Category: Reports - Page 116 - International Solidarity Movement

Six families in Jerusalem wait for their homes to be demolished

On Thursday, January 7th, the ISM went to visit Kifaya Rishek, a widow who lives in Beit Hanina, occupied East Jerusalem, waiting for her home to be demolished.

But Kifaya is not alone, she lives in this house together with her five children and 16 grandchildren, including 11 year-old, Malak, who is physically disabled. Their financial situation is very difficult; Murad and Ashraf, who have 4 children each, both work cleaning the Cinema City. Sharif has 5 children, and works selling toys in a store. Mohannad has 1 child and works in construction, but his salary is unstable since he works when he is called in by the company. Her daughter, Faiza, is divorced and also lives here with her 2 children. These 5 families who live here will be left homeless.

Friend Nuredin Amro and his son, Abedkarim sit on the far left side. Seven of the children who live in this house are, from left to right: Mira, Mayaan, Ahmad, Yara. On top, Fajer. On the floor, Mohammad and Badar. — Friend Nuredin Amro and his son, Abedkarim, sit on the far left side. Seven of the children who live in this house are, from left to right: Mira, Mayaan, Ahmad, Yara. On top, Fajer. On the floor, Mohammad and Badar.

In 2012, the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem came to Kifaya’s house to tell them that they planned to build a road that would pass through the land where they live and that they would demolish only the outdoor kitchen that sits in the terrasse. With time, the Israeli authorities changed their plan and said they would demolish the whole house.

Kifaya brought her case to court, with the intention of having the lawyer convince the municipality to change the direction of the road so that it would pass through another piece of land that her family owns together with another family, named Zaloum. She would attend the court hearings, but they were always in Hebrew, which she does not understand. In the end, she lost her case in the High Court, leaving her and her family with no more options in the Israeli controlled legal system. All of this is happening even though the house and land belongs to them: all payments are up to date, including their monthly taxes.

This decision on the part of the court and the Israeli authorities only shows that, in reality, the intention behind the demolition of Kifaya’s home is just part of a much larger Zionist plan to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians who live in Jerusalem, and make them refugees inside the West Bank.

The demolition order became effective a week ago, which means that the family lives in the house waiting every day for the workers to come with the bulldozer.

This kind of collective punishment creates a horrible life for Palestinians, as they are all incredibly anxious, sad and absolutely uncertain of not knowing when they will lose their house, because Israel does not give any prior notice as to when they will come with the bulldozer. The demolition can happen at any time, maybe a week, a month or a year ahead. And the family will not only lose their house, since the intention is to build a road, they will also lose their land. Unlike other families who, after the demolition, can still build another home on the same land, the Rishek family is being expelled.

The children’s teachers are seeing signs of distress. They have told the parents that they are not concentrating and their grades are going down in school. Malak says, “I’m afraid that when I go to school, when I come back the house will not be there anymore.”

Malak is 11 years old and has a physical disability in her legs. She gets treatment in the ALYN Pediatric Hospital in Jerusalem.

But the extent of their loss goes far beyond the material loss of their home and land. Since the family is very poor, they cannot afford moving to another neighborhood inside Jerusalem, therefore, they will be forced to relocate inside the West Bank, becoming refugees. This means they will lose their jobs, the children’s school and Malak’s therapy program, their health insurance, and pension plans. Once the family leaves Jerusalem, they will lose their Jerusalem identity cards, together with all their social benefits, such as the insurance for all the children (according to the Jerusalem Municipality Regulation), widow pension plan, health insurance and special disability insurance. The men will also lose their jobs, since they will not be able to move long distances and cross checkpoints to get to their current jobs. All the children go to school in the Shuafat Refugee Camp. When they move into the West Bank, they will need to find a new school. They will lose all their friends, and probably the whole school year, too. Malak’s physiotherapy program, which is covered with insurance in the ALYN Hospital, will also be lost and her parents are afraid they won’t be able to afford another therapy program in the West Bank.

In a situation that produces such levels of anxiety and the feeling of not having control of one’s life, Kifaya has developed a habit of collecting all her important belongings then putting them back in their place. The family has no idea where they will go live afterward.

The living room of Kifaya's family — The living room of Kifaya’s family

In a second interview, we visited Rajeh and Nadia Hawareen, the neighbors who live next door, facing the exact same situation. The road will also pass on top of their land, and this house will be the second house that Israel demolishes for Rajeh and Nadia as collective punishment.

The couple lives in the house with their four children. 2 of them are engaged and plan to marry in August next year, but living with this kind of threat does not allow them to plan their weddings appropriately.

Rajeh explains how they suffer from the same psychological distress as Kifaya’s family. They used up their savings paying all the lawyers, engineers, and professionals they could to find a way to prevent this demolition. But just like Kifaya, they lost their case.

The Hawareen's living room. — The Hawareen’s living room.

“This is our land. They can kill our people, but we will stay. We will never leave it,” Rafeh reassures us. “When you try to prepare your house, you prepare your dreams. And Israel destroys it. I am 50 years old, and I don’t have another 50 years to build my life again. This is very stressful, especially for my wife.”

Rajeh also explains how the situation inside the court is absolutely unfair. Palestinians are not allowed to talk and the hearings are held in Hebrew. The law, of course, is also different for Palestinians and Israelis. Israel also passes special laws for Palestinians who live in Jerusalem, in order to evict them.

“I’ve had enough of 60 years of documentation from international organizations,” Rajeh continues. “We lose our dignity, they treat us like less than animals. We lose everything, we are thrown out to the street. That’s why I don’t like international organizations, establishments or institutions, because they take orders from governments.”

“65 years of writing documents, and nobody listens, no one wants to hear. I made thousands of documents for the UN and OCHA in New York, but nobody does anything. There are no results. We need answers, even if these answers are negative to know what to expect. Governments are hypocrites. They just care about relationships and mutual benefits. They don’t care about the humanitarian issues, the oppressed people. Politics has no mercy.”

“But we never give up. We believe that one day they will hear us.”

The bulldozers are working on the land nearby. Anytime soon they will arrive to the families doorsteps. — The bulldozers are working on the land nearby. Anytime soon they will arrive to the families’ doorsteps.

Photo story: newly expanded Shuhada checkpoint is even more difficult to traverse

January 6th 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

At the end of December Israeli forces re-opened the newly expanded Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). The checkpoint had been closed since December 7th, when Israeli forces had declared they would be conducting “renovations” for a then-unknown period of time.

Officially known as Checkpoint 56, Shuhada checkpoint separates Bab al-Zawiye, a Palestinian neighborhood in the H1 (nominally Palestinian-controlled and administered) part of al-Khalil and Tel Rumeida, part of Israeli military-controlled H2 and currently covered in part by a closed military zone order first issued on November 1st.

walking through wm — Palestinian family leaving Tel Rumeida, crossing toward Bab al-Zawiye

The checkpoint was rebuilt with a high fence blocking the entire street and additional turnstiles and metal detectors. The turnstiles make it very difficult for anyone carrying heavy, bulky luggage or even several bags of groceries to pass. Israeli authorities also added a completely closed off room in the center of the checkpoint, where Palestinians are questioned and searched entirely out of site of any onlookers, media, or human rights monitors.

As in previous versions of the checkpoint, there is no possibility for any car or truck – even an ambulance responding to an emergency – to pass; any vehicle larger than a baby carriage must take a time-consuming detour in order to enter or leave Tel Rumeida.

woman walking high view wm — Shuhada checkpoint as seen from a nearby window in Bab al-Zawiye, an imposing barrier Palestinian families living in Tel Rumeida must navigate

The new checkpoint has already become a flashpoint for Israeli military aggressions against Palestinians, which include the arrest of 38-year-old Wafa’ Sharabati on Monday afternoon by Israeli forces who first claimed she had a discrepancy in her ID then accused her of being a troublemaker and threatened to plant a knife on her. Wafa’s family and local activists staged a sit-in outside Shuhada checkpoint to protest her treatment and the continued humiliation and harassment faced by Palestinians forced to endure the checkpoint and the closed military zone.

family waiting for release copy — Wafa Sharabati’s family staged a sit-in awaiting her release

ppl in front of shuhada wm — A large group of local activists and residents gathered after Wafa’s arrest in front of the checkpoint, which has has been the site of countless demonstrations against the Israeli occupation of al-Khalil

rubber coated metal soldier wm — He never fired, but this Israeli soldier spent much of Monday afternoon on the roof of Shuhada checkpoint, prepared to attack nonviolent Palestinian demonstrators with potentially deadly rubber-coated metal bullets

A sign on the H1 side of the checkpoint explains the protocols for passing through: metal detector, bag search, no animals allowed through, checkpoint closed if there are any clashes. The 4th instruction reads “wait until the soldier will allow you to pass.” Sometimes people can pass in six minutes; sometimes they must wait for over an hour, outside and exposed to any weather, before being allowed to pass the few meters of turnstiles, metal detectors, fences and walls between them and the streets leading to their homes.

Lines on Monday evening left many, including young children, waiting for nearly half an hour in the cold night. Only Palestinians who are registered in the closed military zone can ever pass through the checkpoint; family members of residents, journalists, human rights defenders and internationals have all been barred. Even Palestinians who are registered have reported being forced to wait for over an hour only to be harassed and threatened by the soldiers inside the checkpoint.

Activists have planned another protest for Thursday morning to continue the struggle against the closed military zone, the even harsher regime at the newly reopened checkpoint, and the continued closure and Israeli military occupation of al-Khalil.

boy fire wm — A young Palestinian boy enthusiastically fanned the fire local residents and activists gathered around on Monday night to protest the checkpoint and all it represents

Palestinian families deeply concerned about the safety of their children

The three boys – Awne Abu Shamsiyye (16 years of age), Moataz Irfaiie (17 years of age) and Nizzar Salhab (16 years of age)- who were shot on their way home on the evening of the 1^st of December have since then been harassed by Israeli forces and their families have been left in the dark about what kind of unlawful punishment will await their children.

Nizzar was shot in the upper thigh, lower torso and hip and a piece of the metal from the bullet penetrated his testicle. He was hospitalized in the Ahli hospital in Al-Khalil (Hebron) for five days and had to undergo two surgeries. The other two boys were hospitalized in Al-Khalil Alia hospital. Sixteen-year old Awne was shot by live ammunition in the sole of his foot, where the bullet exploded. He had to undergo two surgeries and stayed in the hospital for eights days. Moataz was shot in his calf and had to undergo one surgery.

12404149_1054864131242785_1199754815_n — Paper from the Israeli Civil Administration Photo credit: Human Rights Defenders Group

After being discharged from the hospitals, all three boys returned to their homes in Tel Rumeida, where they continue to undergo medical treatment. Shortly after all boys had been discharged, Israeli forces came to the homes of all three boys looking for them. The Israeli forces thoroughly searched Awne Abu Shamsiyye’s house and even the homes of his neighbors; Awne was luckily not around at that time. The Israeli forces returned following day at 2:00 am to search the house for Awne again and when they couldn’t find him they came back at noon to give the family a paper. The paper ordered the family to deliver Awne to the Israeli Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. The other two families also received a paper giving them a deadline to deliver their sons to the Israeli DCO (District Coordination Office) by Sunday the 20^th of December 2015 at 2:00 pm.

On the 20^th of December the three boys went to the Israeli DCO in Al-Khalil accompanied by their families and a lawyer provided by the Human Rights Defenders Group. After waiting around at the DCO the boys were told to go to the police station located in the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba in Al-Khalil (Hebron) instead. Upon arrival at the police station they were sent back to the Israeli DCO on the claim that it was the responsibility of the DCO to deal with the boys. The families refused to go back to the DCO the same day and the police took the phone numbers of the fathers of the three boys. The families were told that the commander would get in touch with the families the next day to inform them about the unknown fate that awaits the three boys. However, until now the commander hasn’t got in touch with any of the families.

12436041_1054864514576080_1902095659_n — Waiting in front of the police station in Kiryat Arba Photo Credit: Human Rights Defenders Group

The families are deeply concerned about the safety of the boys and feel highly uncomfortable because the boys could be arrested, attacked or shot at any time. The boys are still under threat and need to be extremely careful when moving in their neighbourhood, which has been a ‘closed military zone’ since November 1^st 2015. Earlier today, the 3^rd of January 2015 the commander stopped the father of one of the boys, Imed Abu Shamsiyye and told him that if he saw Awne again he would shoot him. Not only is this a direct threat to the life of Awne, it also confirms the concerns voiced by the families about the safety of their children and their concerns that the Israeli forces would attack the boys “when nobody is watching”. Although Imed told the commander that the families had followed all of their orders and have proof thereof, it is only a matter of time until the Israeli forces will resort to yet another crime.

14 Palestinians finally laid to rest in occupied al-Khalil

2nd January, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

On the 2^nd of January 2016, thousands attended the funeral of 14 martyrs in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). A demonstration following the funeral, against the continued killing of Palestinians with impunity by the Israeli military and Zionist settlers, was attacked by Israeli forces.

Part of the massive funeral procession walking up the road toward the Martyrs’ cemetery

The new year in the occupied West Bank began with the handover of 23 bodies that the Israeli government had been withholding from their families, some for over two months. These 23 young Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or settlers claiming that they had been carrying out attacks; in many cases, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces planted evidence on the bodies or killed the alleged attackers when they posed no imminent threat. Israeli forces then took the bodies of the Palestinians killed and the Israeli government refused to return them to their families, denying them funerals and proper burial.

17 of the 23 bodies that were finally returned to their families were from the al-Khalil district. Of these 14 were from al-Khalil city itself, and were thus buried on Saturday in the Martyrs’ cemetery of al-Khalil. Thousands of people marched in the funeral procession from the Hussein mosque to the cemetery, with the fourteen bodies carried on the shoulders of their families. The families of the young men killed finally had the chance to bury their loved ones in an appropriate manner and grieve their loss.

One of the 14 bodies of Palestinian youths being carried down the road in al-Khalil

As the procession was passing by a road that leads down toward Shuhada checkpoint, Israeli forces threw stun grenades into the street even though no one was approaching or even near checkpoint.

The fourteen people buried this Saturday in occupied al-Khalil are:

Basil Bassam Ragheb Sidr, 20, shot dead on 14^th October 2015
Fadil Abdullah Qawasmi, 18, shot dead by Israeli settlers on 17^th October 2015
Farouq Abd al-Qadir Sider, 19, shot dead on 19^th October 2015
Saad Muhammad Youssef al-Atrash, 19, shot dead on 26^th October 2015
Shadi Nabil al-Qudsi, 22, shot dead on 27^th October 2015
Izz al-Din Nadi Abu Shkheidem, 19, shot dead on 27^th October 2015
Humaaam Adnan al-Saeed, 23, shot dead on 27^th October 2015
Islam Rafiq Hammad Ibeido, 23, shot dead on 28^th October 2015
Mahdi Muhammad al-Muhtaseb, 23, shot dead on 29^th October 2015
Malik Talal al-Shareef, 25, shot dead on 5^th November 2015
Mustafa Fadhil Fanoon, 15, shot dead on 4^th December 2015
Taher Faysal Fannoun, 19, shot dead on 4^th December 2015
Ibah Fathi Miswadeh, 21, shot on 7^th December 2015
Abd al-Rahman Miswadeh, shot dead on 7^th December 2015

The three Palestinians buried in the al-Khalil area are:
Hamzeh Moussa al-Imla, 25, shot dead on 20^th October 2015. Buried in Beit Ula
Fadi Hassan al-Froukh, shot dead on 1^st November 2015. Buried in Sair village
Omar Arafat Issa al-Zaaqiq, 19, shot dead on 27^th November 2015. Buried in Beit Ummar

After the funeral procession for Omar al-Zaaqiq, Israeli forces injured 12 protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets, including two that were shot in the head.

After the funeral in al-Khalil dozens of young Palestinian men braved wet, cold weather to gather in the streets of Bab al-Zawwiya neighborhood around Shuhada checkpoint to protest the murder of these martyrs. Israeli forces advanced from Shuhada checkpoint and threw stun grenades into the streets. They also pursued a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance that was driving up the road with its lights and sirens on in the H1 area of al-Khalil, the part supposedly under full Palestinian control. Israeli forces stopped the ambulance and threw a stun grenade at it, forcing medics to drive back in the direction they had come.

Israeli forces occupied a building and roof in Bab al-Zawwiya, using their vantage to aim down at protesters, mock the demonstrators and throw stones at them.

Palestinians and internationals documenting the Israeli forces’ violent attackon the demonstration were directly targeted by Israeli forces. Local activist Imad Abu Shamsiya was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated metal bulle by Israeli forces. One international was hit in the hand with a rubber-coated metal bullet when clearly holding a camera filming the event. “We were standing in the street taking photos of the soldiers aiming their rifles at demonstrators and realized that they were aiming right at us when a rubber-coated metal bullet hit right above my head,” another ISM activist recalled.

soldier further away — Photo taken just before Israeli border police aimed a rubber-coated metal bullet just above an ISMer’s head

Israeli forces indiscriminately fired rounds of plastic-coated metal bullets that, in contrast to the rubber-coated metal bullets, were not aimed and targeted at individuals but would instead hit anyone in the vicinity. The clashes ended after over two hours of confrontation with Israeli forces, with no severe injuries.

While the families of the 23 young Palestinians returned on New Year’s Day were finally able to bury their loved ones, other families are still waiting and demanding the return of the bodies of their family members killed by Israeli forces or settlers. This inhumane tactic of keeping the bodies from the families, thus denying them the possibility of holding a funeral according to their beliefs, clearly violates 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.”

A frightening walk to school in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron)

2nd January, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Al Khalil, occupied Palestine

On 30^th December 2015, an aggressive Israeli settler and Israeli forces yet again intimidated and harassed Palestinian schoolboys in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

As Palestinian schoolchildren were walking to school for their end of the year exam, infamous settler Ofer drove past the Ziad Jaber elementary boys school on the route to the illegal Israeli settlement Kiryat Arba. Even though he is not a trained medical professional, but instead works as ‘settlement security’, he is often seen driving around occupied al-Khalil in an ambulance. He stopped the ambulance right at the military gate that children and teachers have to pass on their way to school.

Israeli forces and settler right opposite the school gate — Israeli forces and settler directly opposite the school gate

Ofer stepped out of the ambulance, ordered the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint to go with him and walked towards the school. He immediately started threatening international human rights defenders and teachers, walking all the way to the school gate. He accused children of throwing stones and aggressively filmed, holding by his phone directly in the faces of teachers and human rights defenders and spitting at them. When Ofer tried entering the schoolyard, Israeli forces refused to intervene even though human rights defenders were asking them to stop this armed man from entering the school property. The teachers from the school were able to stop him from entering the yard.

Watch a video:

As more and more soldiers and eventually the police arrived, school children were too scared to cross the military gate that was half-blocked by several military and police jeeps as well as the ambulance. With this large group of heavily armed soldiers, police and well-known, infamous settler Ofer immediately outside the school gate, the children were effectively prevented from accessing their school – a clear infringement on their basic human right to education.

Students forced to pass Israeli army and settlers on their way to school

While Israeli forces and Ofer stayed outside the school-gate for over half an hour, another group of soldiers aggressively body-searched every person walking up the hill towards the school from the other direction. Around the corner from there, groups of school-children were gathering, too scared to pass the soldiers on their way to school. The children had to be picked up by a group of teachers and walked to the school, some of them in tears.

Teacher walking crying student to school

The soldiers, as well as the Israeli police, were acting purely on the settler’s every wish and order. This illustrates the power settlers in occupied al-Khalil hold over the occupying army. In the end, the teachers had to ‘negotiate’ and reason with Ofer himself, as soldiers were standing idly by refusing to stop the armed settler from entering the school. Teachers and students alike instead had to fear that, on Ofer’s orders, the soldiers and police themselves were going to enter the school and raid it, as they have done in the past. When the settler, and then gradually the police and soldiers, left, Ofer threatened to come back at the end of the school day. As school finished early after the exam, children quickly left the school in big groups without any incidents.

Student body-searched by Israeli forces outside the school

The school children at Ziad Jaber elementary school on their everyday walk to and from school must pass Israeli forces at the checkpoint right outside the military gate and are often witness to humiliating and aggressive body-searches of their teachers and anyone else passing by. At times, the students themselves have to wait for their school bags to be searched by heavily armed soldiers or are even body-searched on their way home from school. This atmosphere of fear and intimidation – an infringement on so many of these children’s most basic human rights – impacts their everyday life. The impact on their academic achievement can’t be estimated, especially when asked to concentrate on the year end exam after safely navigating soldiers and settlers on their way to school. This is but a small glimpse into how growing up under military occupation in occupied Palestine looks like.