Category: Nablus

Olive trees uprooted in Qusra

By Nina and Saffron

25 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Over 33 Palestinian-owned olive trees were uprooted by the Israeli military in the village of Qusra, near Nablus, when the military entered the village around 7 a.m. on Tuesday,  July 17. For one hour and a half, Israeli soldiers and equipment uprooted the olive trees.

When International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteers arrived, the Israeli soldiers had already left, but four armed border police officers appeared in an armoured vehicle. Three Qusra residents took the ISM on a tour of the land that was cleared earlier that morning. The border police followed closely. Nothing was visible but holes in the dry soil where the trees used to stand.

The farmer who owns the land explained that the field had not been worked on for 18 years. This served as the legal argument for the clearing. The military had no formal court order, which is otherwise required, for the uprooting, and they came without warning.

The two other young men showing ISM around were approached by the border police and asked to present their identification. As they were not carrying ID on them, the officers detained them behind their vehicle and ordered the internationals to leave the field. When the young men reappeared, they said that they were violently searched and threatened against talking to internationals.

“I said I didn’t know who you were, so that I would not get arrested,” said one of the young men, “but if you had not been here, they would have beaten me and probably arrested me. Now they are too afraid of your cameras.”

The uprooting of olive trees and the consequent destruction of livelihood may be one of the gravest threats that the people of Qusra face from the Israeli forces which occupy their land. It is by no means the only one.

Walking through Qusra, the young guides point to a home that has recently received a demolition order.

Later, ISM volunteers visited a shelter belonging to Qusra resident Fathallah Abu Readeh. He explained how he one morning he awoke to a note from the Israeli authorities ordering him to remove the shelter within 7 days, along with some scrap cars on his own land. The note was written in both Arabic and Hebrew, but as Readeh doesn’t read Hebrew, he missed the correction in the Hebrew text stating 3, not 7, days of notice.

“They did this on purpose, just to be able to punish me,” says Fathallah.

Apart from various forms of harassment by the Israeli military, Qusra is regularly exposed to attacks from the adjacent, illegal Israeli settlement of Migdalim. Earlier this year, a mosque in the village was set on fire by Migdalim settlers.

Nina and Saffron are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

Sleepless nights in Burin

By Alma Reventós

25 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

“I have not slept all night.” The words of a young man from the Bilal Al-Najjar youth cultural center in Burin, after a night of raids by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the town.

On Monday 23 July at 9:30 p.m., some 20 IOF military jeeps entered Burin, a village of 3,000 inhabitants located southwest of the city of Nablus. The Israeli military closed all entrances to the town, isolating it during the invasion. Burin’s residents are accustomed to such raids on a weekly basis, but usually they occur much later at night. This time, as the military entered Burin, many residents of the town were still outdoors and encountered the IOF jeeps on their streets.

 During the invasion, soldiers repeatedly fired tear gas in the center of Burin, even inside of residents’ homes. A woman of 65 had to be evacuated by ambulance to hospital in Nablus after suffering suffocation from the gas.

Accompanying the military were 5 Israeli settlers from a nearby illegal settlement. According to Palestinian witnesses, the settlers at first were hesitant to leave the military jeep that they arrived in, but the back-up of the Israeli military encouraged them. The settlers took photos of the new Bilal Al-Najjar cultural centre, still under construction, and the old original center.

Israeli occupation forces left the village at 11:30 p.m., after two hours in the village.

“We are leaving now but we will return very soon,” threatened the commander of the Israeli forces present in the village of Burin Monday night. Indeed, 5 military jeeps returned that very night at 1 a.m. to patrol the residential streets.

Thousands of olive trees in Burin have been burned during attacks by settlers from nearby illegal Israeli colonies

The residents of Burin suffer such raids on a weekly basis, and the presence of Israeli military jeeps in their village is constant. These occurances prevent many from a peaceful night of sleep, for fear of arbitrary arrest or injury during the invasions.
A youth from the Bilal Al-Najjar cultural center recalls a similar raid on Burin three months ago. Several youth were arrested and to this day remain in administrative detention (no charge, no trial) in Israeli prisons. Many fear the same fate.

Burin is a town which, apart from the regular nightly military incursions, also suffers repeated violent attacks by Israeli settlers from the two adjacent illegal settlements, Yitzhar and Bracha.

Alma Reventós is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Askar Refugee Camp: “Our dream is to visit Jerusalem”

By Hakim Maghribi

21 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Walking through Askar Refugee Camp | Alex Marley

A short distance from Nablus one finds the community of Askar camp. What appears as a suburb or cut-off of the city, is actually a refugee camp. Established in 1964, it today houses some 6,000 people in 1 square kilometre. The inhabitants are both descendants of and those themselves that were once pushed off their lands by Israel. This year, it has been 20 years since the first solidarity funding showed up in the camp, and 10 years since the camp was devastated by the Israeli army during the second intifada.

The secretary of the Social Development Center (SDC) for children and the disabled, explains the dire situation in the camp. Most of the week, water is only available 2 hours per day. 30% of the inhabitants are unemployed and lack a real income. The camp finally established a medical clinic, but it has only one doctor for the 6,000 residents of the camp.

Some improvements have been made. Swedish workers arrived in 1992, and the following year, a three-year support package of 30,000 dollars arrived. Buildings and buses have been acquired, and international volunteers still work with the SDC.

For the residents of the camp, one fact remains. No amount of money or construction will bring a solution. The refugee camp is a temporary home for a people who were forced from their true homes. True solidarity lies in the fight for the right to return.

A teacher at the SDC showed members of the International Solidarity Movement a second attraction that the camp has to offer visitors. At the site of an old kindergarten, 7 white tombstones makes up a monument for victims of the second intifada, ensuring some of what occurred in April 2002 will not be forgotten.

The 7 tombstones include a man shot in the head by the Israeli army while going to his neighbour to ask for food, three men killed by a missile that struck their residential area, the daughter of one of the missile victims who was shot and killed, and another who was very ill and died when an ambulance coming for him was denied entrance to the camp by Israeli forces.

The tombstones of victims of Israeli military violence during the second intifada | Alex Marley

The Israeli military machine devastated Askar Camp during the second intifada. The road at the entrance of the camp was trafficked by tanks instead of cars. From the mountain top across the valley, Israeli forces were able to shoot directly into the camp. Many houses were razed and badly damaged. In total, Askar Camp lost 33 lives during the second intifada. Many were arrested and 50 residents remain to today in Israeli prisons.

Although much has changed since then, a resident of the camp, Naser, can still identify big problems for the refugee camp.

Medicine and equipment for care of children with disabilities is very expensive, and must go through Israel, which further complicates its arrival. There is a lack of assistance from both the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the Palestinian Authority. Both are represented in the camp, but do not offer enough to the inhabitants.

The entire camp falls under Area C, meaning it is under full Israeli civil and military control. Thus, Israeli soldiers and armed settlers are known to enter the area and harass its residents. Extremist settlers use the presence of the Tomb of Yousef as a premise to invade the area and increase their influence.

For the children of Askar camp, their minds and memories are saturated with the trauma of living under Israeli military occupation.

The Social Development Center has its own girls team in football. Naser explains how they have travelled to a number of countries in Europe to play games and meet other teams. In the end, they all return to a reality of soldiers and restrictions on movement.

While the children are able to secure a 20-day visa to visit Europe, they are not allowed to visit their own capital city, only 45 minutes away.

“Our dream is to visit Jerusalem.”

Hakim Maghribi and Alex Marley are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

Commemoration in Kufr Qaddoum: Demonstration turns 1 year

By Hakim M.

16 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On 12 July, the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum celebrated the one year anniversary of their weekly, popular demonstration. The regular protests are targeting the closure of their main road in particular, and the Israeli occupation in general.

Kufr Qaddoum residents celebrate the one year anniversary of their weekly protest against the Israeli occupation

One decade ago, the Israeli army closed the road in the name of “security” for the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Qedumim. 20 months ago, the Israeli court ruled that the closure of the road could not be legitimized, however the IOF still claim the road is not safe for transportation and refuse to open it for the residents of Kufr Qaddoum. The journey to Nablus has now increased from 15 minutes to 40 minutes, which is particularly difficult for the many people who commute on a daily basis for education, work, or health reasons.

Since the demonstrations began one year ago, a great number of people have been detained and arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces. Several have been injured, and over a dozen people today bide their time in Israeli prisons. The village experiences regular night raids by the Israeli army

Several inspirational speeches were held on a stage during the commemoration, which included a cultural act when a Palestinian singer got many people dancing.

Hakim M. is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Kufr Qaddoum: Israel fires at peaceful protest, man injured in head

By Amina Simonsson

14 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Friday, July 13, several protesters were injured when the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) fired tear-gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the weekly peaceful demonstration in the Palestinian village of Kufr Qaddoum. One man was shot in the head by a tear-gas grenade and was taken to hospital. Two other men were badly injured by rubber-coated bullets.

A young man shot in the head with a tear-gas grenade is carried to ambulance

A home adjacent to the demonstration was hit by tear-gas grenades and caught fire. One child, 2 men, and 4 women were injured by the fire and smoke. An ambulance arrived but was delayed for 30 minutes because of the IOF attacks on the village.

A hand displays the bullets fired by the Israeli army. Beneath a thin rubber coat is a steel sphere.

The IOF also employed use of the ‘skunk’ truck which pumps out a foul smelling water and released several sound bombs to terrorize the village. Although illegal, most of the tear-gas was fired at body-level rather than in an arch in the air. Often, 10-12 canisters were fired at a time.

The purpose of the weekly demonstration in Kufr Qaddoum focuses on the closure of the main road that connects the village with Nablus. The road, which passes alongside the nearby illegal settlement of Qedumim, 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.

On Thursday, June 12, the residents of Kufr Qaddoum celebrated the one year anniversary of their Friday demonstrations. During this year, 60 people have been arrested, 65 people have been shot and badly injured by tear-gas canisters, 200 olive trees have been burned, and the town has suffered systemically from nightly raids and harassment by the IOF.

Amina Simonsson is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).