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.
09 October 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
At one in the afternoon on Monday, the 8th of October, we received a call in Arabic:
“We have big problems. Can you come?”
Two calls later and we were on our way. We reached al-Tawani in a service taxi. Along with two volunteers from Operation Dove, we walked up the hill to al-Mufaqarah.
Al-Mufaqarah is a beautiful village with about a dozen families, some brick houses, some tents, and some prefabricated dwellings provided by the United Nations. On the hill in front of us we saw a series of entrances to caves with stone walls that complement the houses. They were once inhabited, but it seems that since the evacuation of the village in 1999 they have not been used.
As soon as it got dark, we realized that there is no electricity. We heard a generator supplying power for the evening, and we remember that just a year ago they were putting poles up with the purpose to bring electricity here from the grid. The army demolished these poles however, and now this village is again a target. This time, the occupation forces are setting their sites on the construction of a mosque and a school.
On Monday morning, a jeep from the Israeli occupation forces arrived with an order to stop any construction work. “We will check if you continue,” they said. “And we will proceed to arrest those responsible.”
When we arrived, we found a group assembled in a tent. The decisions about what actions to take had already been made, and now they explained their plan of action to the internationals that had been called to help.
The villagers explained that the Israeli laws are unjust. How is it possible that in the illegal settlements there are all facilities available: running water, light, schools, but the Palestinians are not permitted these services? How can they not even have their own place of worship?
“We do not accept Israeli law,” they said. “So tonight we will continue the work on the mosque.”
They would continue laying the concrete slabs on the construction site.
Meanwhile, they organized their efforts. Officially, when the army was there, all the equipment was removed from the construction site: the pile of rubble and cement was covered and hidden. But they also prepared two tractors with attached trailers that would move into the town from two different directions: one with a hoist and planks to walk on the slabs, the other with sand and a mixer. The tractors would converge at the construction site later.
We received information that there was a checkpoint at the exit of Yatta, but fortunately the tractors laden with the building materials were already on their way. The hoist was assembled and put into place, and we all took a quick pause for dinner. As we ate, a cold wind rose up and cleared the clouds of the day from the sky, giving way to a great starry sky. When it was dark, we started our work.
The sand and the mixer arrived, along with the building team from Yatta. Four people were there to load sand and gravel into the mixer. Another added water and put in the bags of cement. Another worker maneuvered the mixer and elevator, and four more worked to level the concrete.
Anytime we saw lights of a car passing on the road, the work slowed down and our lights for work were extinguished. Finally, the work was done without intervention from the army. By half past ten in the evening, everybody was enjoying tea.
Perhaps in the future, Israeli occupation forces will demolish the mosque; it has happened before in this village. But for now, al-Mufaraqah has a victory. The village shows great determination and will not give up!
I am writing to you from an apartment in Tel Aviv where I am under house arrest for standing in solidarity with Palestinians fighting a twelve-year road closure in their West Bank town of Kufr Qeddoum.
This weekend, I spent forty eight hours in Israeli prisons. I was denied access to medicine, kept for long periods in leg and wrist shackles and prevented from calling a lawyer or my embassy; but this is light treatment compared to the punishment meted out to Palestinians who resist the illegal occupation of their land.
I need your help today to address the unfair detention and illegal treatment of Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention in the state of Israel. Please call your senator and representative today and tell them to demand the immediate release of Majd Farooq Abdelateef Obeid (23) and Abdelateef Farooq Abdelateef Obeid (25), who are being held in military custody.
Both Majd and Abdelateef were arrested alongside my fellow peace activists and me. Our charges are the same; the “evidence” against us is the same. The difference is that we were brought to a civilian court in roughly twenty four hours; they are still awaiting their hearing in a military court on Thursday.
We were released within sixteen hours of our court hearing and are under house arrest until Sunday, at which time, we will be free to go. Majd and Abdelateef however, will likely spend the next twelve to twenty months in administrative detention in Israel.
The judge in our case found the charges brought against us by the military to be doubtful… will Majd and Abdelateef receive the same verdict? We must demand their immediate release now!
~~~
On Friday, September 21st, three British peace activists and I, along with Majd and Abdelateef, were taken into custody by Israeli occupation forces while we attended a demonstration in the village of Kufr Qeddoum, west of Nablus. Soldiers entered the village from the north and east, fired tear gas bombs at protesters and broke windows in a school.
The soldiers kicked, beat and choked two of my fellow peace activists before forcing them into an army transport vehicle. As I passively resisted the soldiers’ attempts to arrest me and ziptie my wrists, they bruised my arms, stepped on my feet, and threatened to pepper spray my eyes. The soldiers also threatened my colleague and I with the armored bulldozer that was moving on the road in the village.
Soldiers bound the wrists of Majd and Abdelateef in tight zipties and they were not allowed to talk to one another.
After our arrest, we were taken to a nearby settlement. While the internationals were searched, soldiers took Majd and Abdelateef separately into an armored military transport vehicle for what they called “medical examinations.” Soldiers then blindfolded the men and we were transported to a police station where we spent the next eight hours.
During that time, both Palestinians remained bound and unable to talk to each other or us. The soldiers made them sit in the sun. When we demanded that they be moved, the soldiers moved them to the shade briefly and then moved them around the corner so we could not see them.
Majd and Abdelateef were forced to wear blindfolds for many hours until sunset. We repeatedly told the soldiers that sensory deprivation was a form of torture and was therefore illegal under international law. When one of my colleagues informed a soldier that even having knowledge of torture of prisoners and not doing anything about it was illegal, the soldier replied, “Fine, then. I’m a torturer.”
The racist attitude of the soldiers toward Palestinians was clear when one turned to my colleague and, motioning to the men said, “Don’t you have enough of these in your country?”
Again the bigotry and malevolence was plain when the soldiers took Majd and Abdelateef away from the police station. We demanded to know where they were being taken and said that we did wanted to go along with them. One soldier turned to us and said, “Shut the f— up! I will f— you up! You want to go to prison?! They will rape you there!”
This type of attitude, as well as the abusive treatment of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli authorities must end! We urge you now to call you senators, representatives, and politicians all over the world to demand an end to release Majd and Abdelateef immediately.
~~~
Majd and Abdelateef are currently awaiting a hearing in a military court on Thursday. They are not alone.
There are currently thirty two people from the village of Kufr Qeddoum who are being held, either with or without charge by the Israeli military. In the last year, over one hundred people have been arrested from the village for taking part in demonstrations. More than ten people have been taken by soldiers in the last three weeks.
The people of Kufr Qeddoum village have been holding demonstrations every Friday for the last year. They are protesting the twelve-year closure of the most direct route from their village to the nearby city of Nablus. The closure turns what would be a one and a half kilometer journey into a fifteen kilometer journey.
Though the road is closed to Palestinians, it is open to Israelis, particularly residents of the three illegal settlements to the east of Kufr Qeddoum, one of which, Qedumim, expropriates even the name of the Palestinians’ land.
Pressure from the Israeli occupation forces on the villagers to end the weekly protest has been building in recent weeks. In the last two weeks, soldiers have invaded the village prior to the protest, creating havoc among residents. Two weeks ago, soldiers prevented people from going to the mosque for Friday prayers. The army has also come into the village during the night with jeeps and tear gas to arrest people for taking part in earlier protests.
~~~
Right now, my colleagues and I are safe in Tel Aviv. We were arrested on the false charges of being in a closed military zone and throwing stones at soldiers. The soldiers made no announcements about the closed military zone (CMZ) before arresting us, and refused to show us any documentation of the declaration of a CMZ at the time of our arrest.
And I’m sure this goes without saying: we weren’t throwing stones.
The soldiers handed us over to the police who charged us, separated men from women, took us to separate jails and held us overnight and throughout Saturday. When we appeared in court on Saturday night, the state announced that they wanted to hold us in detention for seven days with the intention of discovering our identities and then handing us over to immigration authorities for deportation. They accused us of being in the Occupied Territories “specifically to disturb the peace” and said that we had kept the soldiers from “doing their jobs.”
Though our friends from Anarchists Against the Wall arranged for us to have an English-speaking lawyer and a translator, the hearing was completely in Hebrew. After the judge rendered her decision, we were not allowed to talk with our lawyer and were not given a copy of the ruling.
After the ruling, we were confused about our status. Though our lawyer successfully argued for us to remain under house arrest in Tel Aviv for seven days instead of going to prison, we were not immediately released because the judge gave the police twelve hours to determine the status of our visas. When, at three o’clock in the morning on Sunday, we were moved to a federal prison and told we’d be taken to another court at 6.30am, we feared the Israelis were about to begin deportation proceedings against us.
So far, that has not happened, though it remains a possibility. On Sunday, we were taken to a police station where our visas were verified and we were identified, photographed and fingerprinted. We signed for a bail of two thousand skekels each and were released into the custody of a friend with Israeli citizenship. Unless we are deported, we will be released on Sunday at four o’clock in the afternoon.
We are being hosted and given much support and comfort by members and friends of the Israeli organization Anarchists Against the Wall ( www.awalls.org ). We are very grateful for their help and generosity.
Please help me show thanks to International Solidarity Movement and to Anarchists Against the Wall for their continued assistance during this ordeal. Our legal fees for battling the false allegations against us are roughly four hundred dollars per person. ISM has put up the funds to cover this debt, but anything that you can do to defray this cost or to show your love for Anarchists Against the Wall is much appreciated. Donations can be made at palsolidarity.org/donate (Please state wether money is for ISM or Anarchists Against the Wall)
Thank you very much for your concern and support during this time. My fellow peace activists and I are united in the belief that our inconvenience is a small sacrifice compared to the risk and injustice our Palestinian comrades face daily as they resist the Israeli occupation. If our experience can be used to shed light on the struggle against apartheid, then that experience is no burden.
September 12, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the morning of September 10 in south west Hebron, at Checkpoint 56, a Palestinian man was shot with live ammunition by the Israeli military. Residents and army officials reported that Molotov cocktails were thrown at the checkpoint, and in response the soldiers fired with live bullets. Kamal al-Batsh, aged 31, was shot in the leg and was eventually transported to a hospital in Jerusalem, although Palestinian ambulances were prevented from arriving at the scene.
Soldiers move through the old city of Hebron
With ongoing strikes and protests taking place across Hebron, the army was deployed heavily throughout the city and schools were declared closed. A group of six soldiers were seen patrolling the market in the old city, brandishing their semi automatic rifles around corners and through the windows and doors of Palestinian houses. At 10 A.M. the situation at Checkpoint 56 became increasingly volatile, with soldiers shooting teargas, affecting innocent children and passers by. Checkpoint 56 divides the Palestinian city of Hebron in two areas H1 and H2. Special area H2 is a shared area, where over 500 settlers live, and Palestinian movement is heavily restricted.
Soldiers fire tear gas from the roof of a building in the Palestinian city of Hebron
Those throwing stones from the street faced the Israeli military wearing full combat gear and armed with semi automatic weapons and tear gas. At least 14 soldiers were seen on the rooftops surrounding Checkpoint 56, where later in the afternoon multiple rounds of tear gas were shot into the streets. In the old city, eyewitnesses reported that a fire was set by the Israeli military.
Palestinian camerawoman suffers after being shot in the stomach with a tear gas canister
In the afternoon the situation around the Checkpoint 56 area became progressively more violent. Despite several internationals and media activists being present on the streets documenting the scene, rounds of tear gas continued to be fired directly at protesters. Dozens suffered injury and asphyxiation from the teargas, including a Palestinian camerawoman who was hit in the stomach with one of the five-inch metal canisters. A second tear gas round fired immediately afterward barely missed her foot. She had been standing in an isolated group with several international activists, all of whom were filming and photographing the soldiers peacefully. As there was no one else in the vicinity, international activists suspected that it was a targeted attack by the military.
The woman was taken away by an ambulance after sustaining the injury. Witnesses also saw many protesters affected by inhalation of tear gas, including children who were walking alone in the area. It was during this time that several checkpoints were closed, trapping individuals in the midst of the violence.
The events described at Checkpoint 56 were separate to the widely reported protests against the Palestinian Authority (PA), which occurred in a different area of the city. The demonstration witnessed by international volunteers appeared to be sparked by the shooting of Kamal al-Batsh the night before and targeted Israeli occupation rather than the PA.
Anna Conroy is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
September 12, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday 7th September myself and four other international activists attended the weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall in the village of Ni’lin. Since 2004 the villagers of Ni’lin have been non violently protesting against the annexation of their lands. So far the village has lost over 50,000 dunum (1 dunum = .1 hectare) of land, in part to surrounding illegal settlements and in part annexed from the village in the construction of the apartheid wall. Saeed Amireh, member of the Ni’lin popular committee explains that the confiscation of the land and colonization of the West Bank with illegal Israeli settlements are calculated methods designed to expel the Palestinians from the land. Many of the inhabitants in Ni’lin rely on the farm land and in particular the ancient olive trees for their livelihood.
Protestor stands with Palestinian flag as tear gas moves across the land.
This Friday was the first demonstration with an international presence for three weeks. Saeed says that the presence of internationals is vital to the resistance in Ni’lin and is glad to give us a talk after the demonstration, explaining the history of Ni’lin. The demonstration began after the midday prayers which waft from the mosque and through the fields lined with olive and carob trees, under which we wait. We walk through the fields alongside the villagers and children who carry Palestinian flags and a megaphone. Along the way the shabab (young people) pick up tires and stuff them with straw and dry grass. The wall which cuts through the rocky valley is made of concrete blocks, barbed wire and electric fence. There, the soldiers are waiting expectantly in the midday sun, their helmets and guns glinting like the backs of well armored insects. Even before we reach the wall the soldiers of the Israeli Army begin to fire rounds of tear gas and spray the land with skunk water. The shabab are not deterred, they set the tires alight at the base of the wall and the flames further blacken the already charred concrete blocks. Fire weakens the wall and makes it easier to remove, Saeed explains. This was how, in November 2009 – on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – Ni’lin became the first village to succeed in removing a piece of the apartheid wall. The demonstration lasts for an hour, and as we leave the Israeli Army continue firing tear gas canisters into the field.
Tear gas falls on Ni’ilin during weekly demonstration against the annexation wall.
This week’s demonstration has been smaller than most weeks as strikes against the PA have been a distraction for many of the usual attendees. However the people of Ni’lin remain positive that their non violent resistance to the occupation will succeed, that the wall will fall, piece by piece and that they will be able to access their land again.
Saeed Amireh, of the Ni’lin popular committee, has been working to raise international awareness of Ni’lin’s struggle against the occupation. www.nilin-village.org
Anna is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
31 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Amer (standing) next to Abu with his siblings
“I can’t sleep. As soon as I close my eyes, I see settlers everywhere.”, says Amer the six years old son of my friend. Omar leaves his mattress and joins me outside, where I’m watching the beautiful full moon. This evening Amer’s father is absent, he’s still working on the other side of the green line, harvesting onions and can’t afford to come home often. “It looks like there are settlers all around the tent”, Amer continues. “Do you want me to come to bed next to you?”, I ask.
“Yes, please…” A few days ago six year old Amer watched the demolition of tents in a nearby encampment. Last year he saw his cousins’ encampment set on fire. Tomorrow will be his first day of school.
All this goes on with a world ignoring it, and behaving as if nothing is happening.
