Murad Shtaiwi reports there haven’t been other solidarity activists present since October 7th. Villagers worry about exposing outsiders to the level of violence they themselves experience on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Murad reports that much of the violence occurs during the week, when soldiers enter the village to damage property, arrest protestors identified in drone photos, or just fire guns indiscriminately. He shares a phone video that clearly shows soldiers firing their weapons at head height and up into residential buildings. These are not shots intended only to frighten or disperse, but to injure and kill.
Before solidarity activists are driven away, everyone walks together back to the relative safety of home. Murad affirms that this is good timing. “It is an honor,” he says, “for us to have martyrs; but it is a greater honor to have living children”.
