Category: Nablus - Page 28 - International Solidarity Movement

Almost three out of four houses in Izbat at Tabib are at risk of demolition

8th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbat at Tabib, Occupied Palestine

Izbat at Tabib, a small town of approximately 300 people located in the northwest of the West Bank, has 33 houses with demolition orders pending. The town totals 45 houses, this means that the demolition orders could destroy over 73% the town.

According to a local witness, the majority of the demolition orders have been standing since 2012, in recent years at least two houses have been demolished in this small town. The first demolition took place in 2009, five years after the demolition order was served. The second house was demolished in 2011; just one year after the demolition order was handed to the family. In both cases the Israeli army gave the families only one hour to gather their belongings before their houses were demolished.

Furthermore, there is Alfe Menashe, an illegal Israeli settlement located just two kilometres away from Izbat at Tabib. The growth and proximity of this illegal settlement is forcing the local Palestinian population to abandon their agricultural land. The villagers recall that the illegal settlers are planning to build a factory near Alfe Menashe, which could end up taking over 160 dunums (16 hectares) of land from Izbat at Tabib. An area of land adjacent to the town has had its trees uprooted by Israeli settlers recently. Allegedly this was done in order to clear the area for the future illegal factory. The villagers, however, have begun replanting the uprooted trees with young olive and pine trees.

As ISM has extensively reported, the Israeli army has also been harassing the town of Izbat at Tabib, although witnesses recall that no major incidents have happened recently. Nonetheless, the Israeli army frequently goes into the small village at night, questioning local villagers and asking for their ID cards. The Israeli army also frequently blocks the local road, which connects Izbat at Tabib with Road 55, forcing the locals to travel through the town of Azzun to reach their village. The last time this happened was approximately two months ago, although local villagers tend to remove the roadblock by their own means.

The town of Izbat at Tabib is located in Area C [under full Israeli military control] according to the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, therefore building or transit permits are very rarely granted to local Palestinians. Since Israeli authorities do not recognise this town, they have placed almost three quarters of its structures under demolition orders, including the local school.

Asira Attacked 4 Nights in a Row

7th May 2014 | International Women’s Peace Service | Asira al-Qibliya, Occupied Palestine

Israeli army raided the village of Asira al-Qibliya (south of Nablus) at 1 am on 5 May, arresting a 21-year-old, brutally assaulting his uncle, and terrorising the family’s children with attack dogs.

Dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded Asira by foot, sneaking in from the backside of the village. Asira al-Qibliya has now been raided for four nights in a row, with Israeli soldiers breaking into villagers’ houses and blocking off roads to prevent anyone entering or leaving the area.

The attack of 5 May was implemented according to a slightly different tactic from the previous ones: soldiers arrived quietly on foot from the backsides of the houses, using ladder to get through olive trees without being heard. They also took away mobile phones from the family members in the houses they raided, so that they could not tell their neighbours that an attack was in place and call for help. Some residents of Asira only found out about the attack the following morning.

Three Israeli soldiers attacked 48-year-old Abu Suleiman, resident of Asira who was on his way back to his house. They beat him, kicked him, and hit him on the head with the back of their rifles. The assault lasted for an hour; soldiers then handcuffed the beaten man, blindfolded him, and sealed his mouth with duck tape. They then brought him under a fig tree in the back of his garden and tried to strangle him. Shortly after, they finally checked his ID and discovered that he was not the one they were looking for. At this point they also stole NIS 500 (£85, US $145) that was hidden in the man’s ID holder.

When Abu Suleiman’s family found him, the Israeli army prevented them from calling an ambulance; the man was bleeding heavily from his head. Even after one of his relatives managed to reach an ambulance by phone, soldiers did not allow it to pass through for half an hour so that Abu Suleiman could get the treatment he was in desperate need of. Only later, having kept the man in pain for several hours, did the army finally stop obstructing the ambulance.

Today Abu Suleiman is painfully recovering in his home.

At around the same time of the attack on Abu Suleiman, some 25 Israeli soldiers surrounded the house of his brother’s family, demanding the whereabouts of one of his sons; eight soldiers entered the house accompanied by two attack dogs which threatened the family’s young children. Soldiers refused to open the window to let some fresh air inside the locked room even after the mother’s appeals to do it for her son who was suffering from an asthma attack. When the 21-year-old they were looking for was not to be found, the soldiers instead brought his father and brother to their jeep parked near the village mosque. The army demanded the 21-year-old son in return of the two. When he arrived, soldiers arrested him. The young man has been arrested once before, two months ago, and severely beaten.

As these last few days Israelis are celebrating their Independence day and have days off, the family has not yet heard anything about what happened to their son.

Israeli army target children in Azzun

7th May 2014 | International Women’s Peace Service | Azzun, Occupied Palestine

If the people of ‘Azzun seem nervous, they have a right to be. The town (population approximately 10,000) sits on crossroads – Qalqiliya is to the west, Nablus to the east, Salfit to the south and Tulkarem to the north. This is a junction that is vulnerable to road closures and flying checkpoints. On either side, the illegal settler colonies of Ma’ale Shomeron and Alfe Menashe loom large. Six Israeli surveillance cameras surround ‘Azzun, meaning that the population is being watched all day, every day.

Because of its precarious geographical position, occupation forces have been particularly brutal in ‘Azzun. Currently, 230 Palestinian children are imprisoned in Israel jails. 68 of those children come from ‘Azzun. There are an additional 112 adult prisoners from here, victims of regular night raids. In 2013, the Israeli military conducted 300 operations inside the town, and soldiers have entered the town on foot every night for the last week.

Those who are not imprisoned face other difficulties. Most of the population are professional farmers; however most of the town’s land has been stolen by the surrounding settlements. This has left ‘Azzun with a 46% unemployment rate. Many of the employed work across the Green Line, facing regular harassment at the checkpoints. During the Second Intifada, checkpoint gates were installed at the entrances of the town, enabling the Israeli military to create flying checkpoints, which happens multiple times per week.

Such was the case yesterday, when 8 jeeps arrived at 1 pm to close the gate leading to road 55 which runs from Qalqilya towards Nablus. After the soldiers arrived, several of them entered the village and grabbed Osama, a nine year old boy, seemingly at random. The soldiers told the surrounding villagers that they arrested Osama because he had been seen throwing rocks immediately prior to their arrival. Eyewitnesses from ‘Azzun refuted this claim, saying that they had seen the boy playing with his friends in the town square at the time when the rocks were allegedly thrown. Regardless, the soldiers detained Osama in the back of one jeep, and did not allow any Palestinians to sit with the boy, even though he was crying and visibly distressed. The boy’s father arrived quickly, but since he did not have his Hawiyya ID card on him, he was forced to go home and retrieve it before he was allowed to see his son. Osama was alone with the soldiers in the jeep for over one hour, and remained in detention for another hour and a half after his father returned, before being released. Throughout this time, people from the town surrounded the military jeeps, in an effort to support the child. The incident was captured by Palestine TV, and can be seen below. The offending soldiers released Osama to his home that night, but claimed that he had officially confessed to throwing stones.

Often, ‘Azzunee children who are arrested or detained are offered release if they sign a confession, often written in Hebrew, a language they don’t read or write. These children are usually alone with soldiers, with neither their parents nor lawyers present (which is in direct contravention of Israel’s own laws), and are under great physical and mental duress. These confessions are designed to implicate other children – often by having other names written in. Since the children do not know what they are signing, they are tricked into implicating their friends in falsified crimes.

In some instances, children who are accused of throwing stones at settlers have also been ordered to pay ‘compensation’ for ‘causing distress’ to the settlers (who cannot even prove they had stones thrown at them), sometimes up to 30,000 shekels. This is a further burden for economically unstable ‘Azzun. Those who cannot pay the compensations in the allotted time are forced to spend double the time of their original sentence in jail.

While the town is definitely happy that Osama has returned home, the story is not yet over. Since the Israeli soldiers have a forced confession to stone throwing, they may return again to raid Osama’s house, or potentially use this ‘confession’ as evidence to arrest other children from the village.

Harassment in Awarta

2nd May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Awarta, Occupied Palestine

At 4.30 am on Wednesday the 30^th of April; a group of Israeli soldiers broke into a family home in the village of Awarta, near the illegal settlement of Itamar.

11 soldiers woke up the family, claiming that it was “security search”. A member of the family asked to see a written order and was shown a piece of paper, written only in Hebrew.

Once inside the house, the soldiers forced the family into the living room, confiscating their mobile phones. Muhammad Sharab, a member of the family, stated they were held for 12 hours.

No one in the house was allowed to exit to go to work or to school, there are six children and the family, all under the age of 14.

During the 12 hours, the Israeli soldiers slept in the house’s bedrooms and used the shower.

Muhammed Sharab described an exchange with the soldiers: “What you would do if I would come in your house in Tel Aviv and do the same as you?”

“I’m just following orders,” was the reply from a soldier.

At approximately 5 pm, nearly 12 hours after they entered the house, the Israeli soldiers left the home and the village of Awarta.

Reports from the village reveal that the same night Israeli soldiers raided another house. That house is located in the same area where just under two weeks ago Israeli soldiers entered houses in Awarta and shot several tear gas grenades inside. 20 Palestinians, including children, were taken to the hospital due to large amounts of tear gas inhalation.

The village of Awarta has been increasingly targeted by the Israeli military, possibly due to close proximity of the illegal Itamar settlement. In the last two weeks, a new road from the settlement, connecting to the main road has been built, and the villagers report that many olives tree were cut down during the construction.

Six arrested in Burqa (Nablus) by the Israeli army with no reasons given

25th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Burqa, Occupied Palestine

On the night of the 23^rd to 24^th of April, approximately 24 Israeli military vehicles entered the town of Burqa and arrested six Palestinian youths. The Israeli army forced its way into five out of the six houses, using a device to break open the doors. The army did not seem to know the exact location of one of the young men, and so broke into his uncle’s house, then the Israeli soldiers questioned a close friend of a youth to learn his exact whereabouts.

The Israeli commander took this opportunity to threaten this Palestinian and told him to “watch out and don’t do anything wrong”.

According to local witnesses, the Israeli army was seen surrounding the town of Burqa at midnight. Then, at 01:00AM, the series of arrests began lasting until 02:00AM, with the army going to six different houses and arresting a Palestinian youth in each one. All of the arrests followed the same pattern.

The Israeli army broke the doors into the houses, except for one, and took a Palestinian in each home (ranging from 19 to 24 years old) spending just a few minutes in each of the houses. The arrested were handcuffed and blindfolded when taken outside of their homes or inside the military jeeps.

No reasons were given to their families for the arrest and no questions were asked.

Except for one of the families, they do not know where their sons have been taken; they are expecting a phone call from the Israeli army 48 hours after the arrest to know the whereabouts of their sons, brothers and nephews.

The names of the arrested in Burqa are: Abd al Hakeem (19 years old), Amran (20 years old), Izat (20 years old), Mageed (21 years old), Bara Gehad (21 years old) and Ameen Tyseer Salah (23 or 24 years old). For all of them, except for Ameen on whom nobody could comment on in detail, it is the first time these youths have been arrested and in some cases, it is even the first time that one of their sons is arrested. Amran and Mageed physically resisted their arrest but to no avail. Relatives and friends of Barad know that he has been taken to Huwwara since they already received a phone call from the Israeli army. The other families do not know the whereabouts of their sons and may have to wait until Friday 25^th to receive any information.

Moreover the families do not know what charges their sons are being accused of and do not recall any major incidents in the local area that may go towards explaining this series of arrests. According to a local contact, four of them are active in the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and two of them are active within Fatah.

Burqa (Nablus) is a town located 18 kilometers northwest of Nablus, with a population of approximately 4,000 people. It overlooks Road 60, which is a road used by both Palestinians and settlers from nearby illegal settlements, vital to connect the northern area of the West Bank to major transport hubs like Nablus. This Israel army has previously harassed this town, the nearest illegal settlement is located five kilometers away (Shave Shomron).

According to a local villager, 48 people from Burqa have been arrested this year; 38 of them belong to PFLP and the remaining 10 belong to Fatah.