Category: Press Releases - Page 24 - International Solidarity Movement

Open The Zone campaign against Closed Military Zone launched in Hebron

3rd May 2016 | Open The Zone Campaign| Hebron, occupied Palestine

On May 3rd 2016, the Open the Zone campaign was launched in cooperation with Zleikha Mohtaseb with a children’s play about oppression, which took place directly outside the arbitrary borders of the closed military zone in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. The campaign targets the deliberate and unjust use of closed military zones to forcibly displace Palestinian residents.

The play, called “Matchsticks,” tells the story about a boy mistreated by his parents and his right to equality and security, which served as an allegory for growing up under occupation. The interactive play encouraged the children to analyse the impact of the Israeli occupation on their lives. Zleikha Mohtaseb stated: “The children showed great maturity in the way they expressed themselves. Their minds seemed beyond their age. A girl said that the play focused on breaking the silence; a boy pointed out the symbolism of the black wall. This is the first time we have heard such eloquent words from them since we started showing the play.” For the children living inside the closed military zone, this play offered a respite from the Israeli forces attempts to stifle any kind of social life and keep Palestinians restrained to the inside of their homes.

Children's play in Tel Rumeida — Children’s play in Tel Rumeida

The play was the initial event opening the Open the Zone campaign, organised by Youth Against Settlements and the International Solidarity Movement. The campaign calls for an end to the closed military zone in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and Shuhada street, that was first declared on November 1st, 2015. The military order has been extended several times, and on December 12th it was expanded just enough to include the Youth Against Settlements media center, and has been used to to evict the International Solidarity Movement from the area. The closure enforced through the closed military zone attempts to strangle any and all Palestinian life inside the area, with only residents registered as numbers allowed to enter; thus keeping all visitors, friends, human rights defenders, press and repairmen barred from entering.

Highly militarised childhood for Palestinian children in the closed military zone in Hebron

The campaign focuses on the collective punishment of the Palestinian ṕopulation and the closure as a military strategy to ensure the forced displacement of Palestinian residents in the neighborhood to expand the Israeli settlements project. A press conference will take place on the 7th of May in front of checkpoint 56 to Shuhada street and Tel Rumeida in Hebron.

Zleikha Mohtaseb: “We can’t separate our reality from the occupation.”

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Go back to the main campaign page

Press release: Last day of demolition order leaves Palestinian family in Wadi al-Joz in fear of losing their home

10^th April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | Jerusalem, occupied Palestine

The 10^th of April is the last day of the demolition order on the home of the Totanji family. The family lives in the Sawaneh district in Wadi al-Joz, a village in East Jerusalem near the Old City, which Israel has declared as a ‘National Park’ area. This despite it having always been a residential area. The family received the demolition order over a year and a half years ago, but lost the appeal against the order last month. Today is the last day of the demolition order, which leaves the family fearing that their house maybe demolished tonight.

The house is single-story with 4 bedrooms. However, it is currently the home of 16 people including a 7 month old baby, the granddaughter of the owner of the house. The family does not, as is the case with other Palestinian families in fear of house demolition, not have any where else to go, and will leave their whole life behind if their house is demolished. Just seven months ago, one of Totanji sons had his house demolished in the same area. This fear of losing ones home does not just apply to the Totanjis, but also to the rest of the residents in Palestine, due to the huge number of demolitions and demolition orders. In just the last week (31^st March-6^th April) 14 houses have been demolished in East Jerusalem and the West Bank by Israeli Forces.

Wadi al-Joz is located directly outside the Old City of Jerusalem in a vulnerable area. It is a neighbourhood that suffers from many demolition orders and subsequent demolitions. This is due to Israel declaring parts of the area around the Old City in Jerusalem as a ‘National Park’, to “protect the historical land.” The area covers a huge residential areas containing villages which are already overcrowded including Wadi al-Joz. In addition to the Totanjis, 13 other families in the Sawaneh district in Wadi al-Joz are also in danger of demolition. The information regarding the so called ‘National Park’ was only relayed to these families in the past two years. And whilst Israeli authorities claim that it was declared a park more than 4 decades ago, regardless, this declaration concerning annexed territory is in direct violation of international law.

The family is seeking an international presence to defer the demolition and deter the Israeli authorities. Internationals will be in the house from this evening and for the foreseeable future to prevent the demolition. There is a press conference planned tomorrow morning, 11am on 11th Apri 2016, to announce the opening of a protest tent outside the Totanji family house. The families and the community of Wadi al-Joz invites everyone to attend the protest and to lend coverage to this important event.

Address:

Wadi Al-Joz, neighbourhood of East Jerusalem

Across the Fire Station, behind the Central Market or “Hisbi”

Directions:

From Damascus Gate, follow the Old City Wall towards the Mount of Olives and continue down into Wadi Al-Joz. The home is on a dirt road on the right before you begin to go up the hill to the Mount of Olives. It is about 10-15 minute walk from Damascus Gate. Alternatively, you can drive down from the Mount of Olives past the Ibrahimiya School. The dirt road is on the left at the bottom of the hill just opposite the paved road that goes right into Wadi al-Joz.

Contacts:

Totanji family contact

Aref Tatanji: +972-(0)-508-133-590 (Arabic)

Press conference contact

Nureddin Amro: +972-(0)-525-271-587 (Arabic and English)

ISM media contact

Josephine: +972-(0)-59-740-6401(English)

Settlers expropriate Palestinian garden as police stand by

4th April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Tel Rumeida, al Khalil, occupied Palestine

On Saturday 3^rd of April 2016 settlers entered land belonging to Muhammad Abu Haikal in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron on the occupied West Bank in Palestine. The settler children built a tent and then brought other settlers who prayed and ate there. It took more than four hours from when the police arrived until the settlers actually left, still claiming that it was their land and running around so that the police would not be able to evict them.

The first young settler kids arrived at the land at around 9 o’clock in the morning and started building a tent out of wood and sheets that they had found and playing on the land. They were actually playing in Muhammad Abu Haikal’s garden, but the end of the garden has been declared a closed military area by the Israeli Occupation Forces, who have made a military outpost in the garden and cut off the end of it of with barbed wire. The settler children entered the garden using the staircase that has been built for the soldiers to reach the outpost: they stamped down the barbed wire and covered it with a piece of wood to prevent themselves from getting injured.

Settlers and their children trespassing illegally on Palestinian land.

Later on, while the family was trying to pick almonds from trees in the part of the garden that is not a closed military Area, the settler children returned with a number of adult settlers and more children. Muhammed Abu Haikal and the internationals present asked the settlers to leave the land, but they refused. He then contacted the police.

After the police arrived, the settlers once again claimed to be the owners of the land, with the right to remain there. The Palestinian family was asked to step back and had to stop harvesting their garden. Not until after the settlers had prayed on the land multiple times, brought food and played ball there, did the police finally try to get them to leave. The police asked all Palestinians and internationals to leave as well, as they said, “it is impossible to make Israelis leave, if there are Palestinians on the land”. It then took the police over two hours to evict the settlers. They then removed the materials that the children had left on the part of the land that is not a closed military area, but refused to pull down the tent, because, they said, it was not allowed on Shabbat.

Finally the soldiers closed off the closed military area with more barbed wire and allowed the family back into their garden. If Palestinians had been trespassing on settlers land, which is illegally occupied, they would probably have been arrested immediately, but when it is the other way around, which it usually is, the police do not use any kind of force.

Demolitions in Khirbet Jenba, South Hebron Hills

23rd March 2016 | B’Tselem | South Hebron Hills, occupied Palestine

This morning, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished a home, shed and an animal enclosure in Khirbet Jenbah, in the Masafer Yatta area of the southern Hebron Hills. The authorities also confiscated solar panels donated by an international aid agency.

Photos from Today’s demolition. Credit: Nasser Nawaj’a, B’Tselem

Residents view this move as a message from the state ahead of a High Court hearing tomorrow, 23 March 2016, at 11:30am, when Israel’s High Court of Justice will hold a hearing on a petition filed by the residents of Masafer Yatta against the Israeli Authorities’ intention to expel them from their homes due to the establishment of “Firing Zone 918.”

The hearing will be the first held in the case since the two-year mediation process between the parties failed. Immediately after the mediation attempts ended, Israel destroyed 22 homes in the communities of Khirbet Jenbah and Khirbet al-Halawah.

Please note B’Tselem is not part of the proceedings but we will be able to assist visitors with interpretation. Please contact me by SMS for further details.

Photo blog: Visit to Masafer Yatta, as the efforts to expel its residents escalate

Aggressive settler interrupts nonviolent commemorative event hosted by Youth Against Settlements

24nd February 2016 | Youth Against Settlements | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Notorious settler Anat Cohen interrupted a peaceful movie screening, which was hosted by Youth Against Settlements to commemorate the victims of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre in 1994.

12596062_930292280358953_36423822_n — Palestinians gather around fire near checkpoint by Ibrahimi mosque, lighting candles

Every night, Palestinians gather around a bonfire in the Salaymeh neighborhood of occupied Hebron to keep watch in case of settler attacks. Today, as part of the Open Shuhada Street campaign, 50-60 people had come here to light candles in memory of each of the 33 victims of the massacre and its immediate consequences, followed by a documentary titled “Hebron Under the Microscope.”

12788033_930292290358952_1751592501_n — Candles lit in commemoration of the victims of the Ibrahimi mosque massacre

29 Palestinians were murdered inside the Ibrahimi Mosque on the 25th of February, 1994, when Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein entered and opened fire at the Muslim worshipers inside. Four Palestinians were killed on the same day in the clashes that broke out around the Mosque in response to the massacre. In the aftermath, the mosque (also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs) was divided in two, with the larger part turned into a synagogue while heavy scrutiny was imposed on the Palestinians and areas closed completely to them, including an important market and the main street, Shuhada street. In protest of these closures, Youth Against Settlements organizes events around the anniversary of the massacre as part of their Open Shuhada Street campaign, held annually in Hebron and worldwide since 2010.

12767781_930292277025620_985790354_n — Palestinians gathering for the Open Shuhada Street event

During the screening of the documentary, three Palestinians were detained by the army for no apparent reason across the street along with a ten-year-old girl. The coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, Issa Amro, was also detained when trying to reason with the soldiers.

detained girl and men — Israeli forces arbitrarily detained 3 young men and a 10-year-old girl

Then the notoriously aggressive settler Anat Cohen slowed down her car next to a group of Palestinians and hit those who could not escape fast enough. She made a u-turn and left her car to yell at and intimidate the Palestinians gathered in the street. She filmed and verbally and physically attacked Palestinians and internationals while soldiers stood by and did not intervene. Instead of stopping her unprovoked aggressions, they began loudly pushing back the Palestinians, restricting them to certain parts of the street and preventing them from documenting.

pushing palestinians away — Soldiers forcing Palestinians back

Heavy arguments broke out. A man fainted and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance when he witnessed a soldier hit his wife with a gun. The army repeatedly pushed back Palestinians using excessive force. Eventually, Anat Cohen left without facing any consequences for her violent assaults and harassment, witnessed by the army and civil police.

Wael Fakhouri, a resident of the neighborhood: “We work hard to protect ourselves from settler violence.”

Contact: Issa Amro 059 934 0549 issaamro@gmail.com