Category: Reports - Page 102 - International Solidarity Movement

Al-Nakba day: The biggest crisis in the history of Palestine

15th May 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

Today, 68 years ago, the state of Israel was created on the Palestinian peoples’ home. The anniversary falls after a winter and spring with an escalation in violence and arrests of Palestinians, ever-expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Palestinian capital of Jerusalem, as the de facto take over by Israel of settlements in and around the city. It is estimated that there are approximately 600,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

For the Palestinians it is remembered as Yawm an-Nakba, meaning “Day of the Catastrophe” or just Nakba Day. During the 1948 Palestine War, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled or were Expelled, and Hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed. These refugees and their descendants number several million people today, divided between Jordan (2 million), Lebanon (427,057), Syria (477,700), the West Bank (788,108) and the Gaza Strip (1.1 million), with at least another quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians in Israel and many more around the world. Later, a series of laws passed by the first Israeli government prevented them from returning to their homes, or claiming their property. They, along withmany of their descendants remain refugees. The expulsion of the Palestinians has since been described by some historians as ethnic cleansing.

Many dispossessed Palestinians continue to hold and treasure the keys to their lost homes, and the key has become a symbol of Palestinian right to return home. United Nations Resolution 194, passed immediately following the Nakba, declares the right of all refugees displaced and dispossessed by the Zionist militias to return to their homes. Almost a million had registered with the UN by 1950, and today there are over 4 million with UN-registered claims against Israel. Compliance with 194 was one of the conditions for Israel’s admission to the UN, to which they agreed but which they have never honored. This right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which all UN member states are obliged to conform, and following 194 has been re-confirmed by many subsequent UN resolutions. It remains an international demand upon Israel. But Israel has refused to consider this right throughout the various iterations of the “peace process” since the Palestinian refugees return would jeopardize their Jewish majority. So we can only hope that justice will prevail for the Palestinian people.

Labour day demonstration in Gaza trying to fight the siege

4th May 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

On May 1st, the workers of the Gaza Strip gathered to demand that Mahmoud Abbas and Rami Hamdallah work towards the end of the blockade. The blockade has already strangled the life in the Gaza Strip for 10 years and has raised the unemployment rate above 60%. The workers also remembered all the martyrs who died at the hands of the zionist entity while working for a free Palestine; farmers, fishermen, tunnel diggers.

Every day the farmers of the Gaza Strip are harassed by the Israeli army, who shoot at them with live ammunition and tear gas, even though they only want to work their land and do nothing to provoke such attacks. They choose to work, instead of relying on the humanitarian aid that is offered to them by the same states that conduct business with the zionist oppressors; buying and selling the very weapons that execute Palestinians.
Every day Gazan fishermen go out to sea with the sole intention of providing for their families, as workers everywhere do. However, many do not return to their home because they are ‘caught in the nets’ of the Israeli army, imprisoned and sometimes murdered- without posing a threat.

As one worker told ISM at the demonstration, “I don’t want food baskets… I am 35 years old and I’m healthy; keep the food baskets for the old and the disabled. Give me the opportunity to work and I’ll feed myself and my family”.

Violent night raid in Ni’lin leaves 7-days old baby suffering from tear gas inhalation

3rd May 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | Ni’lin, occupied Palestine

During nighttime on the 1st of May, Israeli Forces raided the village of Ni’lin in the West Bank in occupied Palestine without any reason.
First, with the arrival of one military jeep, villagers were already aguishly awaiting why the Israeli army is invading the village, fearing arrests. Later on, several armored military jeeps invaded the village and immediately started shooting tear gas towards the houses in an act of collective punishment, targeting civilians that were mainly still asleep. Additionally, the Israeli forces fired rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition towards the house. Ni’lin in the last weeks has repeatedly seen army attacks on civilians entirely uninvolved even in the weekly Friday demonstrations.

Photo from demonstration in Ni'lin. Photo credit: Palestine Solidarity Campaign — Photo from demonstration in Ni’lin. Photo credit: Palestine Solidarity Campaign

This night, a 17-year old young man was shot in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet, but luckily did not sustain any major injuries. Additionally, a newborn, only 7 days old baby, had to be taken to hospital for tear gas inhalation. This is a result of the Israeli forces tactic of deliberately targeting civilians and all the villagers in acts of collective punishment. In the recent weeks, several children and elderly had to be treated for excessive tear gas inhalation as Israeli Forces targeted a public park with a playground, showering it in tear gas; and shooting the potentially deadly long-range tear gas canisters straight into the village. As this long-range tear gas canister can not be heard and has an extremely hard metal tip, it is not only potenitally deadly – an international solidarity activist Tristan Anderson was critically injured with this kind of tear gas canister in the head in 2009 in Ni’lin and now requires 24-hour care – but it also easily breaks through windows and even walls. This is just another proof of how dangerous it is. Thus, tear gas can easily, and has already, trapped civilians inside their own homes, causing excessive tear gas inhalation.

During the last weekly Friday demonstration in Ni’lin against the illegal Israeli apartheid wall and the theft of the majority of the villages agricultural lands (the majority still located and theoretically accessible on the villages’ side of the wall has arbitrarily been declared a ‘closed military zone’ thus denying the villagers access), Israeli forces, surprisingly did not use the violence against the peaceful protestors, the villagers were forced to get used to.

The nightly raid on Monday, thus, appears to the villagers to be an even more twisted act of revenge by the Israeli forces.

See the video from the invasion here:

Israeli forces attack weekly protests in the West Bank

2nd May 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Deir Istiya, Kafr Qaddum, Ni’lin; occupied Palestine

Last week, as every week, Israeli forces attacked demonstrations in the West Bank against the illegal Israeli land-theft, the apartheid-wall and illegal Israeli settlements.

In Deir Istiya, near Nablus in northern occupied West Bank, farmers continued their protest against the closure of agricultural roads that are essential for them to reach their land and thus ensure their own and their families income. The protest, as during the last few weeks, started with a prayer close to the settler road that cuts the farmers off from their land and prevents their access.

Farmers in Deir Istiya protesting the closure of their agricultural roads

In Kafr Qaddum village, demonstrators went out in their weekly march to protest against the closure of their main access road to the closest nearby village, Nablus. With the closure of the main road, the once 10-minute drive to nearby Nablus now takes at least half an hour – time that can be essential in case of emergencies and can thus cost the essential time an ambulance needs to reach a hospital on time. This closure clearly illustrates the Israeli apartheid policies as the only reason is to facilitate movement for the illegal settlement of Kedumim.
Israeli forces fired rubber coated metal bullets, stun grenades and excessive amounts of tear gas at the demonstrators. Three Palestinians were injured, one had his hand burned when hit with a hot tear gas canister, and two were injured when hit with rubber coated metal bullets in the stomach and back. Several suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, as the Israeli forces deliberately attacked the whole village in an act of collective punishment.

Israeli forces chasing demonstrators, illegal settlement can be seen in the back

In the West Bank village of Ni’lin, Israeli forces this week, unlike before, did not invade the village before the start of the demonstration. The demonstrators therefore marched up to the soldiers. Surprisingly – and in contrast to years of demonstrations, Israeli forces last Friday did not target civilian homes with tear gas or use any other means of supposedly ‘less-lethal’ ‘crowd-control’ weapons. Israeli forces did shoot some tear gas, but not the amounts the villagers have become used to in the years of struggle against the illegal apartheid wall separating them from the majority of their farming land. The villagers are now hoping, that the collective punishment of the whole village, the targeting of civilians and the use of excessive force has come to an end.

Demonstrators with the Palestinian flag in Ni'lin — Demonstrators with the Palestinian flag in Ni’lin

Closing of 7th annual Open Shuhada Street campaign

28^th April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On the 27^th of April 2016 Youth Against Settlements hosted the closing event of the annual campaign “Open Shuhada Street”. This year was the 7^th year of the campaign, and YAS is determined to continue the success. This year more then 155 events took place all over the world and 3 Palestinian activist were in Europe to raise awareness about life under Israeli military occupation on Shuhada Street in specific, but throughout Hebron and all over occupied Palestine in general. The closing event took place in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood in Hebron, right outside the YAS center, that has deliberately been included into a ‘closed military zone’ that was first pronounced on 1st November 2016 and covers the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood and the tiny strip of Shuhada Street where Palestinians are still allowed to walk.

The closing event concluded the 2016 campaign, and gave a chance for YAS to thank its’ partners world wide and confirm their committment to organise events in even more countries and thus reach even more people with next years campaign. In his opening speech, Issa Amro, the coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, confirmed this committment to the campaign and that it will not stop until it reaches its aims and the Israeli occupation is abolished. This year, Palestinian activists from Hebron went to Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and France as part of the campaign, and YAS is planing on expanding the number of countries, to increase the outreach of the campaign and reach a wider audience. After the speeches, YAS had arranged a movie screening, where the attendants at the event could get a closer look into the life under occupation. The event was finished with a BBQ and signing around a bon-fire. The songs sang confirmed and enforced the Palestinian national identity and the rightful claims of Palestinians to a live in dignity and freedom.

Throughout the event, Israeli forces were standing close by keeping an eye on everything that happened, at times filming the participants and singling out people they recognized for ID-checks. Right at the beginning, Israeli forces ordered everyone present to ‘move away ten meteres’ from the YAS center, clearly illustrating that the closed military zone deliberately targets the YAS center itself and thus what it stands for – the struggle against the illegal Israeli occupation.

Movie screening with soldiers that can be seen in the background observing the event

The goal of the Open Shuhada Street campaign is to open Shuhaha Street and end the occupation of Palestine. Shuhada street clearly shows the apartheid regime opposed on Palestinians by Israel. Shuhada street has been closed for 21 years since the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, when Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein, murdered 29 Palestinians during Friday Ramadan prayers in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. In response to the massacre, the Israeli army introduced an apartheid system of separation in Hebron, including the closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinians, effectively creating a ghost town. Shuhada street was the center of the old city’s commercial district before Israeli settlement projects and military rule forced its closure. To this day, the street remains almost entirely closed to Palestinians, while Israeli settlers move freely. The closure of Shuhada Street is a symbol of Israel’s wider apartheid policy of separation.

Since the 1^st of November, the small part of Shuhada Street, that Palestinians can actually access and are allowed to walk in, has been declared a closed military zone together with the area of Tel Rumeida. This restricts the movement of Palestinians in the area even more, barring access to anyone that is not registered – meaning ‘numbered’ as a resident by the Israeli forces. Palestinians in this area thus can not receive visitors and human rights defenders have been barred access and are targeted by the Israeli forces. With both Youth against Settlements and the International Solidarity Movement evicted from the closed military zone, human rights activists are effectively kicked out from this area.