Category: Journals - Page 41 - International Solidarity Movement

Saturdays under the settlements

25th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Saturday is supposed to be a holy day for the Jewish settlers of the illegal colonies in the West Bank; many don’t work, they don’t turn on electrical appliances, they don’t drive cars. But some of the violent and Zionist among them still allow themselves one activity – attacking and harassing Palestinians.

Farmer showing damaged grapevines (Photo by: ISM)

This Saturday, four international volunteers accompanied a farmer and his family from the town of Beit Ummar to their land, which is in the valley directly underneath the settlement of Bet Ayin, notorious for violent attacks against Palestinians, especially on Saturdays. The family had asked for an international presence to act as a deterrent for the settlers and also to speed the farming, as the quicker we could bring in the harvest, the less time the family would be at risk on their land. This day, thankfully, there were no settlers running down the hills throwing rocks at the farmers, and there were no helicopters bringing Israeli military to “protect” the attackers, as has happened in the past (needless to say, they don’t come to protect the Palestinians who are being attacked). We picked enough plums to fill all of the boxes that the farmer had brought and these were loaded onto a donkey to be taken to market.

It was after we were finished – and after we had been given one (or two, or three) of the delicious plums by the farmer – that we were taken on a tour of the valley and the family’s land. Although it is still lush, well tended and green, there was also destruction visible everywhere. Fruit and olive trees had been hacked down leaving just stumps, branches of figs had been half torn off, grapevines were ripped from their supports. In addition several newly planted young olive trees had been uprooted.

The farmer walked us through, pointing out each and every plant which had been killed over the last couple of years. Each had been sown with love, hope and resistance – and each had been torn down by the settlers. At every plant and tree the farmer paused and told us to “see, see what they did! It is so bad”. It was clear that every new piece of destruction was a blow to him.

Bet Ayin settlement visible on the hill (Photo by: ISM)

He also showed us the river running through the valley and how it was polluted, poisoning some of the trees and causing weeds to grow wild, blocking access across the river to the land on the other side. The pollution comes from the looming settlement of Bet Ayin. When his English was limited, the farmer acted out the attacks to which he had been subjected – showing us marks on his head where the settlers had beaten him.

But despite all of this, the farmers will continue working their land, each tree a symbol for their resistance and each harvest a step towards the day when they will be able to farm their land on Saturdays – and every other day – without international accompaniment and without having to watch the hills for settlers.

Witness to a child arrest in occupied Hebron

24th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Two detained children, soldier looking on (Photo by: ISM)

Since coming to the West Bank I had heard a lot about the Israeli army detaining and arresting children. Despite this, the first time I saw it myself, I was amazed. Amazed that people – young soldiers – could intimidate, harass and arrest kids. And all done with smiles on their faces.

We were called to the army base on Shuhada Street with a report of two children being detained. We walked down the street, passing checkpoints, getting held up while the soldiers ‘checked’ our passports and hassled us. When we got close to one of the illegal settlements in Hebron, we saw a mob of about ten soldiers down a side road – when we approached they disbanded. As they moved apart we saw that they had been crowded around two young children, around ten years old, who were backed up against a wall.

On our arrival a group of soldiers came over to us, laughing and joking with each other, trying to talk to us in broken English. According to them the children had been caught throwing stones in the old souq. It seems laughable to think they’d be so concerned, being covered head to toe in military gear and holding guns. The children were forced to stand apart, in the dark, in an alley full of soldiers for over an hour. We asked the soldiers if they knew where their parents were, if we could talk to them, if we could walk them back into the Palestinian controlled area of Khalil. All of our questions were met with the same answer; “No”.

We sat and waited, waving at the children, making sure they knew we were there to try and help. Attempting to talk to the soldiers was futile; “we’re waiting for further instruction from higher up”, “I love kids, we’re not doing anything wrong”, “I’m just doing my job”. All I could think was: “Imagine if your kids, or your brothers, were missing at night and you didn’t know where they were?!” – the whole thing felt disgusting and underhand. Even the way they moved away from the kids when they saw us coming – they must have known that what they were doing was wrong. That it would seem wrong to the international community if they knew about it.

The two children seemed fairly calm after a while, eventually exchanging jokes and swapping positions when the soldiers weren’t looking. We decided, amongst the five of us that were there, that two should walk back up to the main checkpoint between the Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas. This would be where the children would get taken when/if they were released. My comrade and I walked back up Shuhada Street, the soldiers laughing at us as we left. We of course got stopped for a long time at another checkpoint in between – in fact, long enough to see the soldiers escorting the two children up the road towards us. We could not follow to make sure they were okay as the soldier who had detained us was holding our passports and ‘radioing in’ to ‘confirm our identities’.

Soldiers smiling - children arrested behind them — Soldiers smiling – children arrested behind them (Photo by: ISM)

After about 15 minutes we got our passports back and got to the checkpoint to see the children being ‘posted’ back into the Palestinian controlled area and handed to the Palestinian Authority. The whole thing left me feeling sick. The smiles on the faces of the soldiers, the way they thought it was acceptable – or even normal – to hold children against their will at night, their use of intimidation and blatant abuse of power.

It may not seem like it, but these children were lucky – they were not blindfolded or handcuffed, nor were they were beaten or imprisoned. But others are. The children of the West Bank are learning first hand every day about the brutality of the Occupation. But they are also learning how to resist. I hope that their resistance will create a Palestine where children can play in the streets freely and without fear.

Settler harassment in Tel Rumeida

15th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Saeeda | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

I am an ISM activist living in the occupied city of Hebron. I arrived home late in the evening of Friday, June 14, and outside my door some of the neighborhood kids had built a small fire and were cooking corn. They tried to sell me a piece for a couple of shekels but I was more interested in sleeping at that point of the night. I put on some music and started cleaning up the apartment, but then I heard yelling outside my house. I looked down and saw an armed settler and a Palestinian man arguing loudly. Then I saw two Israeli soldiers escorting the settler from the scene. As I was home alone, I didn’t go down myself but called two other organizations, CPT and EAPPI, to help monitor the situation. Over the next few minutes I heard more yelling and glass breaking and saw more soldiers arriving at the scene. I didn’t see any arrests. I also saw that the corn and the materials the kids built the fire with were scattered all over the place and someone was cleaning them up.

When CPT and EAPPI arrived, we patrolled the area, which was at this point quiet but filled with more soldiers than usual. We were pleased to find that our neighbor Hani and his family were all safe, and then went visit Palestinian human rights group Youth Against Settlements. There one of our activists friends Jawad finally had some answers for us. He took us to the Abu Haqel house, and acted as a translator for us as we interviewed Abu Hussein. This is what he said.

View on the old city of Hebron from Tel Rumeida (Photo by: Activestills)

When the kids were cooking the corn and selling it for about a shekel apiece, an angry settler man came up to them. He cocked his M16 and chased the kids away, shouting that if anyone took a shot at his son, he would kill that person. He then came back and spilled the corn out in the street. Abu Hussein heard this and came down and was very angry about what the settler had done. The settler shouted that Abu Hussein and those kids must leave the area, or he would burn their houses and anyone inside. Abu Hussein said that this is his home – he lives right above my house – and said the settler should leave. Israeli officers arrived and escorted the settler away from the scene and told Abu Hussein to leave, threatening to arrest his children and take them in for investigation. Supposedly a settler kid was harassed earlier in the day. Abu Hussein told them that if they want to know what happened, they should question the soldiers who are in the area all day or use their many security cameras, rather than arresting children. Abu Hussein’s son, who was in the room while we spoke to Abu Hussein, said he hadn’t seen the settler children all day.

Our neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, part of the Israeli-controlled H2 district of occupied Hebron, is the site of frequent settler attacks on Palestinian families. In most cases the Israeli soldiers look on and do nothing to stop the violence. The continued attacks are seen by some Palestinians as part of an overall effort to make life as difficult as possible for Palestinian residents so they will choose to move out of the area. However, to our knowledge none of the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida are giving in to Israeli pressure any time soon. This is their home, after all.

A word of caution from settlers to internationals in Hebron

11th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On the evening of Thursday, 6 June 2013, a fellow activist and I were walking home from an innocent venture to get a refrigerator door in the Prayers’ Road area of the H2 area of Hebron. My companion saw out of the corner of her eye one Palestinian youth throw one rock at one settler car, then scuttle away before anyone could approach him. The settler got out of his car and ran to the nearest checkpoint and gave a description of the Palestinian to the soldiers there. Almost immediately, seven Jeeps full of soldiers arrived on the scene, and we followed a group of soldiers as they dispersed over the area, stopping at every Palestinian home to ask for ID cards and whether there were any shebab (Palestinian youth) in the house. We then returned to the place the soldiers dispersed from and watched in case there were any arrests. Fortunately, to our knowledge, there weren’t any, but the soldiers stayed for hours talking to settlers, including a woman we know to be particularly extreme. At one point my companion approached the soldiers conversing with this settler woman and, as I followed suit, the woman tried to get behind me and stop me from walking, as if she wanted to assault me. I kept on walking as if nothing had happened as my companion pulled me away from the settler woman. The soldiers made no response.

We continued down Shuhadah Street to go home, figuring the Souq (marketplace) would be closed down at this late hour; it was well after sunset. We were approached by a group of teenage girls on bicycles, who I misjudged to be Palestinian because most of the settlers here are Caucasian. They asked me if I was Muslim and where I was from; I was nervous because of the hour and in hindsight, I didn’t notice that they were talking to each other in Hebrew and dressed in a way more common for settlers than Palestinians (mid-length sleeves and skirts). Then one of them ran up behind me trying to grab me and my companion came in front of her, warned her not to touch us and pulled me away from the attacking settlers. We detoured up the path Palestinians take to exit Shuhadah Street before the checkpoint and a soldier ran after us with the attacking settlers at his heels. He was yelling at us in rapid Hebrew interspersed with “Passport, passport!” His use of Hebrew, even though we were clearly internationals, seemed meant to confuse and delay us. My companion yelled “But this lot are giving us trouble!” and the soldier was undeterred. She finally argued that we had shown our passports at the last checkpoint and he let us continue.

The settler girls followed us home via Shuhadah Street and, as we passed through Checkpoint 56, they gathered around our house. We later found that the women’s bedroom window in our house had been partially shattered, with a hole in what remained of the window and a rock sitting on the floor. A word of caution to internationals – especially those who, like me, are clearly Muslim – if you travel home via Shuhadah Street after dark.

Palestinian farmer wounded by Israeli army fire

7th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Sunday morning a young Palestinian farmer was wounded by Israeli army fire in an area called Abu Safiyeh, East of Jabalia, in the Northern Gaza Strip.

Hamdan’s wounded leg (Photo: Rosa Schiano)

The young man, Ahmad Hamdan, 21, was rushed to the hospital Kamal Odwan. We went to visit him in the hospital where we met some of his family members.

According to his uncle Eyad Hamdan, at around 6:00 am on Sunday, June 2, Ahmad was going to pick watermelons along with four or five other workers. Ahmad’s family does not own land, Ahmad is a simple worker in the fields.

That morning there were many farmers’ families, children, and bird hunters out in the fields. There were Israeli jeeps on the border and the workers had warned of gunfire but did not bother because they were far from the barrier that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Ahmad and other workers were heading to work on a wagon when the bullet hit Ahmad. He was injured before he had started work, at about 6:30 in the morning. The chariot on which he stood was about 400-500 meters from the separation barrier. The soldiers of the Israeli army probably fired from one of the towers of control, or by using a small hill behind which they often station themselves.

The cousin of Ahmad, Ammar Hamdan, 22, was with them. “When Ahmad was injured, some of them were trying to hide in order to escape from the bullets, while others were left with Ahmad and they called an ambulance. Ahmad was put in a private car and transported to an area away from danger and an ambulance arrived after 10 minutes.”

Family members told us that they used to go to work in that area 2-3 days a week to pick watermelons. “It ‘s the first time that they shot at us at that distance from the barrier. Due to the economic conditions of the family, Ahmad has to work in dangerous areas,” Eyad said.

The family of Ahmad is composed of 11 members, two parents and 9 children – 2 daughters and 7 sons. Ahmad is the largest of the children. The father did not have a steady job. His son Ahmad worked by collecting debris and other material for resale to be able to support their families. They live in Beit Hanoun, in the Northern Gaza Strip.

The bullet entered and exited from the right leg of Ahmad and provoked a femoral fracture. The doctors have placed an external fixation on the leg. Inside the leg there are bone fragments. Relatives told us that the doctors will then evaluate the condition of the muscles and nerves.

“After what we saw we did not return to work there”, said Eyad. Beside the bed of Ahmad was sitting her aunt and her tears would not stop falling.

After the visit we met Dr. Ahmad Bassam Al Masri, Head of Orthopaedics Department of the hospital Kamal Odwan. Dr. Al Masri told us that Ahmed suffered a compound fracture of the right femur. It is a third degree open fracture, which does not require neurovascular injury. The open wound measured about 10-15cm across. Dr. Al Masri told us that the doctors had placed an external fixation in the leg and that Ahmad will require a new operation in which the external fixation is removed and they will place an internal fixation and carry out a bone graft. This second operation will take place in around 2-3 weeks or a month. After surgery, rehabilitation will last from six months to a year. “The blow of a firearm delays the formation of the bones. Generally a normal fracture requires 4 months of rehabilitation,” explained Dr. Al Masri.

The agreements for the cease-fire reached after the Israeli military offensive “Pillar of Defense” on November 2012, established that the Israeli military forces should “refrain from hitting residents in areas along the border” and “cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip Gaza, by land, by sea and by air, including raids and targeted killings.” However, Israeli military attacks by land and sea have continued since the very day of the cease-fire. Since the beginning of the ceasefire there have been 4 civilians killed and more than 90 injured in the areas along the border.

In 2005, Israel unilaterally and illegally established a so-called “buffer zone” inside Palestinian territory, an area that farmers cannot access and that is reinforced by the Israeli army firing on civilians in the area. As reported by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, preventing the access of Palestinians to their land and maritime areas violates numerous provisions of international humanitarian law, including the right to work and the right to a dignified life. These attacks against the civilian population continue amidst a deafening silence from the international community.

We will continue to expose these violations until the Palestinian people are entitled to the same rights as anyone else, such that the world will one day understand the tears of the many bereaved mothers of Gaza.