14th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
(Military vehicles entering the H1 area through a guarded checkpoint)
On Thursday evening, at around 6:40pm, the Al-Khalil team was patrolling the city and came across Israeli forces stationed by the Tareq roundabout, in the Altahta area south of the city. The military teams consisted of two groups of around six soldiers, several military vehicles and more soldiers stationed on the roof tops.
The tension was high since the area is a highly active traffic hub in Hebron, with large amounts of Palestinian residents in the streets.
The situation escalated when the crowd got larger and military forces used sound grenades and tear gas canisters to suppress the crowds. This was met with successful resistance from civilians, and the soldiers were forced to go back into the Salameh checkpoint.
Although nobody suffered from direct injuries, one Palestinian individual lost consciousness due to the stressful situation, and had to be carried away from the area.
The general situation in occupied Hebron has become more tense, due to the recent decision by the Israeli army to extend municipal powers to settlers in H2. The Israeli forces going into the H1 area of the city are common provocations towards the Palestinian people. Thursday nights are spent relaxing and enjoying the night off as Friday is a holiday. There was no threat or protest on the Palestinian side before the soldiers had entered, meaning that the Israeli forces’ decision to illegally enter the H1 area was unnecessary.
ISM members attended a demonstration in the village of Kafr Qaddum, located in the northern part of the West Bank, not far from Nablus. The demonstration, a weekly happening in the village, was against the blockade of the main road from Kafr Qaddum to Nablus. The closure of the road was justified by Israeli forces for “security purposes”, since the Kedumim settlement next to the village was expanding. “Closure” only signifies that Israelis, settlers and army personnel are allowed to use the road. Palestinians or anyone who happens to “look like an Arab”, unless they can prove they are not are considered as security risks. If not labelled as terrorists then they are portrayed as demographic threats to the Jewish state. Checkpoints controlled by soldiers are strategically placed all over the West Bank to ensure that such roads are only used by Israelis.
Participating in village demonstrations before, I felt I knew what to expect. However, this demonstration was pretty extreme. The first time I wen, it felt like I was being baptised by tear gas, and 4 or 5 people were shot – one of them was standing next to me. That was two years ago, and I can still recall the dazed feeling of your instinct telling you to run, but you rationalise your way out of it to stay. I get this feeling to some extent every time I am in clashes.
I go to demonstrations to stand in solidarity with Palestinians and to act as international presence. I exercise my privileges as a white, european man, which in Kafr Qaddum means little chance of getting shot. Little chance of getting shot is a privilege in Palestine. International presence in a crowd of Palestinians can potentially mean that nobody gets injured, or that the occupation forces, for once, choose to follow protocol and shoot at leg-height. Mostly because it is bad publicity for them to shoot a Danish citizen, and partly because I stand there with a camera, which in turn means bad publicity for the Israeli army.
As in most of these demonstrations, young Palestinians responded to the occupation forces by throwing stones towards them. Some by hand, some using slings – all put their back into it.. Whilst 95% of the rocks miss their target, the ones that don’t are usually followed by cheers and applause.
During this demonstration I was accompanied by two fellow activists from the same movement as myself, and other internationals were also present. I had bumped into one of them a few weeks earlier. He was representing an NGO similar to the initiative I came there with. Now during the clash he came up next to me, and said pondering, “Look at these kids… some of them are no more than six years old.” I concurred to his comment and followed up:“It’s incredibly sad, but also impressive and encouraging to see.” I knew from previous conversations on the topic, that such a statement could be seen as provocative or even unethical to some. He hesitated for a moment and said that he didn’t know if he thought it was a good idea; “Somehow it just ends up legitimizing the army’s actions”. I replied that I didn’t agree, and reminded him that throwing stones at soldiers wearing slug-proof vests, helmets, who get to ride in armored jeeps with guns on top of them, is merely an act of symbolism, and I let him know that, “I see this as part of the non-violent resistance.” Then I realized that I didn’t know what he meant by “legitimize” – he could be talking about public opinion in the western world, in which case he would be exactly right. He continued, “I just can’t help but think it would be more effective, if they didn’t throw stones.” I found myself trapped. He kept going with an argument I had debunked so many times in my head, and still I wasn’t able to do it now that it mattered. I didn’t know where to begin.
He was referring to the idea that throwing stones makes the Palestinian resistance violent, which means you can argue that they themselves are a part of the problem that the occupation brings with it. That it legitimizes the occupation. It is a common understanding, and I wasn’t surprised to hear it. Rather the opposite; I was half expecting it. Which is also why I was surprised by my own response as he stated his skepticism.
I consider this understanding one of the most harmful things to the Palestinian fight for freedom and self-determination. This is how a lot of people observe it, and it serves as a way for them to swerve the subject of Palestinian resistance, and lean into the “Two sides to every story”, “Everyone in the conflict plays their part” and “It takes two to start a war” narrative, which leads to the endless fallacious analyses, that Israel benefits from. It effectively means that no one intervenes out of fear of getting their hands dirty, while Israel through extrajudicial killings and forced displacement continues the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The analysis that operates with two parties in a war or a conflict, implying that there is foundation for comparison. The kind of analysis to which We, in the West, can conclude, “I see how the Palestinians are suffering, but I do not support violence.” and then turn a blind eye. Palestinians have to prove their suffering to earn our backing. We have little regard for the dignity of these people, despite that they practice it as explicitly as possible: by facing tanks, with nothing but rocks in their hands.
This guy didn’t turn a blind eye, and I’m not trying with this piece to disparage him at all. I have great respect for the fact that he chose to come to Palestine to support the Palestinians, and for the fact that he went to the demonstration that day. My point is that even people who makes such honorable choices can easily fall victim to the narratives that the Israel/Palestine-conflict is an unsolvable truckload of pity and that the only thing we can do is hold the hands of the six year-olds, while the grown ups carry on in the agonising so called peace-negotiations. If this is where our analysis takes us, then that should set off some alarm bells. The ‘peace-negotiations’ have so far served one side only; Israel has put on a masquerade for the international community to think that they were working towards peace, making us stay on the sideline. We do not need to stand with Israel for them to succeed, we just need to stay out.
Apart from the fact that stones do little to no damage, and they are far from anything that could legitimize the chemical gas, and the different types ammunition used against civil Palestinians by the Israeli army, there is another blind-spot in this reading of the confrontation; When We, the West, call for Palestinians to act non-violently and without throwing stones, we refer to an imaginary situation in which we would support them if they put down the slingshots. This however has never been the case. Time and time again, Palestinians have played by the rules, chosen diplomacy rather than armed resistance. Sadly, the only message we have sent to them has been that: as long as they do not make up a security threat, no one cares to listen to them. When Hamas throw rockets, we take them into consideration.
In the context of the civil rights movement’s struggle, in the US, during the sixties, Stokely Carmichael explained non-violence by the following, “If you are non-violent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart.” and continued, “In order for non-violence to work, the opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.” No one probably expects Israel to go soft on Palestinian resistance after 50 years of occupation and systematic violence. In this case, a non-violent strategy would be appealing for the international society to put pressure on Israel and sanction them if they fail to live up to international law. However, we lecture Palestinians civilians, as we do to Hamas: If you are not a problem to us, why would we bother?
In this case the international community has yet to prove their conscience.
All of this is without mentioning the fact that the Palestinian people have a right to armed struggle against the occupation as recognized by the (UN res. 33/24, 1978). It seems to be a forgotten aspect of the discussion, and to the question of Israel’s occupation in general. Especially since 2001, the distinction between resistance and terror has been confused. Terror served as a keyword in the narratives constructed since, and due to its lack of definition, has been highly useful for an Israeli agenda. By providing a concept that makes up an existential threat to the Jewish people, legitimizing further security means. But according to intergovernmental organizations that the international community usually relies on, Israel’s occupation is in itself illegal, and so are the settlements in the West Bank and their continuous expansion. While the UN in 1978 declared Israel’s activities in Palestine to be “(…) an increasing threat to international peace and security” no perceptible action was taken to change this.
If we can concede to the UN’s view on the matter, and if we can recall it, then we should be asking different questions. While non-violence is a strategy that can be useful – regardless if armed struggle is – the absence of violent attacks on Israel is non-violent in itself. As the right wing part of the Zionist movement denies the existence of a Palestinian people altogether, Palestinian living and residing in their land, is in itself an act of resistance. Every day Israel is not attacked, is an example of how Palestinians choose non-violence as a strategy. This can be for various reasons, and it should be kept in mind, that one people is occupying another. And when the occupied organize a pro-human rights’ demonstration and stones are thrown, that does not constitute a security risk to the Jewish state. Israel, in the meantime, condemns stone-throwing as an act of terror and prosecutes Palestinians as terrorists. They can also be found guilty if they hit a tank with a stone. This of course happens in military courts, as with every Palestinian who is prosecuted by Israeli authorities, regardless of the charge. Palestinian civil rights are simply non-existent in the Israeli judicial system. The apartheid on the ground merged into the legal system long ago.
Apart from Palestinian resistance we can only rely on the solidarity of the international community, to put action behind their condemnations and to sanction Israel until they acknowledge the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in order for this to change. However, to do so we must be careful to unravel ourselves from the pro-Israeli narratives, that have long surrounded this topic. As for my personal anecdote, this was only my latest encounter with these far reaching pro-Israeli discourses that prevent us from analyzing accurately. It obfuscates a relatively simple issue: Israel is constantly working to annex the whole West Bank, and erase Palestinians from written history. The point is that to mobilize international pressure we must avoid letting the “stone-throwers are terrorists” narratives confound proportionally on the ground. Too often it becomes an excuse to escape the argument rather than the moral stand that it is being disguised as. We are talking about violence or non-violence, when we should be talking about how Israel is withholding one of the longest occupations in history, crippling the Palestinian society. If we continue to flee instead of confronting this issue, we condemn the Palestinians to a life of continued indignity and ethnic cleansing.
In the evening of the 20th of August at 10.30 PM the Israeli Occupation Forces entered a Palestinian house close to the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba on prayer road in northern Al-Khalil.
Young Palestinians body searched by Israeli forces in Hebron
According to the Occupation Forces, Palestinian residents threw Molotov Cocktails at the soldiers close to a near by checkpoint. This made them illegaly enter a privately owned property, and search the house without a warning or search warrant. Tear gas was used to control the area. The formal excuse is that the military is looking for weapons, and the house has been raided many times previously, despite never finding any weapons. The house belongs to the family, and there are currently eight people living in the house divided on two families. During the raid, the family did not resist in any physical way and the soldiers made the children anxious and afraid. The adults tried repeatedly to calm the children and to have a civilized conversation with the soldiers. After not finding anything of interest, the soldiers left the property around 11.00 PM.
Due to the close proximity to Kiryat Arba, the families endure a lot of verbal and physical provocation from settlers of all ages. Apart from settler violence, the Israeli army is always present in the area. Military vehicles frequent the roads, and soldiers are often stationed along the route.This is one of many strategies the Israeli Occupation Forces use in order to restrict Palestinian mobility in the area. Many Palestinians choose to leave the area, although many families lived in there for many decades.
When the ISM members got informed of the situation they had to access the area by foot, since Prayer Road is available for Israelis only. Public transport is not an option, which makes many parts of Al-Khalil detached and hard to access. What formerly was a family home for the Abu Adnan Danna family, is now a place of uncertainty and oppression. This makes the every day life in the city hard for many Palestinian residents.
14th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Jerusalem, occupied Palestine
Seventy people gathered in the Sur Baher neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem for a communal solidarity Iftar on the rubble of the home of Ashraf and Islam Fawaqa.
The scene of the demolitions
The Fawaqa home was one of nine Palestinian homes and 3 stores that were demolished on May 4th, 2017 in occupied East Jerusalem. Home demolition is a strategic policy of Israel that is integral to their Judaization of Jerusalem and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Nurredin Amro, who is blind and the principal of Siraj Al Quds School for Inclusive Education spoke about his family being awakened at four in the morning in March 2015 when their house in Wadi Joz was being demolished while they were inside. “It was the most terrible thing that I have ever experienced. A home demolition is the demolition of a person. It is not just stone that is destroyed it is the demolition of the human spirit.”
Iftar guests listen to the information and personal stories with home demolition
Nora Lester Murad, one of the volunteer organisers of the event stated: “We want to express our solidarity with the tens of thousands of Palestinian families whose homes have been demolished, sealed, or who live every day under the imminent threat of demolition. We feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of need these families have, by the apparent impossibility of stopping future demolitions, and by our own sense of powerlessness. It seemed the least we could do to show these families – families who are on the frontline of the continuing Nakba – that they have allies.”
Islam and Ashraf talked about the uncertain future of their young family who now live in a temporary caravan on the site where their home once stood, even this caravan which is insufficient to keep their children, including their new born baby, warm in the winter, is in danger of being demolished.
Volunteers hand out the food
Munir Nusseibeh, of the Al Quds Community Action Center, explained the excuses used by the occupation authorities for demolishing Palestinian homes. “Some homes are demolished because the occupation authorities claim they have no building permits, but it is virtually impossible for a Palestinian resident of occupied East Jerusalem to receive a permit. The permit system is setup to benefit the Israeli settlers and not to serve the needs of the Palestinians of the city. Some homes are demolished as collective punishment because one of the members of the family is accused of a crime. But no matter the excuse, home demolitions by the occupying power are illegal under international law.”
At the time of the call for the evening prayer food donated by members of the community as well as local businesses, such as the Jerusalem Hotel, La vie Cafe from Ramallah, The Tanour and Abu Zahra supermarkets was shared. At least for this evening the families were not alone in facing the uncertainty of their future.
Iftar on the Rubble: guests break the fast with Palestinian families that had their house demolished by the Israeli Forces
The Amro family and the last rubble of their house
English Fallows Arabic
إفطار فوق الأنقاض
قفوا تضامنا مع العائلات الفلسطينية المتضررة من جراء سياسات الاحتلال في هدم البيوت
شاركوا عائلة فواقه في افطار رمضاني فوق أنقاض بيتهم الذي تم تدميره في صور باهر في القدس الشرقية المحتلة (مرحب بغير الصائمين كذلك)
13 حزيران 2017 تمام الساعة 6:30 مساء
الطفلة آية فواقه والتي لم يتجاوز عمرها شهرا واحدا، كانت تجري بعض الفحوصات الطبية بتاريخ الرابع من مايو حين تلقى أبوها، أشرف، اتصالا هاتفيا من جيرانه مفاده بأن بيته يتعرض للهدم. تسعة بيوت فلسطينية بالإضافة إلى ثلاث محلات تجارية تم هدمها في القدس خلال ذلك اليوم. مكتب الأمم المتحدة لتنسيق الشؤون الإنسانية نشر تقريرا عن سجلات الهدم في الضفة الغربية خلال العام 2016. خلال الأشهر الأربعة الأولى من سنة 2017 ألحقت عمليات الهدم ومصادرة الأراضي في الضفة الغربية الضرر بأكثر من 1510 فرد . في كل أنحاء فلسطين تسقط العائلات ضحية لتدمير المنازل من جراء ممارسات الاحتلال الاسرائيلي. أما في قطاع غزة، فإن مئات الآلاف من الناس يعيشون في مناطق سكنية أوضاعها حرجة وسيئة جدا نتيجة للهجمات الإسرائيلية عام 2014 وبسبب الحصار غير الشرعي للقطاع.
ادعموا العائلات الفلسطينية وأعلموهم بأنهم ليسوا وحيدين في مطالبهم نحو إيقاف سياسات إسرائيل غير الأخلاقية وغير الشرعية في هدم وتدمير البيوت الفلسطينية.
افطار فوق الأنقاض منظم من قبل متطوعين، نرجو منكم الحجز مسبقا من خلال الفيسبوك أو الاتصال حتى نتمكن من استئجار عدد كاف من الكراسي والطاولات. أخبرونا كذلك إذا كنتم تستطيعون إحضار طعام للمشاركة.
إذا كنتم قادمين بسيارة خاصة، إذهبوا إلى حلويات أبو كف على الشارع الرئيسي لصور باهر واسألوا عن منزل أشرف. أما إذا كنتم قادمين بالمواصلات العامة، استقلوا حافلة صور باهر من باب العمود وانزلوا عند حلويات أبو كف. اتصلوا بنا لنصطحبكم أو لنخبركم بموقع البيت (تحتاجون 10-15 دقيقة من المشي للوصول).
Iftar in the Rubble
Show solidarity with Palestinian families affected by Israel’s policy of home demolition
Join the Fawaqa Family as they break the Ramadan fast on the rubble of their demolished home in Sur Baher, Occupied East Jerusalem (non-fasters are welcome)
June 13, 2017 at 6:30 pm
One-month-old baby, Aya Fawaqa, was having a medical check-up on May 4 when her father, Ashraf, got a call from neighbors that his home was being demolished. Ir Amim reported that nine Palestinian homes and three stores were demolished in Jerusalem that same day. UN OCHA reported record numbers of demolitions in the West Bank in 2016. In the first four months of 2017, demolition or confiscations of structures in the West Bank affected 1,510 people, according to the Shelter Cluster. All over Palestine, families are victimized by Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes. In Gaza, hundreds of thousands of people live in inadequate housing resulting from 2014 and previous Israeli attacks and from the illegal blockade.
Show Palestinian families they are not alone in calling for an end to Israel’s immoral and illegal policy of destroying Palestinian homes!
This community event is organized by volunteers. Kindly RSVP on Facebook or by phone so we can rent enough chairs and tables. Please tell us if you can bring food to share.
If driving, go to Halwayat Abu Kaf on the main road in Sur Baher and ask for directions to Ashraf’s house. By public transportation, take the Sur Baher bus from Damascus Gate and ask to be let down at Halwayat Abu Kaf in Sur Baher (allow 30 minutes). Call to be picked up.
