Category: In the Media

YNet: “Hebron settlers filmed throwing rocks at Palestinians”

VIDEO Just two months after shocking footage of settler cursing Palestinian in Hebron revealed, yet another video shows settler children throwing rocks at Palestinian homes. Muhammad Abu Aisha: ‘I yelled to the soldiers and policemen standing 70 feet away but they pretended they couldn’t see’

by Ali Waked, March 8th

VIDEO – “The settlers continue to curse us and throw rocks at us, including the cursing settler Ifat Elkobi. Only this time she’s being smarter about it. She brings friends who live outside this area so we can’t recognize them and then can’t complain about them,” 70-year-old Muhammad Abu-Aisha said on Wednesday night of the harassment and humiliation he suffers at the hands of his settler neighbors.

According to Abu-Aisha after the video of Elkobi was released the harassment lessened for several days, but since then it has returned to its original level.

Abu Aisha says that on Wednesday a neighbor beat his grandson: “He started hitting Muhammad, my grandson, and I stood and shouted to the soldiers and policemen, who were standing 70 feet away to intervene.

“But they pretended they couldn’t see. I called the police, I told them we’d been beaten and that the incident was filmed. They said: bring in the video and come to file a complaint, but we chose to give the movie to B’Tselem.”

Partial footage of settler violence in Hebron
(Video: Faidaa Abu-Aisha, courtesy: B’Tselem)

The B’Tselem human rights organization said it transferred the video, which documents settler violence in full sight of security forces, to the Hebron police. The video reportedly shows girls from Hebron pelting eggs at Palestinians in the presence of an IDF soldier and Border Police officer who make no move to stop them.

Following the distribution of the first video there was much discussion over the authorities soldiers have over settlers in such cases however the Association for Civil Rights in Israel proved that soldiers are compelled by law to act against the perpetrators.

Disengagement deteriorated situation

Abu-Aisha said that he may well be the only Palestinian who is displeased with the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.

“This disengagement only brought us more trouble. There are settlers from Gaza who moved here and quickly joined the violence against us, so how can I be pleased with the disengagement? It brought us more stones, more curses, more eggs and like always, the soldiers and policemen don’t do anything. Just watch and don’t do anything. One thing’s for sure is that they see everything.”

Even the apologies of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz after the incident in January didn’t help and nothing seems to have changed for Palestinians in the city.

“How can the situation change if the settlers assaulted the deputy defense minister who came here after the last incident and no one bothered to bring them to justice?” asked Abu-Aisha.

Over the course of the Purim holiday the Palestinians say they noted an increase in the harassment, curses, spitting and pelting of eggs and stones.

“In the past I lived with Jews in Hebron. Even today I have friends in Tel Aviv who used to live here in those years. When the settlers came here and stated harassing us, my friends intervened and arranged for me to meet with Dr. Yosef Burg, who was minister of the interior. He spoke with the settlers and they calmed down a bit. But after that they went back to the same violence which has been used against us since then and up until today, only today we don’t have Dr. Burg to turn to.”

Abu-Aisha stressed that the problem is not with all the Jews: “We can and have lived well with Jews. The problem is with this group that didn’t come here to live but came here to drive us out. And it just goes to show that none of the people here work. Just abuse us – that’s what they do, that’s their job.”

Because of his age Abu-Aisha said he is spared any physical violence, but not curses. “They curse me regularly but I know how to treat them. Every time they curse I smile and they grow more annoyed. At least this way I manage to upset them and get them back for what they do to us.”

Military sources said in response that in the video provided by Abu-Aisha the soldiers are clearly seen moving the children away. Representatives for the Jewish settlement in Hebron declined comment.

Israel harms Palestinian workers, says B’Tselem report

Human rights organization presents comprehensive report on how Israel harms Palestinians’ economy, livelihood. Gives testimonies of abuse at checkpoints, claims complaints are ignored

by Ali Waked, March 6th

prefers to ignore the abuse and humiliation Palestinian workers undergo in their encounters with Israeli security forces on a daily basis, stated a B’Tselem report released Tuesday.

The report, titled: “Beyond Legal Boundaries,” composed by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories claimed that Israel harms the dignities, bodies, and property of illegal workers.

Offering detailed testimonies of Palestinians who claim to have been mistreated by soldiers and police officers, the report stated that only about 1.5 percent of the complaints filed led to the soldiers being tried in criminal court.

According to B’Tselem, each year Israel places a closure on the Palestinian territories for long periods of times, preventing workers to enter its territory, and in 2005, entrance was denied for a total of 132 days of the year.

In 2000, 150,000 Palestinians were issued permits to work in Israel; however, the report presented data showing that there has been a continuous drop in this number, to about half in 2006.

It was also stated that only a few hundred workers from the Gaza Strip were allowed entrance to Israel.

On the economic aspect, B’Tselem reported that Israel was deliberately implementing an under-development policy in the territories in the years preceding the Oslo agreement, causing the Palestinian market to become dependant on Israel.

Furthermore, Israel has been preventing investments in the Palestinian market, said the report.

The scope of conditions and agonies a Palestinian must go through in order to file an application for a permit was also presented in the report: “The applicant must be married and in his 30s or older, must be a father, and the Israeli employer must also file an application to the IDF authorities in order for the application to be considered.”

“As a result of severe economic distress, the lack of economic development, the closure policies and permits granted from a tightly closed hand, unemployment in the Territories has risen from 10 percent before the intifada to about 25 percent today. In certain age groups, for example 20-24, the number reaches 39 percent,” said the report.

In the 2006 summary, B’Tselem expects unemployment in the Palestinian Authority to reach over 40 percent, accompanied by a 67 percent poverty level.

“In such a situation the dependence of Palestinians on sources of income in Israel will only grow. Israel is greatly responsible for the Palestinian poverty and economic distress.”

‘Let Hamas find you a job’

Another subject widely covered in the report is the abuse of Palestinians by soldiers. According to the report, “The Israeli authorities contribute to the ongoing acts of abuse of Palestinians by not treating them suitably.”

The report said that 64.5 percent of the complaints filed by Palestinians were not even investigated.

Thirty-one percent of the complaints were investigated and closed for various reasons and a mere 3 percent of the soldiers or officers complained against by Palestinians stood disciplinary trial.

According to the report, there has been a general disregard to the execution of verdicts against abusive soldiers and officers, and many crimes go unpunished.

The report presented the testimonies of dozens on Palestinian victims of different types of abuse, including being delayed at checkpoints for many hours and incidents of difficult violence on the part of Israeli soldiers and police officers.

“The officers mock us, beat us, do what they please with us,” said Abdullah Jafer, a resident of Bethlehem in his testimony.

Samer Auni of Hebron told the story of two officers who arrested him: “One of them held me while the other one started to scratch me in the face and neck. One of them took my ID, burned it and said that I voted for Hamas. I told him: ‘I didn’t vote for Hamas,’ and then he asked: ‘So why did Hamas win? Go let Hamas find you a job.'”

B’Tselem’s report also gave testimonies of Palestinians who were forced to collaborate with the defense establishment in exchange for work permits.

“Illegal forceful means are utilized in order to obtain information and recruit collaborators,” claimed the report.

The report stated that since Israel is in control of the West Bank, it is responsible for the welfare of the residents, and for encouraging the creation of workplaces in the West Bank.

However, as long as Palestinians are dependant on Israel for their livelihood, and the West Bank holds no alternative sources of income, Israel should ease the closure policy and allow many more Palestinians to enter its territory, following suitable security checks.

Response: IDF must defend Israelis

The IDF spokesman responded to B’Tselem’s report saying, “The terror organizations’ wish to infiltrate Israel’s home front and harm its citizens constitutes a constant, ongoing risk to the State’s residents. The IDF is obligated to do all it can to defend the residents of the State of Israel.

In the past five years thousands of terror acts were committed against Israel, during which over one thousand Israeli citizens were killed and thousands of others were injured. In any situation where there is a threat of terrorist infiltration into the countries boundaries, the defense forces act according to the conditions in the field, when conditions allow, they thwart the incident, be it an attack or an infiltration attempt, by arresting the suspect, without opening fire.”

Regarding B’Tselem’s claims that Palestinian complaints go untreated, the IDF spokesman said, “Complaints of the harm of Palestinians and the behavior of soldiers are looked into and examined seriously. In compliance with the Military Prosecutor’s office’s policies on complaints of violence, abuse, looting or any other offences regarding wrong and premeditated conduct of soldiers, the Criminal Investigation Division is given an order to open investigation. The IDF further reported that a special effort was being made to execute the verdicts of anyone who committed offences harming illegal residents and when enough evidence is collected, serious indictments are filed.”

Shlomo Dror, the spokesman for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories responded to claims regarding the issuing of entry permits to Israel saying, “The defense establishment has allocated a quota for 45,700 workers. So far, of this quota, some 40,100 permits have been issued. The gap comes from a lacking demand on the part of Israeli employers for Palestinian workers. In May 2006 the number of permitted workers was 27,000, and since then, it has been growing steadily.

The Activities Coordinators in the Territories are working to encourage the employment of Palestinians by contractors’ organizations and agricultural organizations and with the help of the National Employment Service. The process of obtaining a permit to work in Israel is simple and effective and the workers’ entrance to Israel is done quickly and efficiently through orderly crossings.

“Nonetheless, the demand is still lower than the quota, for example: The agricultural branch has been approved 7,500 workers, when in reality only some 4,000 applications for workers in this field have been received. Employing workers without a permit in Israel is a security risk, still there are employers who prefer to hire workers for lower wages without having to pay national insurance and income tax, and without having to worry about the workers’ welfare, we view these very severely.”

JPost: “British high school blasted for hosting ‘anti-Israel’ event”

by Jonny Paul, March 5th

A high school in southwest England has come under fire for agreeing to host an anti-Israel event for students on Monday.

Sherbourne High School in Dorset is hosting an event entitled “The Occupation: Up Close and Personal, Living in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

Scheduled to speak is Sharen Green, a reporter with a local newspaper who has spent time in the Palestinian Territories with the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Program.

The event is open to all and advertised on the Web site of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign: “Sharen will be telling us about her experiences as an Ecumenical Accompanier, and about the problems of daily life in Palestine.”

Entries in Green’s blog, on the Guardian newspaper’s blog-site, highlight the hardships of Palestinians.

In one entry, entitled “Something in the Air,” Green asks, “Are Israeli factories relocating to the West Bank so that they can pollute the environment more freely?” and maintains that six factories have moved from Netanya “so that they can dump their pollution on them instead of Israel.”

In another entry, Green compares Ben-Gurion Airport to the Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Entitled “A tale of Two Terminals,” she says the introduction of airport-style “terminals” at Kalandia is “A charm offensive [that] seeks to persuade you it’s a border like any other.”

She mentioned the hardships Palestinians face at the checkpoint and goes on to say: “The contrast of the two terminals speaks volumes to me about the face Israel gives to the outside world and the one she shows to the hapless people she has been illegally occupying since 1967.”

Jonathan Hoffman, a financial analyst from north London, wrote to the school’s chaplain and headmaster, saying they “did not understand the nature of the speaker they had invited.” He said: “Under the camouflage of a humanitarian organization, she would present a nakedly anti-Israel political view.”

Following the complaint, the school said in a statement: “The school has received some views from members of the public about the public meeting at which the speaker will talk about her experiences in Palestine, on behalf of a joint project of Christian Aid, Quaker Peace and Social Witness and the World Council of Churches.

“Sherbourne School believes in the value of open debate as part of informing and educating its pupils. The school has previously invited the chief rabbi to give the annual lecture to commemorate former student who lost his life in New York on 11 September 2001. Terry Waite [who was held in Lebanon] has also delivered this lecture at the School.

“Boys from the school have been to Auschwitz. Holocaust Day is marked at the school each year. Judaism is taught as part of its Religious Education. The school is quite ready in principle to allow the Powell Theatre to be used, at its discretion, for other views on major international questions including the unresolved disputes between Israel and her neighbors in the Middle East.

Simon McIlwaine, director of Anglicans for Israel, expressed concerns about this “propaganda exercise billed as a lecture and the very biased premises.”

“Among other things, it is incredible to us, as faithful Anglicans, that a school chaplain should apparently be promoting blatantly anti-Israel propaganda. Christian Aid are not neutral and have been condemned for essentially anti-Semitic advertising campaigns where the Middle East is concerned,” he said.

The school’s headmaster, Simon Eliot, told The Jerusalem Post: “The chief rabbi has not spoken here but was invited to do so on the theme of current international relations.”

“If we had not been besieged by e-mails and phone calls, I suspect that possibly four or five Sixth Form boys [11-12 graders] studying politics – and with minds of their own and the ability to distinguish between bias and fact, for instance – would have been the sum total of our contribution to the audience. After all the activity of the past days, my guess is that many more will be there and possibly for the wrong reasons. We do have our own school lectures – of which this is not really one – and they are given by a huge range of speakers. I do not believe that we should be told who should come to speak at this school by anyone. After all, we have not heard Monday’s talk yet.”

YNet: “Filmed raid raises questions on military practices”

by AP, March 4th

Scene caught by AP raises suspicions army still using Palestinian civilians during military operations, despite Supreme Court order barring practice. Human rights groups call tactic a violation of local, international law that places innocent civilians in line of fire; army pledged it will ‘pursue a thorough inquiry’ into case

The young Palestinian man was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt on a cold winter morning as he walked in front of heavily armed Israeli soldiers on a door-to-door sweep of three apartments in a crowded West Bank neighborhood.

The scene – caught by an Associated Press Television News camera – has raised questions about whether the Israeli army is still using Palestinian civilians during military operations, despite a Supreme Court order barring the practice.

Human rights groups call the tactic a violation of local and international law that places innocent civilians in the line of fire.

In its initial reaction to the footage, the Israel Defense Forces said there appeared to be no wrongdoing by its soldiers. In a statement, however, the army pledged it would “pursue a thorough inquiry” into the case.

The incident occurred Sunday in Nablus, where the army has been conducting broad arrest raids throughout the week. The army says most suicide bombings over the past year, including an attempted attack last week, have originated in the Nablus area.

In the AP video, the young Palestinian man is seen leading soldiers to the door of a home. He stands outside as troops move in, then leads the soldiers up some stairs to the apartment’s main entrance.

The man enters the home ahead of the soldiers. Gunshots are heard as several soldiers stand guard outside. The man then leaves the home, walks down the stairs and escorts the soldiers around the side of the building, where he said he led soldiers into two more apartments out of view of the cameras.

Later, he is seen on the footage being led down stairs with several suspects. He and the other men are all placed into a military vehicle.

In interviews with the AP, the Palestinian man, Sameh Amira, 24, said he was awakened at about 5 a.m. by soldiers and ordered to go with his family to a neighboring home. About an hour later, he said he was forced to lead troops into three apartments, including his own. He said he was not allowed to put on warmer clothes.

“They asked me to walk in front of them against my will,” he said, adding that he was occasionally prodded along at gunpoint.

Inside his home, he said soldiers opened fire at bedroom closets. “All the time, I was scared, terrified. Anything could happen,” he told the AP, pointing to bullet holes in the floor, closet doors and clothing in the closets.

Amira, who said he was released from army custody after several hours, said he is not a member of any Palestinian armed group, though he said he has a cousin who belongs to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which has carried out numerous attacks on Israelis. He also said he was jailed by Israel for more than three months, but never charged with a crime. His cousin, the apparent target of the raid, is in hiding, he said.

Fourth complaint filed by rights group

International law, including the Geneva Conventions and Hague regulations, prohibit placing civilians in harm’s way during military operations.

In its 2005 ruling, the Israeli Supreme Court barred the use of civilians in arrest operations, even if they volunteer to help. The court specifically banned using neighbors to knock on doors of houses with suspected militants.

The ruling rejected the army’s assertion that the tactic of having civilians knock on their neighbors’ doors and warn them of an impending raid actually protected civilians by encouraging them to leave their homes. The army also contended the practice spurred militants to surrender peacefully.

Israeli military practices became an issue in the spring of 2002, when the army carried out a major offensive in the West Bank in response to suicide bombings by Palestinian militants. During arrest raids, soldiers would sometimes force Palestinian civilians to approach the homes and hideouts of wanted people.

In August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student, Nidal Daraghmeh, was killed in such an incident in the West Bank town of Tubas. At the time, troops called Daraghmeh out of his house and forced him to knock at the door of a neighboring building where a senior Hamas fugitive was hiding. Gunfire erupted and Daraghmeh was killed.

The Hamas fugitive later died in a shootout with soldiers.

After the AP footage of the Nablus incident was broadcast on Israeli TV earlier this week, B’Tselem, a leading human rights group, sent a letter to the army requesting an investigation.

“As you know, no doubt, the Supreme Court has prohibited any use of human shields in any possible form,” the letter said, adding that it was the fourth time the rights group has complained to the army about the practice.

‘Most moral and logical thing in the world’

Jessica Montell, B’Tselem’s executive director, said “the video raises serious concerns that the army is violating the high court judgment and forcing a Palestinian to … illegally take part in the military’s operations.”

She added, however, that known violations have been rare since the 2005 court order.

While the army declined to comment on the video beyond its statement, a military official said the army has carefully obeyed the Supreme Court ruling and would launch a criminal investigation into suspected violations. The official, who was not allowed to be identified under military rules, said he had not seen the video.

Yaacov Amidror, a retired general who is a security specialist at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said the use of civilians in arrest raids remains the best way to protect soldiers and innocent people.

“The procedure is the most moral and logical thing in the world,” he said. The court’s ban, he said, “seems liberal, but is in fact a bad decision for the residents of the house and for other civilians nearby.”

Addressing the issue of Amira being taken to his own home by the soldiers, Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B’Tselem, said the issue is “danger to the civilian,” not which apartment he is sent to by soldiers, even his own.

PNN: “Palestinians mount nonviolent resistance campaign as Israeli forces escalate land confiscation”

by Najib Farag, March 1st

Israeli forces have escalated land confiscation throughout Bethlehem during the past several days, targeting Umm Salamuna in the south and Beit Jala in the west.

The Israelis are building the Wall through Bethlehem, further isolating the West Bank from Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinians will be segregated from one another, human rights sources report.

In the Bethlehem District’s southern town of Umm Salamuna the confrontations continue between the large contingent of Israeli forces who are confiscating the land and the residents who are trying to stop them.

Joined by foreign and Israeli supporters, the land owners have taken to standing in front of heavy equipment in the campaign of nonviolent resistance mounted over recent weeks.

On Wednesday demonstrators held sticks to the soldiers’ machine guns. Israeli forces violently arrested five Israeli and two foreign supporters. Mahmoud Zoahrah is a member of the Wall Resistance Committee in southern Bethlehem. The group represents 10 area towns and was formed several months ago to combat land confiscation and Wall construction.

“The most tragic situation is occurring,” Zoahrah told PNN. “The bulldozers raised trees from nuts and lemons, to grape vines. In a few months 1,500 dunams of land are isolated in Umm Salamuna, in addition to the complete isolation that the coming weeks and months have in store for the entirety of southern Bethlehem.”

The western Bethlehem District will also be hemmed in by the Wall. Chairperson of the Committee to Defend against Land Confiscation, Khalid Al Azzeh, informed PNN that “the so-called Israeli Civil Administration distributed 11 home demolition notices in western Bethlehem where the Israeli settlement of Gush Etzion is encroaching.”

Ibrahim Attallah is among residents of western Bethlehem’s Beit Jala City whose home is slated for wrecking. He has two weeks to appeal the Israeli decision in the Israeli court system. The 100 residents who the Israeli authorities intend to evict in order to expand the settlements and Wall have agreed to collective action and say they will not leave their lands or homes.

In addition to destroying the stone fence surrounding agricultural land near the Talitha School in Beit Jala, over which the Israelis have under full control as Area C, Israeli forces are targeting the entire area for Wall construction.

Al Azzeh said that Israeli forces deliberately demolish houses during the early morning hours to avoid any major protest by land owners. He pointed that the Israelis claim the reason behind the destruction is that Palestinians have not solicited them for licenses for the existing structures. But the real reason, says Al Azzeh, is completing the Wall. Beit Jala will be surrounded by settlements, the settler bypass road and the Wall after the land is confiscated.

The same appeal that is circulated almost daily was issued again to international human rights institutions to pressure Israel to abide international law and stop the decades of looting Palestinian lands. “Dredging and demolition do not enable the search for a just peace,” commented Al Azzeh. Beit Jala’s Mayor said that the demolition order to establish the Wall here will lead to the isolation of approximately 7,200 dunams of agricultural land.

The only access will be through an iron gate in the Wall, and that is dependent on the mood of the Israeli soldiers, forewarned sources in the municipality.