Category: Nablus - Page 36 - International Solidarity Movement

One Palestinian arrested during demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

03rd January 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Today, at the weekly Kafr Qaddum demonstration, Israeli soldiers and border police violently suppressed the protest and arrested a Palestinian citizen.

Clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers erupted after the Friday prayer when the Israeli military began bulldozing pre-made stone barricades and military police jeeps drove into the village. Israeli soldiers fired many tear gas canisters at protesters and threw a large number of stun grenades.

During clashes on the north side of the hill, 24-years-old Aqel Shteiwi was arrested by Israeli forces. Several soldiers grabbed him and forced him into an Israeli border police jeep. He was taken to an unknown location. Several protesters also suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation and the demonstration lasted for over three hours.

The purpose of the weekly demonstration in Kafr Qaddum focuses on the closure of the main road that connects the village with Nablus. The road, which passes alongside the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim, was closed to Palestinian access. As a result, the journey to Nablus has increased from 15 minutes to 40 minutes. This has resulted in hardships because many residents travel daily to Nablus for work, studies, or health care.

Kafr Qaddum has also lost 4000 dunums of land to the five illegal Israeli settlements that surround the village. Farmers seeking to reach their lands face threats, attacks, and arrests. Some of the Palestinian-owned agricultural lands have been declared ‘closed military zones’ and illegal settlers regularly burn them. This demonstration follows two weeks in which several young men were arrested from Kafr Qaddum during night raids by Israeli forces. Just two days ago an 85-year-old villager died as a result of suffocation, after soldiers shot a tear gas canister into his home.

85-year-old Saeed Ali Gasser from Kafr Qaddum, killed by suffocation from tear gas

02nd January 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, Wednesday 1st January, Israeli forces raided the village of Kafr Qaddum during an anniversary march to commemorate the start of the Fatah movement, 49 years ago. Israeli soldiers and border police shot many tear gas canisters towards the villagers and into several houses.

One tear gas canister landed directly in the house of 85-year-old Saeed Ali Gasser. He was taken directly to the Nablus Speciality Hospital, where he suffocated as a result of gas inhalation. He died at 11 pm.

The funeral will be held this afternoon in the village of KAfr Qaddum.

In recent weeks there has been a steady escalation of night raids, increasingly violent repression of Friday demonstrations, flying checkpoints and seemingly arbitrary arrests. In the past month alone there have been more than twenty night raids on houses in the village.

Israeli army confiscates land in Qusra

26th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Qusra, Occupied Palestine

Israeli soldiers have declared a road south of Qusra, in Nablus District, a security zone, thus denying villagers access to over 500 dunams of their farmland.

At 10:00 this morning, Israeli soldiers positioned themselves at various strategic points around the village. The commander then held a meeting on the farmland with the mayor of Qusra. It was in this meeting that the Israeli army officially appropriated the land, claiming “security reasons.”

Farmers have been told that they may apply for permits to access their land. However, Palestinian farmers state that these applications are frequently ignored. One farmer stated: “I’m sure they will not give anything to the farmers. This is a military order: it will pass.”

Israeli soldiers on Qusra land (photo by ISM).

Harassment and arrest in Khan al Luban

6th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Khan al Luban, Occupied Palestine

On the 4th of December, Khalid Al-Sanih Daraghmah was working in his property when illegal settlers, Israeli border police and Israeli soldiers entered his farm to harass him, arrest him and confiscate his tractor.

In the late afternoon, settlers from the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona, two military jeeps with Israeli soldiers and two border police offices entered Khalid’s property while he and his son were working on the farm. The Israeli soldiers and police tried to force him to leave his property and when Khalid wasn’t willing to move away, they handcuffed him and placed him under arrest. After this incident occurred they tried to steal his tractor, and when his son tried to resist he was beaten by an Israeli border police officer. The tractor was taken to an unknown location.

The Israeli forces took Khalid to the nearest police station and after several hours Khalil was released, but only after his family paid a large fee. Khalil arrived back to his property at 9 pm in the evening.

When international activists attempted to travel to the farm, they were stopped by Israeli soldiers. They were formed by the soldiers that the area could be “dangerous” as they had arrested a Palestinian. After a period of time, international activists were allowed to pass.

In 2002 the Israeli High Court ruled that the land in Khan belongs to the family, but illegal settlers claim it is a public spring. For the past four years, Khalid al-Sanih Daraghmah and his family have faced regular attacks by Israeli settlers at their home in Khan, 2 kilometers south of the West Bank village of al-Luban.

Israeli army demolish a house in the Salfit village of Deir Ballut

29th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Deir Ballut, Occupied Palestine

On Thursday morning at five am, the Israeli army demolished a house under construction, and left the area before the owner Ghaneem Mahmoud Abdullah Al-Karim or other villagers were able to arrive at the scene. It is believed that the Israeli forces conduct these activities so early in the morning in order to avoid nonviolent resistance from the villagers. This was the first house to be demolished in Deir Ballut but there are over sixty houses that have been served demolition orders from the Israeli army.

The village is over five hundred years old, and within the Oslo Agreements the village was literally split between Area B and Area C. There are over a hundred and eighty houses that now fall within Area C and therefore are under threat of demolition. The inhabitants of Area C need permission from the Israeli government to even refurbish their houses, which is often impossible to get.

Deir Ballut (to the left of the map) is in risk of being surrounded by the annexation wall. The red line is the wall today while the black marks the planned route (source: OCHA).

The majority of Deir Ballut, as with other villages in the area, is classified as Area C and is controlled by the occupation forces. Many villages in the Salfit area have lost land to settlement and to the construction of the separation wall. Deir Ballut has lost 2,000 dunums which was confiscated when Israel built the Apartheid Wall, and the intended reassignment of the Wall which is to be carried out in coming years will mean that the village will lose even more land and is surrounded by the wall.

As Deir Ballut’s population increases, families are forced to build in Area C, as is the case for the Al Karim family. The villagers are committed to continue constructing homes on their land, and to help Ghaneem and his family to rebuild their house.