Category: Nablus - Page 10 - International Solidarity Movement

Home of Raghib Elawi demolished in Nablus, damaging surroundings severely

December 3rd, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Nablus, occupied Palestine

Wednesday night, at 1 am, Israeli forces came to the neighborhood of Dahia, in Nablus, to demolish the house of the family of Raghib Elawi, who was accused of participating in the Itamar killings a month ago. Local witnesses say that around 300 jeeps entered Dahia and its surrounding areas to seal the area. Soldiers came in great number and started evacuating the neighboring houses at 1:30 am. They forced men, women and children out of their homes in the middle of the night with their guns pointed at them. Women complained that soldiers entered the houses without minding them not wearing their hijab, before being rushed out of their houses at gunpoint. All the families had to sit down and wait outside, in the cold, without talking. At around 4 am, the home of Raghib was demolished using explosives.

Elawi house: 1st floor belonging Raghib and his brother and buttom floor belonging to their parents. — Elawi house: 1st floor belonging to Raghib and his brother and buttom floor belonging to their parents.

The apartment of Raghib Elawi’s family is located on a four floor building, the two top ones still being under construction and not inhabited. Raghib’s apartment had been emptied when they received the warning for the demolition two days ago. Next to Raghib’s apartment was the home of his brother, living with his wife and three daughters. They had moved the furniture to the side to avoid it from being damaged from the explosion but the wall between the two brother’s apartments collapsed during the demolition, making both places inhabitable. Two families including 6 children now find themselves homeless. All of them are currently staying at a brother’s house, a very precarious situation for all the them especially at this time of the year.

Children forced to witness the evacuation, the waiting and the demolition, — Children forced to witness house demolitions.

The demolition has not only affected the Elawi brothers, it also affected their parents, whose apartment is on the bottom floor of the same building. Windows shattered, doors broke, walls have been damaged, most of the furniture is ruined and the whole place is now filled with rubble. It will be a long time before anyone can live there again.

The local mosque, located 100 meters from the house, was damaged in the explosion, deeply affecting locals. On one side, all windows were shattered and broken glass covered the floor.

This morning at sunrise, many people were in the street attempting to clean up their houses before starting the day. They all will have to bare the consequences of this collective punishment, especially families with children who will now have to go through the beginning of winter without windows or doors to keep them warm. Furthermore, the usage of dynamite (TNT) in the house demolitions causes severe collateral damage on neighboring houses and thereby extends the collective punishment, which is already illegal and declared a war crime by international law.

Window frame in neighboring house severely damaged from the explosion

Raghib Elawi was accused of being involved on the 1st of October in the killing of two illegal Israeli settlers driving a car near Beit Furik. He was brutally arrested by Israeli forces in the night of the 4th of October while he was recovering from a surgery. The trial in his case still hasn’t taken place as the hearing was postponed, yet without being found guilty, his home has already been destroyed. This violates international law stating the right of being presumed innocent until proved guilty according to the law.

Three homes of Palestinians, believed to be involved in the same killing, were demolished on November 14th, leaving several families homeless.

Locals watching and showing their support to the Elawi family.

Watch the demolition of the house:

Israeli forces invade homes and threaten families with nine children in Deir Istyia

November 30th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement with IWPS, Huwwara team | Deir Istyia, occupied Palestine

Deir Istyia, in Salfit district, is a village of 4000 inhabitants who mostly live on agriculture. The Salfit district has 19 villages and 24 settlements. Land confiscation is ongoing in the area and many of the settlements are growing, as the road that connects them is widening.

The 3 families are now the only Palestinians living on the west side of the road.

Now three families, living in the outskirts of Deir Istyia (see photo), are under daily threats and harassment from the Israeli forces. They don’t know if the goal is to take over their land or just to try to make their lives so unbearable that they will themselves decide to move from the land on which they have been living peacefully for many generations.

It started in the beginning of october this year, where the soldiers started to come to the houses and harass the families, mainly at daytime. Often the women are alone with the children during the day while the men are working. Israeli forces have chosen this time to come to the houses and scare the families. One of the women explained to us that the soldiers hit her, told her that the house wasn’t hers and that she soon would have to move away. They also told her that she was a terrorist, and that the soldiers would soon come back and shoot her.

Over the last 4 days the Israeli forces have been there day and night, telling the families that they have permission to stay on the roof of one of the houses. One night, they stayed all night and slept on the roof. They claim to have to watch the road and the surroundings, because of stone throwers, even though there hasn’t been any stone throwing in that area. Last Saturday, when the soldiers were there, they took pictures of the house and the yard.

Now, the children are very insecure, and their mothers don’t leave the houses as they are afraid of leaving them alone, a situation that makes them feel, as they describe it, as in prison. They can hear the soldiers walking around outside their houses and standing on the olive hill behind them at night.

Volunteers from International Solidarity Movement and International Women’s Peace Service will follow up on the situation of these families.

Illegal Israeli settlers threaten to burn a family of 11

28th November 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Madama, occupied Palestine

Earlier today, November 28th, a group of Israeli illegal settlers, in the presence of three Israeli soldiers, threatened to burn down a family in the village of Madama, occupied West Bank.

At noon, 25 settlers from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar trespassed the land of the Palestinian village Madama. Once they had reached the outskirts of the village they started yelling and threatening a family. The family, who previously had problems with the settlers from Yitzhar, includes 9 children and an additional one is expected within two months.

1 illegal settler hiking on the hills around Madama, accompanied by 2 israeli soldiers. — 1 illegal settler walking on the hills around Madama, accompanied by 2 Israeli soldiers.

The settlers, some of whom were armed with rifles, were standing within 100-150 metres from the family’s house when they were yelling at the family. The illegal settlers were threatening the family with facing the same end as the Dawasheh family, referring to a previous attack this year where a settler firebombed a Palestinian family. 18 month old Ali Dawasheh was burned alive and both his parents later succumbed from the arson attack, leaving 4 year old Ahmed as the only surviving member of the family.

The settlers today also yelled at the family that they would be the next Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Mohammed was only 16 years old when he was kidnapped outside his house in the neighborhood of Shuafat, East Jerusalem. The kidnappers, later found out to be Jewish Israeli nationalists, beat him up and forced him to drink gasoline before finally burning him alive, from the inside out.

After today’s attack, the family in Madama is feeling even more insecure. Due to repeated attacks by the settlers the family recently got founding by the authorities to put up a barb wire fence, surrounding the house. And the father of the family has put a cover on the windows to protect his family from potential rocks thrown by the settlers.

Demonstration at Huwwara checkpoint demanding the return of martyr’s body violently met by Israeli forces

28th November 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Huwwara, occupied Palestine

Protesters from Nablus and the surrounding villages gathered in a demonstration on Saturday, November 28th, demanding the return of a young martyr’s body. Alaa Khalil Hashash, aged 16, was killed by Israeli forces after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier at the Huwwara checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, November 23rd.

Israeli forces fire tear gas towards protesters.

At today’s demonstration, two youths were injured by live ammunition, two were injured by rubber coated steel bullets and ten protesters suffocated after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli forces towards the crowd. Furthermore, an ambulance was attacked with tear gas while trying to give medical aid to an injured protester.

Protester suffocated after inhaling tear gas.

The Huwwara checkpoint was closed for traffic going out of Nablus during the demonstration, causing massive traffic jam. Locals stated that the closure of the checkpoint was collective punishment, as Palestinians from the surroundings were being punished for protesters practicing their lawful right to protest.

Israel’s practice of withholding the dead bodies follows a common patter of violating both Israeli and international humanitarian law. Israel continues to evade it’s obligation to return the bodies of dead Palestinians to their respective families.

The Huwwara checkpoint has been the scene of numerous executions in he past weeks, many of which were executions of children. At the checkpoint on November 22nd, 16-year old Ashraqat Taha Qatnani was shot dead by Israeli forces after already being hit by the car of Gershon Mesika, the former head of the “Samaria regional council” representing the illegal settlements in the northern West Bank. 24 hours later, Alaa Khalil Hashash was shot dead while Samah Abd al-Mumen Ahmad, a Palestinian woman, was shot in the head in the crossfire as she drove past the scene.

Palestinian youth holding poster with the name and picture of his friend, Alaa Khalil Hashash, who was killed on November 23rd . — Palestinian youth holding poster with the name and picture of his friend, Alaa Khalil Hashash, who was killed by Israeli forces on November 23rd

Injured protester given medical aid in ambulance.

Intimidating nightraids and arrests in the peaceful village of Osarin

22th november 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Osarin, occupied Palestine

In the night of the 21st of november the village of Osarin was raided by Israeli forces. Approximately 60 Israeli soldiers entered the small village of only 2000 inhabitants at 1 AM and gathered in the central part of the village where they immediately confiscated one of the homes.

The soldiers split up in 5 groups of 12 soldiers. Each group went to a separate home to arrest a boy. The young boys (ages ranging 15 to 20) were handcuffed and taken with their fathers to the confiscated house in the center of the village for interrogation.

The boys were informed by the soldier they were arrested for throwing stones at the Israeli forces a few days earlier and for shining with laser lights. The boys were than interrogated by the soldiers. One boy explained how he was forced to strip naked in front of the soldiers so they could make sure he didn’t carry any weapon on him. All the boys were told to stand on one leg with their heads against the wall for over a hour.
All of the boys were released after 2 hours of interrogation. One of the boys’ fathers who works in Israel was told by the soldiers that he would loose his job if his son ‘made trouble’ again. The next day one of the village officials went to meet with the Israeli forces. They told him straight forward that no boys in the village could ‘make trouble’ again. In his response he explained that he could only speak for his own child, not the others.

The night raid on Osarin came after the army set up 2 road blocks around Osarin (both alongside the route 505 highway) which were ment to prohibit the movement of local Palestinians and close off the small village from surrounding areas.

This wasn’t the first time soldiers raided Osarin, local residents explained that the village was raided 2 times before the road blocks. Each time a group of 20 soldiers would enter the village in the middle of night when everyone was asleep. They would set off sound bombs and shoot in the air just to deprive people of their sleep. The local residents of Osarin said that these raids had no purpose and were just pure intimidation of the village and its inhabitants.