Category: Press Releases - Page 5 - International Solidarity Movement

Call to action: Save Wadi Tiran, Occupied West Bank.

13 November, 2023, Wadi Tiran in the occupied West Bank, Palestine

The village of Wadi Tiran was given a 24 hour warning, “leave or we kill everyone”.

Residents, along with a handful of international and Israeli human rights defenders, are gathered in a large tent awaiting their fate. The Israeli police were called but they refused to attend.

The village of Wadi Tiran is a small herding community located next to what was the larger village of Zanuta, whose 150 residents were forced to leave their homes on 31 October under similar, persistent and violent Israeli settler attacks.

Seven colonial settlers from the Havat Yehuda illegal outpost that lies above the village arrived in Wadi Tiran two nights ago: “You have 24 hours to leave or we will kill everyone”. This threat has become the standard threat issued to herding communities across the Occupied West Bank. Fifteen of these communities have already been wiped off the map. After 24 hours passed, settlers entered the community and destroyed cars, a solar panel, a tractor, and anything they could get their hands on.

Now that night has fallen, the entire village has gathered in one tent waiting for the settlers to complete their threats.

We ask people around the world to pressure their governments to take immediate action to stop the displacement of Wadi Tiran.

If you are a US citizen, please contact your local representatives and embassies:

Embassy in Jerusalem:

Ambassador: Thomas R Nides

Phone: (02) 630 400

Email: Americancenterjerusalem@state.gov

Website: https://il.USEmbassy.gov

Tel Aviv Branch Office:

Phone: (03) 519 7575

US Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem:

Phone: (02) 6227230

Email: USPalestinianAffairs@state.gov

Script for communication to Embassies and Representatives:

I am writing to demand rapid action be taken by this body to defend human rights in the West Bank. As violations of International Humanitarian Law continue to be committed against occupied Palestinians, world leaders who do not take every action to defend human life and dignity are complicit in the denial of them.

Daily incidents of violence committed by Israeli settlers against isolated and vulnerable Palestinian families in the South Hebron Hills are being documented and transmitted to the world. Daily transgressions of the rights of Palestinians to live their lives without being harassed, searched, arbitrarily arrested and held without charge, raided, shot at and humiliated by the army and settlers -who are being emboldened by the silence of the international community. These violations are being reported by human rights organizations across the globe. With the whole world watching, what side of history will you be on?

Resources:

Israeli forces bulldoze Jenin monument in deadly night raid

1 November 2023 | Jenin | International Solidarity Movement

By Diana Khwaelid

On Sunday, October 29, a huge column of military vehicles stormed the city of Jenin in an overnight raid, killing four Palestinians, and destroying a monument for Jenin’s martyrs.

Israeli soldiers invaded the city’s Jenin camp at 12.30am, accompanied by an armed Caterpiller bulldozer (D), as part of the occupation army’s ongoing campaign of arrests of young Palestinians in the camp.

After failing to make arrests, the occupation forces destroyed and demolished the memorial monument of the camp, bearing photos and names of Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli soldiers in Jenin.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, four Palestinians were killed during the invasion of the camp, and five other young people were injured. Two are in serious and unstable conditions.

We report the name of three of the martyrs: Amir Shabrawi, 25, Nourse Bejawi, 27, Musa Jabarna, 23.

During the raid, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) also bulldozed and destroyed all the main roads leading to the camp.

The floor of a residential building was blown to pieces and set on fire. The Grand Mosque in Jenin camp was also invaded and vandalised.

Eyewitnesses said that the occupation forces, especially Israeli snipers, were firing indiscriminately at civilian cars in the camp and at buildings, residential houses, and the mosque.

Mahmoud Abu Issam – one of the camp residents – said that the destruction witnessed by the residents of the Jenin camp is only a fraction of that experienced by Palestinians in Gaza. “No matter what happens, we will remain strong and steadfast and we will not give up,” he said.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been burying the bodies of the four Palestinian martyrs since Sunday morning.

The death toll of martyrs in the West Bank keeps rising, and it has now reached more than 120 since the start of the war on Gaza.

Family members of Gazan activist Ahmed Abu Artema killed in Israeli airstrike

ISM PRESS RELEASE

October 27

Our friend, the poet Ahmed Abu Artema, whose social media post inspired the Great March of Return in 2018, has been targeted in an Israeli airstrike that shelled his home in Tel al Sultan, Rafah, Gaza, killing five members of his family.

Ahmed was also seriously injured in the attack on October 24, suffering second degree burns. He is now in a stable condition. Ahmed’s 12-year-old son, Abdullah, two of his brothers and mother-in-law were killed. His other son and Ahmed’s sister are in a critical condition.

His home was one of many targeted despite being in the southern region of the Gaza Strip, where people from the north were ordered to go by the Israeli army for their ‘safety’. There is no safe place in Gaza.

Commenting on the targeting of Ahmed’s family, Neta Golan, a co-founder of ISM and Return Solidarity, said: “In the weeks leading up to the attack, Ahmed had used his voice to call for global protests to stop Israel’s genocide and criminal bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip.

“It was Ahmed’s words in 2018 that inspired thousands of Gazans to march unarmed towards the fence besieging the Gaza ghetto, to demand their right to return to the lands from which they’d been expelled. The Israeli occupation forces killed Ahmed’s family because Israel feared the power of his words.”

On top of cutting off electricity to the Strip, voices of dissent are being extinguished by Israel’s brutal bombing campaign. Since October 7, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 24 Palestinian journalists. Family members of Gazan journalists have also been targeted. On October 25, an Israeli airstrike killed wife, son, and daughter of Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh.

Israeli attacks have massacred 7,028 Palestinians, including 2,913 children, in Gaza.

In an audio recording to ISM days before the attack on his family home, Ahmed said: “This did not start on October 7. Unfortunately, the world has been blind to the suffering of the Palestinians for decades. Only when Israel lost people, did the outside world pay attention here.

“What’s happening now in Gaza is exactly the same thing Israel started in 1948. The Israeli government is not targeting Hamas. As all of can see on the TV and internet, the vast majority of the targets in Gaza are civilians, neighbourhoods, hospitals, churches and mosques. And it’s not only Gaza, in the West Bank there is the Smotrich plan to displace Palestinians. This confirms how it’s an Israeli strategy of genocide and completing the Nakba of 1948.”

Golan added: “Help us to spread Ahmed’s message, and put an end to Israel’s massacre in Gaza. We need you to raise your voices, so that Palestinians and those facing genocide, will not be silenced.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led non-violent direct-action movement, founded in 2001. Read more about ISM here.

Return Solidarity is a group of anti-Zionist Israelis working in solidarity with Palestinians in support of the Great March of Return. Learn more about their actions here.

A video of Ahmed Abu Artema calling on the international community to put an end to Israel’s bombing of Gaza here.

” The man behind Gazan’s Great March of Return” – Al Jazeera documentary.

“The Gazan leading a popular uprising against Israel”, CNN.

Revenge attacks in Masafer Yatta

Mohammed Hathaleen, a disabled resident of Umm al-Khair who was shot at by Israeli soldiers next to the settlement fence of Carmel (pictured behind)

16 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

In the week since Israel began its onslaught on Gaza, soldiers and settlers have bulldozed homes, carried out night raids and attacked Palestinians across the Masafer Yatta region.

Occupation forces have taken advantage of the state of emergency to escalate their violence and displacement of Palestinians in the southern region of the West Bank.

Olive trees have also been uprooted and rampaging settlers have opened fire on shepherds and villagers.

Villagers in Umm al-Khair have been documenting the growing number of attacks by settlers in Masafer Yatta. The community shared this information with ISM, which we are reporting here.

On October 7, settlers set up road blocks throughout Masafer Yatta, preventing villagers from accessing vital services and disrupting their daily lives.

On the same day, a group of settlers entered the village of Khalet Adabe, attacking one resident and breaking his arm.

On Tuesday, October 10, settlers in military uniforms entered Umm al Khair and proceeded to detain the young people of the village, checking their IDs and confiscating cell phones.

The settlers claimed that they had seen someone from the village walking ‘dangerously’ close to the fence surrounding the settlement of Carmel. This turned out to be Mohammed Hathaleen, a disabled man, who was left with severe brain damage after being brutally beaten by Carmel settlers 23 years ago.

“Mohammad currently lives in a state of unawareness of his surroundings,” his brother Tariq Hathaleen said. “In his condition, he is unable to perceive or react to danger, particularly when walking near the settlement fence.

“It’s difficult to fathom or even endure such an accusation, given that the Carmel settlement is located merely one metre from Umm al-Khair village.”

The settlers left with a warning that they would shoot anyone who comes in close proximity to the fence that separates the settlements from the village.

On Monday, October 16, the village of Umm al-Khair was terrorised once again when a military patrol stopped and soldiers pointed their guns at Mohammed Hathaleen. They are said to have put down their guns after villagers shouted at them to stop.

Carmel was built in 1981 on the doorstep of Umm al-Khair, a Bedouin village that has lived under constant threat of demolition for many years.

Also on Tuesday (October 10), settlers accompanied by the military demolished five Palestinian homes and two animal barns in the village of Simri.

On Wednesday, October 11, several villagers including Susyiah, at-Tuwani, Adirat, Umm Al-Khair, Al-Karmel and Ajawaiah came under gunfire by settlers.

A military patrol also opened fire on a shepherd near the village of at-Tuwani without warning. He was left unharmed but two of his sheep were shot and injured.

As previously reported by ISM, a settler shot at-Tuwani resident Zakarya Adra in the stomach on Friday, October 13.

Hathaleen continued: “What is happening is unlike anything before; nobody can predict what tomorrow may bring. There seem to be no openings for hope or a clear vision of tomorrow at this time.

“As the ordeal enters its second week, the people endure immense suffering, despite limited media coverage of these distressing events. It begs the question: How much longer must Palestinians endure before the world takes notice and acts?”

Palestinians hospitalised in settler attack near Ramallah

Wadi Siq school has been regularly attacked by settlers from new outposts set up near the Bedouin village, east of Ramallah

15 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Wadi Siq

Armed settlers attacked Palestinians and international volunteers in the Bedouin village of Wadi Siq, east of Ramallah, on Thursday (October 12) hospitalising two people.

Villagers were also beaten after the illegal settlers returned for a second attack later that day, ISMers were told.

ISMers and Israeli activists in partnership with the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) have been based in the village several nights a week at the request of residents due to increasing intimidation and violence by settlers following the setting up of outposts nearby in recent months.

The villagers have experienced harassment, intimidation, assault and damage to, and theft of, their property on a regular basis. This usually happens at night, increasing the trauma inflicted on villagers.

Wadi Siq, which consists of individual family encampments widely dispersed over rocky, hilly terrain, is served by the Al-Tahidi School. Providing education for 60 Bedouin children from the age of five to 14 years, the school is also on the receiving end of attacks by settlers.

The headteacher reported that settlers have rammed the school bus with children onboard and teachers’ cars as they leave work. Thefts of school property are common with the building’s generator being stolen last week. The head is also very worried about the impact of the attacks on the physical and mental wellbeing of the children.

Last week, Israeli activist Rabbi Arik Asherman was detained after he reported to the police that the entrance to the village had been blocked by the settlers. He was then arrested and, at the time of writing, is still being held.

Following Israel’s bombardment of Gaza last Saturday, settlers have ramped up their attacks even further.

On Thursday at around 11am a group of armed settlers set upon volunteers based at the site. Two of the CRWC personnel (Abu Hassan and Mohamad Nada) were badly beaten, requiring hospitalisation.

Settlers also circled the village in SUV to intimidate residents while a group of volunteers were threatened with guns when they approached two settlers who were standing on the track close to one of the encampments.

After sunrise settlers broke into a large metal storage container and stole valuable items including a solar power unit and batteries and vandalised the other items being stored. This represented a serious loss for the family concerned.