Category: Reports - Page 131 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli forces increase harassment of Palestinian school-children in al-Khalil (Hebron)

1st Novemeber 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

This morning at Qurtuba school in al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli soldiers harassed school-children, teachers and adults trying to pass the nearby checkpoint.

The stairs leading to Qurtuba school, the scene of a heinous murder of a Palestinian youth by Israeli forces three days ago, are directly opposite a checkpoint dividing segregated Shuhada Street into a small strip where Palestinian residents are allowed to walk and the former main Palestinian market now completely closed for Palestinians and only allowed for settlers. The school has, due to its proximity to the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah been a flashpoint of settler attacks and violence against Palestinians and internationals.

As teachers, school-children and parents are equally scared with violence rising and 19 Palestinian youth shot to death in the last two weeks, all the school-children are now gathering in one place in order to walk to school together. Parents living there were watching out for the children, telling them to move away from the street as soon as they could hear a car in the distance, afraid settlers would run them over if the children didn’t move fast enough. This has happened in the past and settlers continously try to hit children with their car.

Soldiers at the checkpoint denied one Palestinian adult around 30 years old to walk down the stairs. The soldiers stopped him and didn’t even ask for his ID, but ordered him to go back up the stairs and walk around. A group of female teachers and girls were ordered to stop in front of the stairs and made to wait for about 5 minutes. Again, soldiers did not demand any ID or to check bags, and finally allowed the group to pass and go to school after about five minutes.

Group pf teachers and school-children forced to wait on their way to school

All of this comes at a time, where the whole neighbourhood has been declared a ‘closed military zone’ by the Israeli forces, further infringing on the already restricted movement of Palestinians – while settlers from the illegal settlements are allowed to roam the streets freely.

This illustrates the daily harassment Palestinian children and teachers have to face on their way to and from school – a clear infringement on the basic right to education. But this does not only ring true for school-time, harassment and intimidation by soldiers and settlers are increasingly becoming an integral part of day to day life for Palestinians.

Hebron rages against ethnic cleansing of its youth at funeral for five young martyrs

31st October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Today, tens of thousands of mourners gathered for the funerals of five Palestinian youth murdered by Israeli forces in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). After the funeral, Israeli forces violently attacked mourners demonstrating at Bab al-Zawweya, injuring dozens.

Funeral procession on their way to the cemetry

Tens of thousands of mourners gathered for the midday prayer at the Husseini mosque, where the bodies of the five teenagers arrived yesterday night, after Israeli forces withheld them from their families for weeks. After the prayer, mourners marched the bodies to the martyr’s cemetry in al-Khalil, where Palestinians are laid to their last rest after being killed by Israeli forces or settlers from the illegal Israeli settlements.

When the funeral procession passed close to Bab al-Zawwiyah, Israeli forces from a nearby checkpoint fired tear gas and stun grenades, unprovoked, at the mourners who were solemnly walking towards the cemetery. Once at the cemetery, mourners flooded in to say their last goodbyes.

The five youth buried this day are Bayan al-Oseilly (16) and Tarek al-Natsheh (22) killed on October 18^th; Bashar (15) and Hussam (17) al-Jabari murdered on October 20^th; and Dania Arsheid (17) executed by Israeli forces on October 25^th. All of them have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers under the pretext of knife-attacks in less than two weeks. Videos and eye-witness statements strongly refute these claims.

Electronic billboard with pictures of the killed teens.

The Israeli government according to a new law is keeping bodies of Palestinians they claim attempted to harm Israeli forces or settlers, withholding the last remains from their families thus depriving them of their right to mourn their deaths according to their own culture. The bodies returned today are only five of the total 19 Palestinian youth killed in the last two weeks since October 17^th only in al-Khalil. A staggering number of Palestinians have been killed all over the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Keeping the bodies of these youths and young adults from their families deprives them of their right to bury their loved ones according to their religious rites and mourn them according to their culture.

After the funeral, a demonstration marched to Bab al-Zawwiyah protesting the continous murder of Palestinian youths by Israeli forces and the practice of denying the return of the bodies to the families. Family, friends and mourners walking back home from the funeral were forced to pass through areas tear-gassed by Israeli forces, leaving children, women and adults running away from the clouds of tear gas, clinging to alcohol-pads that were handed out in dozens by Red Crescent ambulances to prevent fainting from the highly toxic gas.

Israeli forces later showered demonstrators with hundreds of tear gas canisters, and attacked them with stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition. 23 persons were injured with live ammunition and had to be taken to hospital for treatment, 3 injured with rubber-coated-steel bullets had to be treated in hospital while dozens more were treated at the scene. One person was injured with a tear gas canister in the chest and had to be rushed to hospital. Dozens suffering from tear gas inhalation were also taken to hospital for treatment while many dozens more were treated at the scene by medics.

One of the many persons suffering from exhessive tear gas inhalation treated by a medic — One of the many persons suffering from excessive tear gas inhalation treated by a medic

This comes just as Israeli forces declared two major Palestinian neighbourhoods a closed military zone after ‘registering‘ all the families living there, preventing anyone that is not considered a ‘resident’ by the Israeli forces from entering this area. This further impedes the already tightly-restricted daily lives of Palestinians, completely denying them any freedom of movement. Even passing a distance of only 200 meters to buy essential groceries in a shop now closed most of the time due to the tight restrictions, Palestinians are detained and body-searched at gunpoint twice – all while settlers going to the nearby illegal settlement are walking around the streets freely without being bothered by the Israeli forces at all. This is apartheid.

Demonstration in Beit El violently attacked by Israeli forces

31st October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

The recent escalation of force used in the occupied Palestinian Territories was clear yesterday, Friday 30th October, when clashes broke out at Beit El near Ramallah. The demonstration was met with extreme violence by the Israeli occupation forces, leaving 15 people injured by live ammunition, 8 people injured by rubber-coated steel bullets, and 4 medics injured by pepper spray. The use of lethal weaponry against civilians at demonstrations, in situations where the Israeli forces are not in immediate mortal danger, reveals the reality of what Benjamin Netanyahu, on 16th September, described as, “the war on stone-throwers”.

Video footage from the demonstration shows an Israeli military jeep speeding towards a group of young Palestinians and striking one of them. A soldier then hit the injured youth with his gun and stamps on his head. Medics attempted to give aid to the youth but were prevented from doing so and assaulted by Israeli soldiers. Journalists (clearly marked as ‘Press’) trying to film the incident were also harassed.

Medics assaulted by Israeli forces while attempting to administer aid (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Medic injured by teargas inhalation after being targeted by Israeli Forces (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Medics attempting to administer aid amid excessive teargas (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Medic suffering from teargas inhalation (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Journalists harassed by Israeli Forces (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Demonstrator at Beit El, "the war on stone-throwers" (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM) — Demonstrator at Beit El, “the war on stone-throwers” (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Ambulances targeted with teargas (Photo credit: Mohannad Darabee, ISM)

Resident suffering from teargas inhalation

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(ISM, Mohannad Darabee)

Constant settler harassment for Palestinians in Shuhada Street

30th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Wednesday 28^th in the evening activists from the International Solidarity Movement once again received a call from local shop owner Ghassan telling that his shop was being surrounded by settlers from the illegal settlements in al-Khalil (Hebron).

The settlers were shouting curses at the Palestinians in the shop, harassing them and physically blocking the entrance to the shop. A group of about 6 adult settlers, most with machine guns, and a dozen of children were blocking the street in front of the shop and tried to prevent internationals access to the shop. The Israeli police did provide passage through the mob of settlers but then ordered the internationals to leave the area as soon as they realized ISMers were going into the shop.

The group of settlers kept shouting insults at the shop-owner and Palestinians as well as the internationals inside the shop. The settlers attempted getting into the shop, but luckily were prevented by the Israeli forces. When groups of settlers started attacking and insulting everyone inside the shop, the police banged one of the two remaining open door-jambs closed. A female settler, as can be seen in the following video, then insulted Palestinians, threatening them and calling for their death:

Instead of preventing this violent attack, Israeli forces slammed the door shop thus locking everyone on the inside in the shop without a possibility to leave or communicate. The settlers could still be heard banging on the doors and yelling. Only after the yelling and commotion calmed down after more than half an hour, the owner slowly opened the door to see if the settlers were gone. A few soldiers were still standing outside the shop, but no one informed the people on the inside of the shop that they would be able to open the door of the shop and thus get fresh air.

Short video of the police slamming the doors shut:

Ghassans shop is one of the last remaining Palestinian shops on Shuhada Street. Most Palestinian shops in the area, which used to contain Hebrons main fruit marked, have been closed by soldiers or the owners driven away by harassment and violence. Ghassan’s shop has, since it was opened in spite of violent settler-protests in the middle of this year, experienced countless incidents of settler violence and harassment.

Young unarmed man murdered in cold blood in Hebron

28th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Wednesday 28th October at 3.25pm, Islam Rafiq Obeido, 23, was shot in cold blood in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. Human rights observers from International Solidarity Movement witnessed the young man being murdered while walking in the street near the Gilbert Checkpoint.

The eyewitness from ISM, identified as Orion, states: “I am 100% sure he was unarmed. I saw the two soldiers creeping slowly along the road outside our apartment window with their guns cocked, so I looked down the street to see why. I saw an unarmed man walking normally towards the soldiers and suddenly they shot.”

The young man was shot at a distance of around two meters and at least 12 shots were fired. He died immediately after being shot.

No shouting or running was heard on the site prior to the murder. Minutes before the incident, a policewoman was overheard at the Shuhada Street checkpoint 56 saying on her radio “he looks like a good one, shoot him.”

Another activist from the ISM states: “It was just like last night, when they shot Hoummam Said. Everything was quiet and suddenly we heard many shots outside our apartment. I am sure he was unarmed and they murdered him for no reason, just like Hoummam”