On Wednesday February 10th, 18:00 supporters will arrive at the hospital in Afula, accompanied by an ambulance and doctors, to transfer Mohammed Al-Qeeq for medical treatment in the Ramallah hospital.
Journalist Mohammed Al-Qeeq is on the 77th day of hunger strike and fighting for his life. He has expressed his wish to move from hospital in Afula where he is currently being held without charge to the Ramallah hospital but the Israeli police refuse to allow it.
Hanan Khatib, one of Al-Qeeq’s lawyers, delivered his message to the press: “Al-Qeeq says he is a journalist and his arrest is illegal. The court has frozen his administrative detention but decided he must stay in the hospital in Afula. Al-Qeeq refuses to stay in Israeli hospitals and will only accept medical treatment in the West Bank.”
Al-Qeeq, a 33-year-old journalist from Ramallah, is accused by the Israeli Shin Bet of being a Hamas activist. He was arrested on November 21st of 2015. According to his friends, Al-Qeeq was interrogated about “media incitement”, tortured and refused to cooperate. After four days he was issued an administrative detention order and announced his hunger strike.
On the 76th day of his hunger strike, Al-Qeeq lost most of his sight and hearing abilities and can barely speak. He is on the verge of death and may suffer a heart attack or organ system failure at any moment.
Last Thursday, the Israeli high court ruled to “freeze” his administrative detention and allowed him to receive visitors, but stopped short of ordering his release and refused to overrule the administrative order despite the fact that in his current medical condition he could not pose danger to anyone. Attorney Jihad Abo Raya explains: “In criminal law either a person is under arrest or he is free to move as he pleases, but for Palestinian detainees the court has created something new, they claim that Mohammed Al-Qeeq is no longer under administrative detention – but they also refuse to allow him to leave Afula hospital.”
For more information contact Attorney Jihad Abo Raya: 0522814579
7th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, occupied Palestine
February 8th marks one hundred days since Israeli forces declared the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and the adjacent portion of Shuhada Street a “closed military zone,” requiring residents to register with the Israeli military and be assigned numbers in order to be allowed to access their homes while all other Palestinians and international human rights defenders are barred from entering the area. On February 5th the Israeli military issued an order officially extending the closed military zone until the 1st of March, with the possibility for further renewal.
Throughout this period Palestinian residents have faced increased, arbitrary restrictions of movement and harassment which have no basis in Israel’s purported security concerns. While residents contend with continual threats at the hands of Israeli forces and settlers from the illegal Israeli settlements situated directly adjacent to their neighborhood, Palestinian and international human rights defenders face targeted exclusion from the area. Israeli human rights organization B’tselem reported that Palestinian resident are clearly being subjected to collective punishment. They “are suspected of no wrongdoing and are forced to suffer serious disruptions in their daily lives simply because they had the misfortune of living or working in neighborhoods the military has decided to close.” International and Palestinian organizations have called on the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closed military zone in Hebron, as it constitutes an unlawful violation of the right of Palestinian residents to freedom from collective punishment under the Geneva Conventions.
Palestinian boys wait at Shuhada checkpoint to see if Israeli soldiers will allow them to walk into their neighborhood
Israeli authorities declared the closed military zone on November 1st. The announcement came in the wake of the extrajudicial killings of Palestinian 23-year-olds Homam Adnan Sa’id on October 27th and Islam Rafiq ‘Ebeido on the 28th. Witnesses at both incidents reported the youths posed no threat to the soldiers when they were shot “in cold blood” and subsequently denied medical treatment. Amnesty International’s director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme had stated in late October that “Israeli forces appear to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures.”
23-year-old Islam Rafiq Obeido. An eyewitness reported that he was “100% sure he was unarmed.”
Since the beginning of October, over 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces; the city of Hebron suffered more deaths than anywhere other than occupied East Jerusalem. 551 Palestinians were arrested in January alone, 120 of them in Hebron, and more than 7000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons.
On October 30th, Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street (the short portion where some Palestinians are still permitted to live) were required to line up to register their ID numbers and names with Israeli military forces. Families were then given numbers, which Israeli forces would force them to present in order to enter their heavily militarized neighborhood. Palestinian women, children and men can be barred from entering their homes merely for lack of an ID or identifying number Israeli soldiers find acceptable.
Palestinian residents line up with their IDs as the Israeli military commander notes them down in preparation for the harsh restrictions
Inside the closed military zone, as in all neighborhoods in the completely Israeli-military-controlled H2 area of Hebron, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements inside the city are allowed to walk unimpeded, carry rifles and handguns and are not subject to any checkpoints or restrictions. Israeli forces do not permit Palestinians who are not registered in the closed military zone to visit their friends and family living inside. Journalists cannot enter to report on incidents. Not even emergency medical personnel would be allowed inside, nor can repair workers enter the area to fix Palestinian homes.
Tel Rumeida resident Abed Salaymeh was quoted in the Action Alert issued by the International Solidarity Movement and signed by over forty Palestinian and international organizations calling for an end to the closed military zone and for Israel to abide by international law in Hebron. “Soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily,” he explained. “This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.”
Routine invasive body search of young Palestinian man by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida
Israeli forces targeted human rights defenders from the inception of the closed military zone, with both the International Solidarity Movement apartment and the center for Palestinian activist group Youth Against Settlements included in the designated zone. Palestinian and international activists face exclusion from the neighborhood where their presence has long been vital in responding to and documenting Israeli human rights abuses. “It is obvious that by violently forcing human rights observers out of the area, the Israeli forces are disappearing eyewitnesses to their countless human rights violations”, explains Jenny, an international human rights defender in al-Khalil, “while Palestinian residents are collectively put under these draconian measures, settlers from the adjacent illegal settlements freely walk the streets with complete impunity for whatever they do.”
Following a United Nations delegation in December to areas in Hebron including Tel Rumeida, UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities Robert Piper stated that “Human rights defenders play a vital role in promoting human rights. Protective presence organizations are on the front line of this work in the occupied Palestinian territory.” Palestinian and international human rights defenders have been subject to a succession of violent threats and arbitrary arrests after the closed military zone was declared.
On November 7th Israeli forces made life even more difficult for Palestinian Residents of Tel Rumeida by completely closing down Shuhada checkpoint (Checkpoint 56), the main travel point between the heavily restricted neighborhood and the nominally Palestinian Authority-controlled H1 area where residents must travel to work, shop and study. Even those officially permitted to enter the neighborhood were forced to take obstacle-ridden dirt paths through people’s yards or travel a long circuitous route involving paying a taxi to drop them off at a distance behind the neighborhood (Israeli forces barred Palestinians fro driving in Tel Rumeida even before imposing the closed military zone). The ability to circumvent the checkpoint, albeit via arduous and treacherous routes, underlines the disparity between the claim that the checkpoints and restrictions are put in place for Israeli security and the reality of punitive measures that disproportionately affect schoolchildren, elderly residents and those struggling nonviolently for their fundamental rights.
In late December Israeli forces reopened a newly renovated Shuhada checkpoint to registered residents. The recently expanded checkpoint often causes long waiting times for Palestinian residents as Israeli forces interrogate, check and search people inside a closed room between the turnstiles and metal detectors. Locals report the checkpoint is even worse than its predecessors, and many Palestinians have experienced harassment and intimidation by Israeli forces acting with impunity out of the view of any media or human rights observers.
Palestinians prepare to attempt to cross into Tel Rumeida via the recently expanded checkpoint
Since the closed military zone was declared, Palestinians and international human rights defenders have been resisting its unjust imposition. The International Solidarity Movement in conjunction with multiple Palestinian organizations first released the Action Alert demanding an end to the closed military zone on December 13th, which over 40 organizations have now signed. Initially as a response to the arbitrary arrest and detention of Tel Rumeida resident Wafa Sharabati, Palestinian activists and families staged a sit-in on the H1 side of Shuhada checkpoint calling for an end to the closed military zone. Activists erected the protest tent daily, in a nonviolent demonstration against the unlawful restrictions on their freedom of movement. “We refuse to be registered as numbers and have our human rights violated just because we are Palestinian,” declared Issa Amro, coordinator of Youth Against Settlements.
The struggle against the closed military zone also comes as Palestinian organizations escalate the yearly campaign to Open Shuhada Street. Actions are planned in Hebron and around the world against Israel’s apartheid policy of completely closing the rest of Shuhada street, which extends past the closed military zone and was once the main thoroughfare through Hebron’s H2 area, to all Palestinians.
Activists and families gather outside Shuhada checkpoint in protest against the closed military zone – photo by Youth Against Settlements
So far demands have gone unheeded as Israeli authorities once again renewed the closed military zone order on Friday, February 5th. The International Solidarity Movement calls on international governing bodies, nations, and people around the world to pressure Israeli authorities to end the closed military zone in Hebron and to respect Palestinians’ fundamental rights to live their lives with freedom and dignity.
Resources – reports, press releases and news coverage on the closed military zone
Arranged in a timeline in chronological order since before the declaration of the zone in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada street
Amnesty International report on unlawful killings perpetrated by Israeli forces in Palestine, including multiple incidents in Hebron (27 October)
Report on 27 October unlawful killing of Hoummam Said by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida
Report on 28 October extrajudicial execution of Islam Rafiq Obeido by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida
Palestinians in Tel Rumeida required to register with Israeli forces in preparation for severe new restrictions under the closed military zone (October 30)
Schoolchildren and international activists were among first victims of the Israeli strategy of using closed military zone to harass and intimidate (Reports on 1stand 2nd November)
Report – As Israeli forces increased restrictions on Palestinians, they also forced international human rights defenders to leave their apartment in Tel Rumeida and arrested one German and one US national on November 3
B’tselem report on how the closed military zone disrupts lives, constitutes collective punishment of Palestinian residents
Report on violent home raids and takeovers in the wake of closed military zone declaration, attack on Youth Against Settlements center, activists targeted as Israeli settlers celebrate violence (November 7)
Report on the November 7 closure of Checkpoint 56 for ‘renovations.
November 8 ISM issues first urgent call for international action on the closed military zone in Hebron
Article detailing harassment and evictions faced by international human rights defenders in Hebron (November 11)
Report on the second violent eviction of international human rights defenders from the ISM apartment in Hebron on November 11
Report on Israeli forces’ continual renewal of closed military zone orders and the third eviction of International Solidarity Movement volunteers from Tel Rumeida on November 21
Report on the November 22 arrests of two international human rights defenders by Israeli forces for entering closed military zone
Significant UN resolution calling for protection of human rights defenders across the world (November 25)
On 8 December a United Nations delegation visited the H2 area of Hebron, including Tel Rumeida
UN statement notes importance of work undertaken by human rights defenders in Hebron and states their targeting in “alarming” (10 December, International Human Rights Day)
Article recounting the experiences of families on Shuhada street living under closed military zone (December 16)
Press release by the UN calling for an end to unacceptable harassment of human rights defenders in Palestine, notes the targeting of the Youth Against Settlements center under the closed military zone (December 18)
Report and photo story on Shuhada checkpoint (Checkpoint 56), reopened at the end of December, rebuilt to be an even greater obstacle to Palestinian residents attempting travel to and from their homes in Tel Rumeida
Article on the extension of the closed military zone for the third month (January 3)
Press release by Youth Against Settlements on the extension of the closed military zone until January 31 (January 5)
Press release on January 7th by Youth Against Settlements on the sit-in protest against the closed military zone staged in front of Shuhada checkpoint (Checkpoint 56)
Article on the situation in the closed military zone as it was extended until January 31 (January 9)
Article on the sit-in protest for the opening of the closed military zone in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street (January 9)
Report after the 12th day of the nonviolent sit-in protest against the closed military zone, which was visited by multiple international delegations (18 January)
Three months ago, in the wake of two extrajudicial executions committed by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida, Israeli military authorities forced Palestinians living in the neighborhood to register and receive numbers in order to be allowed to reach their homes. Everyone else, including family members, media and Palestinian and international human rights defenders are barred from the area even as Zionist settlers from the adjacent illegal settlements continue to travel unrestricted.
We are calling on everyone to participate in the Twitterstorm on February 1st, 3 pm Palestine time to demand an end to the closed military zone; three months is far too long under an illegal, unjust program of collective punishment!
Starting at 3:00 pm Palestinian time (8:00 am EST, 2:00pm for most of Europe) on February 1st, tweet with the hashtag #EndHebronMilitaryZone using our sample tweets. Please spread the word (whether or not you have a personal twitter account), and call on friends, family, and anyone you know who believes in Palestinian rights to participate. You can share this Facebook post, and also follow @ISMPalestine for any further updates leading up to the Twitterstorm. Remember to NOT use the hashtag before the date and time of the Twitterstorm.
The document contains sample tweets to use along with some accounts to target, and this folder contains visuals that you can use in your tweets We encourage you to address some of your tweets to your representatives, politicians, ambassadors/embassies to Israel and UN members; though we may continue to update the list on the google doc also feel free to tag accounts not including if you think they are relevant. Also link to the Action Alert – the call by Palestinian and international organizations to open Tel Rumeida and respect Palestinian human rights, out thunderclap campaign page, and our Call for Action listing more concrete steps people can take.
Please participate and bring awareness to the situation in Tel Rumeida, to help build public pressure on Israeli authorities to end the closed military zone. As Palestinian resident of Tel Rumeida Abed Salaymeh explains,“soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily. This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.” We are reaching out to you to ask that you please help spread the truth of what is happening to the world.
The undersigned organisations are calling on the international community to take immediate action regarding the continuous closure of the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and the part of Shuhada Street that has remained accessible to Palestinian residents since the Ibrahimi mosque massacre in 1994, in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). For more than two months, Palestinians and internationals have been denied access to this part of the city since the Israeli occupation forces have declared the area a ‘closed military zone’.
The ‘closed military zone’, first declared onNovember 1st2015, was designed to include Palestinian neighborhoods while excluding adjacent illegal Israeli settlements. This discriminatory closure is being upheld by continuously renewed ‘military orders’ that lack official signatures or stamps. Palestinian residents were forced to register with the army or else risk being barred from their homes, while Israeli settlers are free to roam the streets without being stopped.
“This is yet another step in pushing Palestinians out of Tel Rumeida and Shuhada street”, says Jenny, from the ISM team in al Khalil.
Such a restriction of movement clearly constitutes a collective punishment on the whole Palestinian community, illegal under international law. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva convention specifically states that “no protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”
Tel Rumeida resident Abed Salaymeh explains : “soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily. This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.”
International and local activists are increasingly at risk of direct attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers from the illegal settlements in al-Khalil, as activists are specifically targeted for their efforts to document and report on human rights abuses.
The Israeli forces’ attempts to silence the Palestinian voice on the events goes hand in hand with the closure of Palestinian radio stations in clearinfringement of the freedom of press and opinion, acknowledged in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, article 19: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
“It is important to document in order to expose Israeli crimes”, explains Imad Abu Shamsiyyeh, a Tel Rumeida resident.
These inhumane measures come after Israeli occupation forces gunned down Homam Adnan Sa’id, 23, andIslam Rafiq ‘Ebeido on the 27th and 28th of October in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. While the Israeli government claims that both were ‘neutralized’ when attacking Israeli forces, many eye-witness statements refute this claim; CCTV footage has not yet been released by the Israeli forces. Since the beginning of October, a total of 163 Palestinians have been shot and left to bleed to death without medical aid in a similar manner in what Amnesty International refers to as ‘unlawful killings‘.
The outlined measures, restrictions, and human rights violations are focused primarily and exclusively on making the Palestinian voice – and in the long run the inhabitants of the area – disappear altogether.
The undersigned organisations call for:
An immediate end to collective punishment and the ‘closed military zone’ order in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street;
Cessation of threats and harassment of Palestinian residents as well as foreign and local human rights defenders;
Removal of restrictions on movement throughout the Old City of Hebron;
stopping the imposed military law on Palestinian residents as they are civilians;
Suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement until Israel complies with International Law;
Removal of all illegal Israeli settlements from Hebron.
Cessation of unconditional US Aid to Israel until it complies with international law.
Release of the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, as provided in article 17 of the 1949 Geneva Convention I “[Parties to the conflict] shall further ensure that the dead are honourably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged, that their graves are respected, grouped if possible according to the nationality of the deceased, properly maintained and marked so that they may always be found”.
If your organisation wishes to support the call, contact us at: palreports@gmail.com
********************** Arabic version **********************
نداء عاجل، ضعوا حدا لأمر الاحتلال العسكري الذي يغلق (تل الرميده) و (شارع الشهداء) في الخليل.
إن المنظمات والهيئات الموقعة على هذا النداء تدعو المجتمع الدولي الى اتخاذ إجراءات فورية تجاه الاغلاق المستمر لحي تل الرميده وذلك الجزء من شارع الشهداء الذي بقي متاحاً أمام حركة المواطنين الفلسطينيين عقب مجزرة الحرم الإبراهيمي في الخليل المحتلة في عام 1994. منذ أكثر من شهر منع الفلسطينيون والدوليون من دخول هذا الجزء من المدينة حيث أعلنت القوات الإسرائيلية عنه كمنطقة عسكرية مغلقة.
المنطقة العسكرية المغلقة أعلنت اولا في مطلع شهر تشرين الثاني/ نوفمبر 2015 وتطال السكان الفلسطينيون والأحياء الفلسطينية بينما تستثني البؤر الاستيطانية غير القانونية، هذا الإغلاق المعبر عن التمييز العنصري مفروض بأوامر عسكرية مكتوبة متجددة وتفتقر حتى إلى التواقيع والاختام الرسمية. السكان الفلسطينيون اجبروا على تسجيل أسمائهم لدى الجيش والا فإنهم سيقعوا تحت خطر الإبعاد عن بيوتهم، بينما المستوطنون يحظون بحرية التجوال والحركة بدون قيود.
هذه خطوة إضافية للضغط على الفلسطينيين لمغادرة بيوتهم الواقعة في تل الرميده وشارع الشهداء” كما قالت جيني (Jenny) من حركة التضامن الدولية (ISM) في الخليل.
هذه القيود على الحركة تشكل بوضوح عقابا جماعيا لكل المجتمع الفلسطيني وتعد خرقا فاضحا للقانون الدولي. تنص المادة (33) من اتفاقية جنيف الرابعة على أنه “لا يجوز معاقبة أي شخص محمي على مخالفة لم يقترفها هو شخصيا. تحظر العقوبات الجماعية وبالمثل جميع تدابير التهديد أو الإرهاب”
يقول المواطن الفلسطيني عبد السلايمه الساكن في تل الرميده: “الجيش والمستوطنون يعملون على جعل حياة المواطنين الفلسطينيين لا تطاق من أجل دفعهم لأن يتركوا بيوتهم بشكل طوعي. هذه جريمة وفق القانون الدولي. انهم يستهدفون النشطاء من أجل طمس الحقيقة ومنع وصولها للعالم“.
يعيش النشطاء الدوليون والمحليون في خطر متزايد جراء الهجمات المباشرة من القوات الإسرائيلية والمستوطنين غير الشرعيين، انهم مستهدفون بسبب ما يقوموا به من توثيق ونشر لانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان.
النشطاء يمنعوا من الدخول إلى مناطق بأوامر قوات الاحتلال ويواجهون خطر الاعتقال التعسفي، مثلما حصل في 3 تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر الماضي وأيضا في 26 و 27 و 28 من ذات الشهر دون وجود أي أدلة لدى الجيش على اتهاماتهم الباطلة الموجهة للنشطاء. المدافعون عن حقوق الإنسان والذين يقومون بعمل تؤكد على أهميته منظمة الأمم المتحدة يواجهون مخاطر متصاعدة حتى داخل بيوتهم ومكاتبهم ويطرَدون منها بصورة تعسفية وغير قانونية.
تحاول السلطات الإسرائيلية إسكات الصوت الفلسطيني خلال الأحداث الجارية تزامنا مع إغلاقها لمحطات إذاعية فلسطينية في خرق فاضح لحرية الصحافة والرأي والمقرة في الاعلان العالمي لحقوق الانسان لعام 1948 والذي ينص في المادة 19 منه “لكل شخص الحق في حرية الرأي والتعبير، ويشمل هذا الحق حرية اعتناق الآراء دون أي تدخل، واستقاء الأنباء والأفكار وتلقيها وإذاعتها بأية وسيلة كانت دون تقيد بالحدود الجغرافية“.
التوثيق مهم جدا لفضح الجرائم الإسرائيلية” كما قال عماد أبو شمسية المواطن الفلسطيني من سكان حي تل الرميده.
تأتي هذه الإجراءات غير الإنسانية عقب قيام القوات الاسرائيلية بإطلاق النار وقتل كل من همام عدنان السعيد “نحو 23 عاما” و إسلام رفيق اعبيدو في 27 و 28 تشرين الأول/أكتوبر في حي تل الرميده، وكانت الحكومة الإسرائيلية حينها قد بررت عمليتا القتل بأنهما جاءتا ردا على هجمات حسب ما ادعته، في حين نفى شهود عيان هذه الإدعاءات ولم تقم قوات الجيش بنشر تسجيلات كاميرات المراقبة خاصتها والمثبته في المكان لتأكيد ما تدعيه.
منذ بداية شهر تشرين الأول/اكتوبر أطلقت النار على ما مجموعه163 فلسطيني تركوا ينزفون من دون تقديم اسعافات أولية لهم أو علاج طبي حيث وصفت منظمة العفو الدولية ( Amnesty International ) ذلك بالقتل خارج نطاق القضاء.
الإجراءات الاحتلالية المذكورة المناقضة لحقوق الإنسان هدفها إخماد الصوت الفلسطيني وفي المدى البعيد هدفها إجبار سكان المنطقة الفلسطينيين على الرحيل والإختفاء بشكل كامل.
إن المنظمات والهيئات الموقعة على هذا النداء تطالب بما يلي
الوقف الفوري لسياسة العقاب الجماعي بحق الفلسطينيين في حي تل الرميدة وشارع الشهداء وإنهاء الأمر العسكري بإغلاقهما.
وقف التهديدات والمضايقات ضد السكان الفلسطينيين، وكذلك ضد نشطاء حقوق الإنسان المحليين والدوليين في تل الرميده وشارع الشهداء.
إزالة الحواجز والقيود على الحركة المنتشرة داخل البلدة القديمة من الخليل.
وقف العمل بالقوانين والأوامر العسكرية الاسرائيلية على السكان الفلسطينيين المدنيين.
إيقاف اتفاقية التعاون بين الاتحاد الأوروبي وإسرائيل حتى تلتزم اسرائيل بالقوانين الدولية.
إزالة كل البؤر الاستيطانية غير الشرعية من الخليل.
إعادة النظر بمكانة “الخيري” التي يحظى بها صندوق الخليل (Hebron Fund) والذي يتيح الفرصة للأفراد من عدة دول بتقديم التبرعات التي تخصم من ضرائبهم للمنظمة التي تمول الاستيطان في الخليل.
وقف المساعدات الأميركية غير المشروطة المقدمة لإسرائيل حتى تنصاع للقانون الدولي.
إعادة جثامين الفلسطينيين الذين قتلتهم القوات الإسرائيلية لذويهم وفقا لما تنص عليه المادة (17) من اتفاقية جنيف الأولى لعام 1949 والتي ورد فيها “على أطراف النزاع التحقق من أن الموتى قد دفنوا باحترام وطبقا لشعائر دينهم إذا أمكن، وأن مقابرهم تحترم وتجمع تبعا لجنسياتهم إذا أمكن وتصان بشكل ملائم، وتميز بكيفية تمكن من الاستدلال عليها دائما“
الموقعون:
حملة مقاطعة اسرائيل في سلوفينيا
حركة التضامن الدولية
غزة اكشن, ايرلاندا
الحركة الاسرائيلية ضد هدم البيوت
الحركة الاسرائيلية ضد هدم البيوت, فنلندا
لفرق المسيحية لصنع السلام/ فلسطين
لجنة التنسيق الدومينيكان فلسطين
اتحاد لجان العمل الصحي
لجنة الدفاع عن الخليل
لجنة إعمار الخليل
مركز الشرق الأوسط الدولي للإعلام
خدمات نساء السلام الدولية
حملة التضامن مع فلسطين/ ميرتون/ المملكة المتحدة
مجموعة دعم منكوبي الشرق الأوسط/ وودستوك/ نيويورك
حملة مقاطعة اسرائيل في مينوسوتا/ الولايات المتحدة
حملة التضامن مع فلسطين في نيوكاسل
منظمة حمامة السلام/ ايطاليا
هيئة مؤتمر القدس وشدوا الرحال
الاغاثة الزراعية
اتحاد المزارعين الفلسطينيين
اللجنة الشعبية للاجئين في محافظة الخليل
اتحاد لجان المرأة الفلسطينية
نقابة العمال “يونيسون” نورث أمبرلاند/ المملكة المتحدة
December 13th, 2015 | The Hares Boys campaign| Hares, Salfit
The five boys from the village of Hares.
UPDATE: 05.01.2016
Congratulations! The campaign for the Hares Boys has marked the halfway point by collecting 75944.56 NIS (~US $19314.24). However, we still have a long way before reaching the 150,000 NIS by the deadline of 28 January 2016 in order to avoid having each boy’s sentence being prolonged from 15 years to possibly to at least 25 years in prison.
Please, keep sharing the campaign and ask the people who care to donate through paypal on our website – every contribution matters!
Do not stay silent in the face of what is not right.
*****
It is with great sadness and anger that we hereby inform you of the outcome of the Hares Boys case: the five teenagers are being sentenced to 15 years in prison and are to pay a total of NIS 150,000 (~US $39,000 or €35,000) to the Israeli authorities. Failure to provide the exorbitant sum would, it is implied, result in more years of prison added to the boys’ sentences.
Ali Shamlawi, Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Suleiman, Ammar Souf, and Tamer Souf have been kept in prison for 2 years and 8 months and are now being sentenced for a crime that never happened. The five teenagers (16-17 years old at the time) from the village of Hares (Salfit governorate, West Bank, occupied Palestine) were kidnapped from their homes by the Israeli army in March 2013. The teens were accused of throwing stones at illegal settler cars, one of which drove under a truck that was parked along Route 5 near the village of Hares. The driver’s children were injured during the accident and one of them died two years later after pneumonia complications. The boys denied throwing stones but were forced to sign ‘confessions’ following torturous interrogations at the hands of Israeli secret services. There was never any evidence of the boys’ guilt but it is sadly a reality in the Israeli military court system that does not comply with due process and convicts Palestinians at a 99.7% rate.
After almost 3 years of routine hearings at Israeli military courts, where the boys were initially accused of ‘attempted murder’, they were told on 26 November 2015 that they are now being charged with manslaughter and are being sentenced to prison terms of 15 years, provided their families pay ‘fines’ of NIS 30,000 [US $7,750 or € 7,100] each by the deadline of 28 January 2016. Failure to pay the amount requested by the Israeli military court would, it is understood, result in each boy’s sentence being prolonged, possibly to at least 25 years in prison.
There is no other way to describe this situation the five teens and their families have endured other than as criminal activity on behalf of the Israeli system of ‘justice’. Pressing the families to agree to a court ‘deal’ and threatening them with harsher sentences if they don’t accept is nothing less than extortion. Demanding that families pay large sums of money as a ‘fine’ or a ‘compensation’ to the occupying power is nothing less than a demand for ransom.
On behalf of the Free the Hares Boys campaign we condemn such acts of injustice committed by the Israeli military court.
We invite local and international human rights organizations, the world’s democratic government institutions and people of conscience to stand up to this injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation and to demand justice for the Hares Boys. Please consider contacting your country’s diplomatic representatives in Tel Aviv or occupied Jerusalem; the Israeli Ministry of Justice; your local politicians; asking them to intervene and condemn such injustice and disrespect for the rule of law. Organize events in your community to highlight the Hares Boys case and the situation of hundreds of other Palestinian children who are being kept in occupation prisons.
Do not stay silent in the face of what is not right.
Now, the Hares boys and their families are appealing for your support in order to collect the NIS 30,000 [US $7,750 or € 7,100] for each boy by the deadline of 28 January 2016. Please donate through paypal on our website, every contribution matters!
Further information and Contact:
Website: haresboys.wordpress.com Email: haresboys@gmail.com
