Category: Journals

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.

Anat Cohen assaults ISM volunteers in Al-Khalil (again)

[three_fifth_last]February 08, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

ISM volunteers were detained by Hebron Police for over 8 hours after Anat Cohen assaulted them outside the Qurtuba school checkpoint on Thursday.

Picture of Anat Cohen when she assaulted ISM volunteers 2019-02

In direct response to the violence waged against Palestinians at the hands of illegal settlers (and the military that protects them), a neutral observer force had been present in Hebron (Al-Khalil) for the past 22-years, in part, to ensure that children walking to/from school would not be harmed, harassed, or murdered by settlers. This observer force was called TIPH.

Unfortunately, the Israeli government expelled TIPH from Hebron last week.

One of the more dangerous checkpoints for Palestinian children in Al-Khalil exists outside the Qurtuba school–which is juxtaposed immediately adjacent to the Beit Hadassah settlement. Another independent observer group, EAPPI, had been peacefully monitoring this checkpoint until last week–when their head offices announced that their team would also withdraw from Hebron following a targeted campaign of harassment by the right-wing fascist group Im Turtsu.

To fill this void, ISM volunteers have been monitoring the Qurtuba checkpoint in mornings and afternoons to provide an international presence to ensure the safety of Palestinian schoolchildren. As a result, ISM has become the target of harassment by these illegal settlers. On Thursday, this ordinary verbal abuse escalated to physical assault when Anat Cohen–a particularly violent settler with a history of attacking peaceful observers–assaulted ISM volunteers at the Qartuba checkpoint.

ISM captured the assault on video:

Minutes after Cohen assaulted the ISM volunteers, she called the police. When the local Hebron Police arrived, they detained the ISM volunteers and informed them that Cohen was pressing charges against the ISM volunteers for assault.

The ISM volunteers vehemently deny these accusations, and they have video evidence clearly showing that the only physical violence that occured was when Cohen assaulted the peaceful ISM volunteers, who were simply observing the checkpoint to ensure the safety of the schoolchildren.

Call for volunteers after TIPH & EAPPI exodus from Hebron

1st February 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

In the wake of TIPH being ejected from Al-Khalil (Hebron), it’s critical for ISM to sustain an international presence to protect the Palestinians.

TIPH shakes hands with Palestinian man welcoming him to Hebron

After an Israeli settler murdered 29 worshippers while they were praying at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994, the UN Security Council published Resolution 904 called for the establishment of an international presence “to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory”.

That international presence became TIPH, which operated–most recently–for 22 consecutive years since the Hebron Protocol of 1997.

But last week, PM Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that he would not be extending TIPH–a move that has emboldened Israeli settlers and further endangered the security of Palestinians.

Two EAPPI members walk through Hebron with Palestinian man

Moreover, the day after Israel decided to remove TIPH, another international observer force on the ground in Hebron–EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel)–left Hebron after their personnel were targeted by a campaign of harassment from the right-wing fascist group Im Turtsu.

In the wake of this exodus of teams critical to thwarting violent attacks against Palestinians by Israeli settlers and soldiers, we ask the international community to come defend Palestinian human rights on the ground here in Hebron. If you’re interested in joining the ISM team in Hebron, please contact us about an upcoming ISM training session in Palestine.

After School in Hebron, A Journal – 6 boys detained by Israeli forces in 2 Days

5th December 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine   [Updated December 6]

For two days running, Israeli occupation soldiers and Border Police ambushed young children aged 10-14 years after school in Hebron.

Tuesday, 24thDec. 2 boys were detained at Salaymeh checkpoint after being ambushed by a group of soldiers sneaking around in gardens and through a garage before bursting out behind the boys who were standing in a driveway. The boys were not throwing any the stones but were just randomly grabbed by the soldiers as they ambushed them. ISMers were only meters away and security camera footage confirms that the boys were merely standing in the driveway at the time. Two of the boys were aged 11 and one 10. One can only imagine the terror young boys experience when suddenly kidnapped by soldiers of the occupying army!

 

A border policeman abducts a young boy
A border policeman abducts a young boy from the street after ambushing children near Hebron School. (Photo Christian Peacemaker Teams)

The Israeli Zionist forces are renowned for their cruelty even to minors: imprisoning children as young as 12 through their military courts and prisons system in which there are no rights for Palestinians. The youngest ever Palestinian child prisoner was released just days ago after a three-year prison sentence from 12 to 15 years of age.

The inhumanity of Israel is fully understood by Palestinians growing up under occupation. Collective punishment and psychological cruelty through torture and macabre tactics such as withholding bodies of Palestinians who have been killed or died during imprisonment are universally understood by Palestinians and well documented by international as well as local observers/researchers. …and there is no justice system to protect Palestinians.

Imagine what goes through the mind of a 10-year-old child suddenly grabbed by an armed solder from an occupying army and dragged from his neighbourhood! Fortunately, the boys were released after being detained for more than an hour inside the checkpoint.

Today also (December 5), 3 boys were abducted aged 14, 11 and 9. The boys attend two of the local schools and were kidnapped from the street around 300 metres from Qeitun checkpoint. They were standing in the street talking about 3 metres from an ISM activist when they were ambushed by Israeli Border Police.

The two younger boys were released later today, but the 14-year-old was taken away. According to the headmaster of the Hebron School, Khalil Abu Sunaineh, the older boy could face up to 6 months imprisonment. The military court does not need to give evidence to support any accusation on the grounds that it is “classified information”. There is a 98% conviction rate.

The headmaster showed us pictures on the wall of the school hallway, over 70 pictures taken over the last two years show child arrests, tear gas, concussion grenades both inside the school and on the street outside. They are the tip of the iceberg. He has been at the school for 14 years!

gallery of soldier invasions
A gallery of soldier invasions of the school, abductions, concussion grenades and tear gas in the school and on the street outside.

He also told us that the soldiers and border police sneak around in the middle of the night mapping the neighbourhood and planning their ambushes. We’d witnessed this ourselves during the day. It was creepy enough in the daytime seeing soldiers just walk around in people’s gardens, exploring every alleyway, entering apartment buildings at will and ascending to the rooftops. It must feel violating to live under these circumstances.

Israeli forces justify their actions because some Palestinian children throw stones at them. To the uninformed this may seem a valid argument on the surface. However, it’s important to remember that the Israelis are the occupiers and have absolutely no rights under international law to defend themselves from the people they occupy. They are the aggressors. They are not civil enforcement officers of the Palestinian community.

This argument also holds no water because usually in any specific situation the Israeli forces are the aggressors who initiate conflict.

Even if we accepted this erroneous argument, the children who were detained on these two days were not throwing stones. To detain, or arrest and imprison them, for what someone else has done at any time at all is unjust and a form of collective punishment.

What justification can there possibly be for concussion grenades, toxic tear gas (228 tear gas rounds and 51 concussion grenades were fired in the Salaymeh / Qeitun neighbourhoods in 15 school days between November 4 and November 27, 2018 (including 34 tear gas rounds in one day!))? [Statistics from Christian Peacemaker Teams] This is on top of the usual intimidation, child abduction and invasion of streets and schools by armed soldiers in residential neighbourhoods!

Examples of tear gas being used in the Saleymeh / Quetun neighbourhoods.

These are children! Such actions are totally unacceptable on minors.

Do such actions promote peace? Do they not actually sustain and deepen the inhumane occupation of the Palestinian people?

Do they not also inspire rejection of the immoral occupation, and provoke further resistance against such oppression?

Fortunately, Palestinians usually choose non-violent resistance rather than violence, leaving Israelis with the moral predicament of enforcing the immoral and illegal occupation and the international community with the shame of their inaction.

 

Addendum:

These are part of a much larger continual attack on Palestine’s future by targeting children and their education: The following links show the extent of these attacks in just one week of November and other articles by Palestinian and international commentators are given for reference:

   Opinion – redactional

   Reports (Nov 2018)

  Older reports on palsolidarity.org

 

 

Welcome to At-Tuwani

It was 7am when we woke up after a night under the stars, in the village of At-Tuwani, surrounded by arid hills and olive groves. It’s the kind of place you’d want to sightsee, or drink tea with the locals, admire the work of weaving and embroidery by the women of the village. But few people still come here. In the 80’s Israeli settlers took up residence on a hill opposite At-Tuwani, and the years that have followed have been a living hell for the inhabitants.

The night before, we were accompanied by Bilal and Mahmoud, two young people who grew up coping with the violence of settlers, and Israeli soldiers. From Mahmoud’s house we observed the hill of the settlers. He told us that he’s already been in prison, just like Bilal; his house attacked, his olive trees cut. A few days before we arrived, we learned that his brother was nearly killed by a settler. In this village no one ever really sleeps. Phones are on at all times, the inhabitants always ready to rush out of bed in order to defend their village. To defend the village is to defend their herds from mutilation, their houses from destruction, and their culture from erasure. Most importanly, they are defending their right to live on the land they have occupied for centuries.

 

The night of the sky was clear and we saw shooting stars succeed one another, but it was not stars we had our eyes on, but the hill, where torches blazed between the trees facing us. Mahmoud shined his light on the trees, and silhouettes appeared before us- they were settlers, of course. “They won’t come near as long as we watch them” he told us, “Although armed, they can be quite cowardly.”

Shaking our torches is a way of showing our presence to settlers, to let them know we are awake, and watching. Because of our presence, when Bilal returned home, he was able to go straight to bed. For reasons such as this, the presence of internationals is important for the inhabitants. Recently, an Italian organization that were active in the village for some time had just left because of a lack of resources. Bilal is obviously tired, and I could tell that he wanted us to stay for several more days.

As we waited on Mahmoud’s roof, wrapped in blankets, I asked Mahmoud how the settlers are able to play, what seems to be almost a game every night, without tiring. “They do not work,” he answers, “they can sleep during the day because they receive a salary from the Israeli state.” The daily life of the inhabitants of this village seems to be so unbearable, and I can not help but admire the likes of Mahmoud and Bilal- the strength they have to endure. Of course, he has been resisting since he was born, and probably will for the rest of his life.

As footsteps startled us, silhouettes appeared again, this time approaching the house. When my heart began to beat faster, I thought to myself this must be only an ounce of what they experience here.

However, it was soldiers, not settlers, that appeared. Oddly, we are relieved. The truth is that they aren’t as dangerous as the colonists. Their presence is supposedly for protection; for both the Palestinians and the settlers, despite reports that settlers and soldiers collude, even to kill inhabitants at times. “Why are you up there?” One of the soldiers had asked us. Mahmoud answered in Hebrew (which he learned in prison) that he had the right to be on his roof, that he’s watching over his olive field for the settlers. “We’re here, do not worry,” the a soldier replies. After leaving, Mahmoud explained that they came to find out how many of us there were in order to report to the settlers. “We can not trust them.”

After some time, it became clear that the settlers were going to hold off their assault that night, and Mahmoud was finally able to go to bed as well. The next morning we had to wake up early to accompany children to school. It’s the Israeli army’s duty to protect these children from similar attacks, but if they complied with that assignment, our presence would not be necessary.

This is Palestine.

2 realities

29st October 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

Last Friday, nearly fifty Israeli and ISM protestors demonstrated at the Gaza Border in solidarity with nearly 15,000 Gaza protestors heading toward the border. This action was in conjunction with the weekly Right of Return March.


As the activists were confronted by a couple of Zionists counter-protestors and the Israeli Occupation Forces on the 48 border side, the IOF opened fire on the Gazan protestors marching to the border. The Palestinian and Israeli activists spoke on the phone via a loudspeaker from opposite sides of the border. During the conversation, a Gazan protestor was shot in the leg.


There were so many mixed emotions going through my head. This was my first trip to the Gaza Border and it was totally different from how I imagined. The area is beautiful despite the circumstances. I’d always thought Gaza was a desert area. This assumption was totally wrong. Everyday that I’m in the Occupied Territories, the more I’m seeing:

Most Israelis are living in a false reality. This was hammered in my head from the ride to the boarder. The Zionists have made an effort to “green” inside the 48 borders thus why they call the border the ”green” line. They’ve planted European landscape that is foreign to the Middle Eastern terrain. This effort has wasted valuable water resources, while there are daily water shortages inside the Occupied Territories.

Once we reached the military zone and park yards from the Gaza border. It was smoke in the air caused by the burned tires and missile strikes coming from Gaza. I noticed hundreds of crows flying in the air. Not sure what this was about, maybe the smoke threw them off path.

Gunfire and smoke in the background, I couldn’t believe that people were walking their dogs and a family of 4 was coming to the park like nothing was going on. Mind-blowing!!!!! These are the two realities: Palestinian and Zionists.

Later, i would find out, 5 people killed and close to a hundred killed in a non-violent protest. Palestinians resist occupation with violence, they’re met with heavy handed military force. Palestinians resist occupation with non-violence, they’re met with heavy handed military force. It’s a no-win situation.