Category: Press Releases - Page 49 - International Solidarity Movement

South Hebron Hills Popular Committee member arrested during nonviolent action in Khelly Valley

6th April 2013 | Operation Dove, At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

On April 6, Border Police officers and army soldiers arrested a member of the nonviolent South Hebron Hills Popular Committee, while he was harvesting on his private owned land in Khelly Valley, nearby the village of At-Tuwani, during a nonviolent action.

The goal of this action was to affirm the right of the Palestinians to enter their land despite the Israeli Military Administration restrictions, which until today do not have any legal support.
Since 9:00 am the soldiers and the Border Police, in coordination with Ma’on security chief, prevented the Palestinian shepherds from grazing their flocks down in Khelly Valley. An old woman and his nephew were stopped as well while trying to reach the valley.

Israeli Border Police Officers arresting popular committee member (Photo by Operation Dove)

Around 11:20 a.m. some women and children from At-Tuwani went down in the valley to harvest, challenging the imposed restriction. The Popular Committee member reached them and started to work as well. A few minutes later the army declared the valley a “closed military area” but the Palestinians refused to leave, claiming their right to work their private land. This was the reason for the soldiers to arrest the only man who was attending the resistance action. At 11:30 am he was taken to the Border Police jeep and detained there for about two hours. The women and the children kept on gathering grass in the valley in spite of the soldiers’ threats and pressures (i.e. a soldier ran after a child). The nonviolent action ended at around 12:00 a.m.. Some hours later the activists of Ta’ayush were informed about the fact that the Palestinian had been taken to Kiryat Arba police station. At 6:00 p.m. he was released under the payment of 1.000NIS.
Palestinians have been facing problems in Khelly since 2004, when around one hundred cherry trees were planted by the settlers on part of the valley nearby Ma’on. Since then the Israeli administration has been confiscating Palestinian land step by step in order to annex it to Ma’on. At the end of 2011 Khelly Hill was declared “State Land” and some residential buildings were built on it. Some months later, in March 2012, a paved street was created in front of the new houses. Starting from those expansion works the Palestinian shepherds were definitely prevented from entering the area of Khelly Hill. Since January 2013 until now the shepherds were also prevented from using Khelly Valley. In the last month the shepherds were chased away 10 times by soldiers and police and 4 times by settlers.
Nevertheless the Palestinian community of South Hebron Hills area continue to resist the occupation using the nonviolent struggle.

As Obama lands : Palestinians erect new Bab al Shams neighbourhood

20th March 2013 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee , Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

Palestinians assert their right to protect their lands from colonialism and their opposition to American policy which keeps granting Israeli occupation and repression of Palestinians full support.

Hundreds of the Palestinians arrived this morning, Wednesday March 20th, to Eizariya and erected about 15 tents on lands of the village as new neighborhood of Bab al Shams village, on a hillside opposite to the one on which the original village of Bab al Shams was established two months ago.

Organisers stress that the action today aims “first, to claim our right as Palestinians to return to our lands and villages, second, to claim our sovereignty over our lands without permission from anyone. Third, our actions are aimed at protecting our land from continued confiscation and threat of settlement and colonization. And Fourth to expand popular resistance as one form of resistance, out of many, that our people are engaged in everywhere.

As the action today coincide with President Barack Obama’s visit to the region, activists assert their opposition to the American Administration policy, which has been complicit in Israeli occupation and colonialism. Organizers stress: “An administration that used the veto 43 times out of 79 (between 1979 to 2011) in support of Israel and against Palestinian rights, an administration that grants military aid to Israel of over three billion dollars annually, can’t have any positive contribution to achieve justice and rights of the Palestinian people.”

The village is established on the lands of Eizariya east of occupied Jerusalem in an area the Israeli government calls E1 and where it has committed to building 4000 settlement units. The hillside falls between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem, and is 13 square KM in size. This land belongs to the villages of Al-Issawiyeh, Eizariya, Al-Tor, Anata, and Abu Deis.

Activists consider this area to be the lands of Bab Al-Shams where we have established today a new neighborhood called “Ahfad Younis” (Younis’ Grandchildren-after the name of the main figure in Bab al Shams novel).

Residents of the new neighborhood of Bab Al-Shams invite Palestinians to join the village and participate in maintaining its steadfastness.

Bab Al-Shams is accessible through Eizariya

Media Contact: 05991070069 or 0598914541

Facbook page: https://www.facebook.com/Babalshams2013

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bab_Alshams

Demonstrators arrive with materials to build new village

Tent facing the Maale Adumim settlement which is the largest in the West Bank

Huge Palestinian flag is erected directly across from Maale Adumim settlement

Demonstrators hold up sign made for Obamas visit

Israeli army demolish tent; leave Palestinian schoolchildren at risk of settler attack

16th March 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

Palestinians raised a tent to shelter schoolchildren from settler attacks on the morning of the 16th of March, on the outskirts of the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron hills. Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military arrived and declared the area to be a Closed Military Zone, chasing away demonstrators and demolishing the tent. They also tried to make several arrests but only managed to arrest one international activist who was released later the same day.

Palestinian children from surrounding villages each day make their way on foot to the school in At-Tuwani, but regularly face attacks from settlers on their journey. An Israeli military accompaniment has been organised for the schoolchildren, but the army are unreliable in their presence and the children are often forced to wait for them to arrive, as it would be unsafe them to walk to and from school without an accompanyiment. The tent was therefore intended by the villagers of At-Tuwani to be a place for the schoolchildren to wait in saftey.

Since the military demolished the tent, the children will continue to be forced to wait in exposed areas, where they are open to attack from the settlers. The international activist who was arrested was transported to Givat Ha’avot settlement in Hebron and was interrogated by police, but was released later that day.

This act of Palestinian resistance follows a recent trend of similar tent actions on Palestinian land in danger of being seized by the Israeli authorities for use in settlement expansion. Bab al Shams was one such protest village – a tent community in East Jerusalem set up by protesters in January and destroyed by the military shortly afterwards.

Tent being assembled by activists on the oustkirts of At-Tuwani

Multiple clashes lead to numerous arrests including school teacher in Hebron City

16th March 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

Oden Nassar, 23, Iyab Abu Alhalawiiu, 16, and Mohamad Alzoghayer, 16, were amoung many arrested these past two days in Hebron city, including Nahil Abi Eishah, a 38 year old teacher working at Qurtaba school, who was arrested after her home was invaded.

School teacher Nahil Abi Eishah is arrested

Eishahs whereabouts and the reason for her arrest are still unknown. Though it is believed she has been targeted because of her activism in solidarity with the hunger strikers which includes her own hunger strike.

Nassar, Alhalawiiu and Alzoghayer were the first to be arrested and new information suggests that at the time of their illegal detainment and transportation for processing, Nassar sustained injuries under military arrest.

Last night, five more young men were arrested in the Bab al-Zawiye area, totalling nine people in Hebron city since the death of university student Mahmoud Tete in the al-Fawwar Camp on Tuesday night.

Video by Youth Against Settlements :

UPDATE – VIDEO – Army arrest two children, one adult during Hebron clashes

15th March 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

by Team Khalil

Clashes in Hebron continued on Friday 15th March, following the death of 25 year old Mahmoud Adel Tete in the nearby Al Fawar refugee camp three days previously. At around 3pm, one adult male and two boys were detained by soldiers in the Palestinian controlled H1 area, and were forced into the small terminal comprising Checkpoint 56.

The boys are aged around 9 and 11. They were held inside the sealed cabin with several soldiers for half an hour, with observers being denied access, despite repeated attempts made to ensure that the detainees were not being mistreated. All three had their hands zip-tied and the adult was blindfolded.

One of the detained children being taken to the army jeep.

The detainees were eventually removed from the checkpoint into a waiting army jeep. Soldiers stated that they would be taken to the police station. This brings the total number of Hebron citizens arrested in the last three days to eleven, none of whom have yet been released.

During the demonstration today, Israeli forces shot large amounts of teargas and rubber bullets at crowds of Palestinians protesting at the killing of Mahmoud Adel Tete, making repeated invasions into Palestinian controlled H1 area – which under the Oslo accords the Israeli army are not permitted to enter. They also invaded homes to use for further attacks on the resisting Palestinians. Several were wounded, including an international activist shot with a plastic coated steel bullet.