Category: Journals - Page 13 - International Solidarity Movement

Two nights in Umm al-Kheir: a journal

5th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Umm al-Kheir, south Hebron, occupied Palestine

Spent the last two days at Umm Al Khair, a Bedouin village in the South Hebron Hills enjoying the wonderful hospitality, generosity, and loving kindness. This was not my first trip there. And as much as I hate to say it, as with most things in Palestine, things are so much worse than my last visit. The illegal colonial settlement of Carmel belonging to the entity called israel surrounds the village on almost every side. Some of the tents and housing units are less than 20 feet from the “security” fence. Housing units in the illegal settlement have increased and more are being built with plans to take more of the land owned by the village to continue expansion.

Some of the newest settler homes in Carmel

The villagers sit day after day waiting for the illegal occupation soldiers to come with their bulldozers to demolish more of their housing. People speak openly about their discouragement for their future but still stand steadfast that they will not be moved or defeated. Our tent was one of those closest to the Fence and for two nights we sat up most of the night while zionists threw stones and rocks over the fence at the tent at anything that appeared to move. The village leader says the violence is increasing all of the time and fears that one of these night something much worse than rocks will be thrown. Fortunately no one was hurt (physically) the past two nights but there was little to no sleep for us or any of the men of the village who sat up keeping and open eye and ear to try to spot the thugs doing this. The commotion would wake up many of the villagers and you could hear the crying of many frightened small children throughout the night.

The “security” fence less than 20 feet from the tent

This is an every night occurrence and everyone is exhausted, all of the time, and can only catch a few hours of sleep after sunrise. Phone calls to the police of the entity called israel Police as well as the Palestinian Authority Police are a waste of time. No one will respond to the calls for help to make the settler violence stop. Many internationals, such as ourselves go for a few nights (when we have the people to do so) to help with a protective presence but it doesn’t stop the ever increasing settler violence. The Bedouins are very peaceful people and are committed to nonviolence but they are called the terrorists by the zionists, and most of the zionist supporting governments of the world (such as the United States). More International presence is needed and more of the world needs to know the truth.

Apartheid illustrated: Israeli soldier shoots another soldier in Hebron

6th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Tuesday, 4th July 2017, Israeli forces were conducting a ‘military training’ in a civilian Palestinian neighborhood near Gilbert checkpoint in Tel Rumeida in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). The result of this ‘military training’ was a fatal shot by one Israeli soldier to the other. The injured commander was immediately evacuated to hospital by an Israeli ambulance, and was later confirmed dead. The Israeli forces immediately closed the whole area to Palestinians by closing all the checkpoints, collectively punishing the civilian Palestinian population. The army, after the incident, announced that these ‘military trainings’ will be suspended in al-Khalil.

The whole incident, though, needs to be contextualized: an occupying army conducted a ‘military training’ near a checkpoint installed for the control and humiliation of the occupied population, in a civilian residential neighborhood. Immediate medical assistance to the injured occupying soldier, with an ambulance that, without any problems, was granted immediate access to the injured.

Military trainings, under international humanitarian law, are prohibited in civilian areas. The Israeli occupying army in al-Khalil, and all over the occupied territories, though, conducts trainings in civilian areas. This serves two functions: for one, it is more ‘real’, a training in the area where the perceived ‘enemy population’ is living, and second, the intimidation of the population. Israeli forces in al-Khalil are sometimes seen ‘practicing’ the ‘neutralization’, as it is called in Israeli rhetoric, of Palestinians at checkpoints. In those cases, a Palestinian that allegedly carries a knife is seen as a threat to the life of the heavily armed and armored occupation forces – and thus has to be shot and, as documented in so many cases, left to bleed to death on the ground without any medical assistance. The idea is always to shoot to kill.

Whereas an Israeli soldier or settler from the illegal settlements would immediately receive medical assistance, as Israeli ambulance are free to pass, Palestinian ambulances, and actually any Palestinian vehicles (often including donkeys and bicycles) are not allowed to drive on one of the roads in al-Khalil – which conveniently connects the settlements in down-town al-Khalil with the Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of the city. Palestinian ambulances, as they are not allowed on this street, instead, are often detained by Israeli forces at the checkpoints, denied to pass and thus denied access to give first aid.

Immediately after the incident, the Israeli forces closed all the checkpoints in the area, effectively putting the area under curfew – for Palestinian residents. Any Palestinian civilian inside the area, thus, was prevented from leaving, and anyone outside trying to reach their homes, was prevented from coming back home. This is clearly collective punishment of the Palestinian civilians, who are not involved in the incident at all – other than living in an area that the Israeli forces are trying hard to rid of any Palestinian presence. Whereas Palestinian movement was completely restricted and Palestinians trying to film the incident and it’s aftermath were stopped and harassed by soldiers. Settlers, however, from the illegal settlements, were allowed to move around freely. In a separate incident, a settler beat up a Palestinian young man, causing his face to be unrecognizable as it was covered in blood. The settler though, can be sure that he’ll enjoy full impunity under the protection of the Israeli forces.

These kind of military trainings in the aftermath were declared ‘suspended’ in the city of al-Khalil. However, only because a soldier was killed, not because of their illegal nature in civilian areas or a possible threat to the occupied population.

This incident illustrates the apartheid system installed by the Israeli occupying forces in al-Khalil, and all over the occupied Palestinian territories. An apartheid-strategy that aims to displace the Palestinian population from their homeland in favor of illegal settlements.

A day in Umm al-Kheir, threatened by demolition by Israeli forces

29th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Our day in Umm al Kheir started with a common flying checkpoint, set up by the Israeli forces in Zif. Our mini-bus driver dind’t want to pass this control so we got out of the car and walked through the control and then waited for our friend from the village to pick us up. We had some spare time and bbserved the soldiers controlling nearly every vehicle trying to pass and wrote down their plate-numbers. After we got picked up we tried to enter the village, which is only accessible through one road. This road is directly next to the illegal settlement Karmel and therefore entirely under the control of the Isreali forces. An Israeli police-car was stationed directly at the entrance to the village to stop and control every passing car, so we made a u-turn to avoid yet another control and contact with the police and instead waited until the police had left to enter Umm al Kheir.

The fence separating Umm al-Kheir from the illegal Karmel settlement

Umm al Kheir is located in the South Hebron Hills in the south east of Yatta. The village is divided in different parts: on one side there is the bedouin village Umm al Kheir and a bit further the village itself with the mosque and around 1300 inhabitants. We visited the Bedouin part of Umm al Kheir. This part of the village is located directly next to the settlement: the playground for the children is surrounded by fences which separates the settlement from the village, the main road through the village leads directly into the settlement and is frequently used by settlers. The whole life in this beautiful peace of land is dominated by their settler-neighbours: except of one house in the village, every house has several times been demolished and is constantly threatened by demolition by the Israeli forces. The location directly next to settlement and in Area C is reason enough for the Israeli administration to reject building permits and thus ignore the villagers trying to live their every day lifes (The vast majority of building permits in Area C for Palestinians are denied). Umm al Kheir is not connected to any water or electricity supply system, and the Israeli government refuses those services for the village. Meanwhile the settlement directly adjacent to the village has electricity 24 hours a day. Umm al Kheir on the other hand is dark in the night, just lit by the light shining from the settlement and the chicken-farm on the other side. The Israeli administration build a mast system to ensure the power supply for the chicken-farm directly through the village. This power cable, cutting through the village, highlights even more how communities in the South Hebron Hills and anywhere else in Area C are humiliated by the Israeli forces and deliberately left alone in their fight for dignity and their basic needs such as water or electricity.

But Bedouins are strong people and so the people of Umm al Kheir remain to their land, raise their children, find love and happiness. A solar panel installation was installed to ensure at least the basic electrical needs. This plant was build on the only house in Umm al Kheir, which is, according to the Israeli administration not ‘illegal’ and thus not under threat of demolition.

The inhabitants, left without shelter after a demolition, rebuild their houses after a demolition. There is a community centre, a playground and even a library in this tiny village. Everything is build without a permission and was demolished several times but the will to fight for the land and their existence is bigger than the bulldozers.

Umm al-Kheir library and community-center

We met unbelievable warmhearted people, made new friends and had a delicious Iftar, made by the local women. Because of the bedouin hospitality we felt directly at home and enjoyed strolling around between the sheep and discovering which plants are growing in the garden.

But as mentioned before, Umm al Kheir is threatened by house demolitions, as every house has an outstanding demolition order. The army keeps coming to the village, taking pictures of the shelters. Also camera drones, controlled by settlers are appearing regularly to record any possible changes. Umm al Kheir fears demolition after the end of Ramadan and has requested protective presence in the village. We already spent a night there with a team, as are other groups such as CPT.

Rubble from a recent demolition by Israeli forces

This is not just about a few houses, this is about homes and the existence and Umm al Kheir, which shares its fate with so many small villages around the whole occupied West bank, which suffers under the Israeli occupation.

Life imprisoned in a ‘closed military zone’: “Daily Life”?

26th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces at Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) have put up yet another sign ‘instructing’ the Palestinian residents on their behavior at the checkpoint. The bright-red sign clearly with pictures prohibits any kind of supposedly ‘dangerous’ materials like guns, knives and scissors. Just like when you attempt to cross security in any airport. Whereas those objects have long been prohibited and most Palestinians wouldn’t dare bring any of those to any checkpoint, as they’d have to fear for their lives, the signs also illustrate something else: live for the Palestinians living in this area is immensely restricted.

At an airport, most people can at least attempt to grasp why those objects aren’t allowed. But now consider this checkpoint is on your daily way to your house. Your own home. Not an airport, you have to cross this checkpoint all the time. That’s what it is like for Palestinians living in the Israeli forces declared ‘closed military zone’ in Tel Rumeida and on Shuhada Street. Those restrictions, newly illustrated with little images, restrict daily tasks such as cooking and studying, doing arts, and even such mundane things as cutting your nails. No Palestinian is allowed to bring any kind of knife, so unless you have a big stack of sharp knifes – you won’t be cutting neither your fruit, nor meat, nor vegetables. If you break a pair of scissors, your children will not be doing arts anymore, and no matter how often they ask for new one’s, the parents are prohibited to bring scissors, even non-sharp childrens-scissors, into this area.

Newly installed sign illustrating the daily restrictions enforced solely for Palestinians

Doing so against the warning, you’d most likely pay with your life. A sentence on the sign says that a ‘permit’ can be applied for to bring any of the mentioned items. But even if that would be successful – assuming a Palestinian wouldn’t just be arrested for just applying for such a permit – or refused like so many Palestinians applying for building permits, it would cost a lot of bravery to actually show up at the checkpoint with any of those items. Bringing ‘banned items’ to the checkpoint, and then telling the heavily-armed soldier: “I’m bringing a knife”. It’s debatable whether that conversation would ever go beyond that point, or rather be cut short by gunshots from a heavily-armed occupation force.

In stark contrast to airports, where the measures are for security, in this context they are merely and deliberately solely for humiliation. In international law, a praxis like this is called ‘creating a coercive environment’ in order to facilitate ‘forced displacement’. And that’s what it is about: in an area that so conveniently connects all the illegal settlements within the city center of al-Khalil and on its outskirts, Palestinians are merely considered a nuisance. The attempts to drive them out are thus ever more enforced by the occupying army.

Palestinians celebrating Eid in a ‘closed military zone’

26th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

As anywhere all over the world, Palestinian Muslims are celebrating the end of the fasting-month Ramadan with the 3-day feast of Eid. Eid usually is a joyous occasion, everyone dresses up nicely and the most important activity is visiting family. For Palestinians under Israeli military occupation though, it is a little more difficult. Countless daily movement-restrictions, navigating the maze of permanent and sudden, so-called ‘flying’ checkpoints is just one part of the methods of slow ethnic cleansing enforced on the Palestinian civilian population by the Israeli forces.

In the Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street area in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), receiving visits from family must sound something like a distant dream. A dream that will never come true. Since the area was declared a ‘closed military zone’ by Israeli forces in November 2015, any Palestinian that is not registered at the checkpoint, is not allowed to come into the area. The residents have been assigned numbers that are used to identify by the Israeli forces whether or not they are (theoretically) allowed to pass the checkpoint and reach their homes.

Surprisingly, on the first day of Eid on Sunday, Israeli forces actually allowed family members to cross the checkpoint and visit their family-members imprisoned in this ‘closed military zone’. Whereas the joy about the unexpected visits has been enormous – it is dimmed by knowing that this will be the only visit for at least a year. The unexpected visitors though, had to report of long queues, they had to give the name and the sure-name of the registered residents they are visiting at the checkpoint, and very strict ‘checks’ at the checkpoint. It has not been announced that any non-residents would be allowed to pass, instead of turned back just like it happens so often. Many that didn’t know, didn’t try.

Long queues outside Shuhada checkpoint on Eid

For Palestinians who had their lives incarcerated in this ‘closed military zone’, even the joy of suddenly and finally having family come for a visit, is still always strictly linked to the knowledge that the Israeli forces restrictions are only meant to drive them out of the area, to make life so hard and unbearable for them, that they would just use. It’s always connected to the simple fact that their fault is simply: being Palestinian.