6th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Bethlehem, occupied Palestine
The funeral of the 13-year old Abed al-Rahman Obeidallah, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces on his way home from school yesterday, took place today in Betlehem with over a thousand attendees. They marched from the Beit Jala hospital to Abeds house in Aida refugee camp. After the burial ceremony the mourning Palestinians were violently attacked by Israeli forces as they sprayed the streets with skunkwater and fired over a hundred tear-gas canisters, shot endless rounds of rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition. This resulted in more than 20 injuries. At least 13 Palestinians suffered from excessive tear-gas inhalation. At least 8 Palestinians were injured from rubber-coated steel bullets and at least 2 were shot with live ammunition.
The body of Abed al-Rahman Obeidallah at the funeral marchAbed al-Rahman Obeidallahs classmates mourning at the place where Israeli forces shot himIsraeli army using force on mourning palestiniansIsraeli forces covered the streets with tear-gasPalestinians running from the tear-gasPalestinians were injured due to excessive tear-gas inhalationIsraeli forces sprayed the streets with skunk waterExcessive use of tear-gas by Israeli forcesAmbulances rush to treat PalestiniansTear-gas in Bethlehem
5th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine
Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12 was still in his school uniform when he was rushed in a civilian car to Beit Jala hospital from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem today. The boy, from from a Al Kahder village, was shot in the heart during confrontations at Aida camp as violence explodes across the West Bank prompting the Red Crescent to declare a level 3 state of emergency across the occupied Palestinian territories. Another boy was shot in leg with live ammunition during the attack.
Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12, just before being shot to death by Israeli forces in Bethlehem
Denouncing Israeli violations against humanitarian international law, the Palestine Red Crescent Society staff have endured 14 attacks on their emergency vehicles as Israeli forces and settler violence has sharply surged in a bloody three days. Attacks on PRCS have included medics being beaten by soldiers in Jerusalem, Israeli forces beating an ambulance crew with batons in the old city of Jerusalem and after one attack on an emergency crew in Jabal Al Taweel (Al-Bireh), two medics were injured. Israeli forces attacked an ambulance in al-Issawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, before arresting an injured Palestinian who was being treated inside the ambulance. An ambulance windshield was also shattered by settlers in Burin village in Nablus. Burin underwent a frightening attack by settlers which left much of it in flames.
Reportedly 465 Palestinians have been injured thus far, including 28 shot with live ammunition and 68 injured with rubber coated steel bullets. Hundreds of others have been overcome by teargas that Israeli forces have been showering over villages and in cities where Palestinians have gathered to demonstrate against their murdering of several Palestinian youths since this past Saturday.
Young Palestinians martyrs recently murdered by Israeli forces.
Fadi Samir Mustafa Alloun, 19, from the East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya, was shot to death by Israeli forces after allegedly attempting to stab a group of Israelis. 18-year-old Huthayfa Othman Suleiman was shot in the chest during clashes and died in the operating room. In a particularly heinous attack, Yousef Bayan al-Tabib, just six years old, was standing on the side of the road when a settler reportedly stopped his car, shot the child in the stomach, and fled the scene.
Across the occupied Palestinian territories, there have been reports of settlers slaughtering Palestinian’s sheep, attacking Palestinian cars with stones on roads and carrying out violent attacks on villages. As for Israeli forces, soldiers disguised as Palestinians assisting an injured Palestinian into a hospital in Ramallah, disabled security cameras and proceeded to arrest a Palestinian undergoing medical treatment. This is similar to other hospital raids in recent days where a variation of this tactic was repeated.
As for the Israeli government, Netanyahu today made an inflammatory statement to wage a “harsh offensive” against Palestinians; Zionist opportunism at its most typical. Collective punishment is the usual expectation when it comes to the illegally occupying force dealing with the civilian population whose land they are occupying. Israel launched three air strikes in the besieged Gaza strip targeting alleged Hamas ‘terror’ sites after two rockets were fired from Gaza, hitting nothing and injuring no one.
News reports of shootings, injuries, murders, arrests and raids continue to flood in as the situation unfolds at a lightning quick pace. For Palestinians enduring the brunt of Israeli incited race hatred and promoted retribution for the shooting of two Israeli settlers last week, the cavalierly imposed restrictions on al Aqsa Mosque, which have sparked outrage and violent confrontations- and the ensuing chaos, are yet another violent incursion into their lives.
4th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Gaza, occupied Palestine
Sireen Frarjarh and her husband Mahmoud Abujoad Frarjah met eyes numerous times during this past Tuesday’s trial in an Ofer military court hearing. The trial was to determine if the young, newly married Palestinian man from the Deishah refugee camp in Bethlehem, would be held in detention until the conclusion of his court proceedings. The judgement, to continue Mahmoud’s detention was passed down by the blind eyes of the Israeli ‘justice’ system for an alleged crime over a year old.
Mahmoud and his wife Sireen, married just three months at the time of Mahmoud’s arrest in Jordan by Israeli authorities.
On September 9th, Mahmoud was arrested whilst traveling to Jordan on a family holiday. He was blindfolded and detained for 8 hours, during which he was denied water, food and toilet facilities. He was charged with throwing stones at a demonstration a year ago near Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem. Mahmoud had his initial hearing on Wednesday 16th September, which was then postponed until Sunday, September 20th. And although the judge ruled that Mahmoud should be released on September 29th, he subsequently refused his release.
The backdrop of this case is key. Minimization: Israel committed a human rights atrocity, an international law destroying massacre which claimed the lives of nearly 2,200 Palestinians, nearly a quarter of them innocent children during a military operation handily termed Protective Edge. (To date, no Israeli military or governmental personnel have sat in a courtroom, legs in chains, as were Mahmoud’s, and faced a judge for these heinous, reprehensible acts.) Maximization: Thanks to new legislation which perpetuates the critically and intentionally lopsided imbalance in Israeli courts for those on the wrong end of the class divide, Palestinian (alleged) stone throwers are more likely to face detention without bail until the end of their court proceedings. These regulations are applicable to Palestinian children as young as 12 years old.
Collective punishment was the overall tone of Military Judge Lt. Colonol Shmuel Keidar in his decision in this past Tuesday’s trial to accept the appeal of the military prosecution against the decision to release Mahmoud on bail, “With the security reality that to my sorrow exists in the area, I believe that the court can deviate from the micro-considerations regarding the defendant himself and yes to considerations of general deterrent, the touch considering the wide population in the area. Because of these things I believe it is not wrong to use the the reason of general deterrent straightaway or for detention and should express it as much as the situation needs. For all of these reasons I accept to keep him until the end of proceedings.”
The micro-considerations Keider is so cavalierly referring to here is that the alleged witness to the stone throwing was one man who was arrested and during interrogation gave twenty Palestinian’s names to investigators, Mahmoud’s being one of them. With such baseless evidence, the Keider is willing to continue Mahmoud’s imprisonment until the trial’s conclusion; likely a considerable amount of time.
The micro-considerations being that Mahmoud is of no security risk and is being held and tried on a basis so flimsy it wouldn’t get so much as a peek inside a courtroom in most places the globe over. In the end, Mahmoud is yet another young Palestinian who will fall under the weight of the broken wheel of the Israeli ‘justice’ system.
The fact alone that Israeli lawmakers can seriously argue for harsh sentence structures for Palestinian stone throwers, this is an act of resistance to an internationally noted criminal six decade military occupation, whilst silently they make space between each passing day and the dark hallway of massacre and subjugation left in their wake, is an utter absurdity.
In the end Mahmoud will possibly face the same road most Palestinians in Israeli courts face. In order to avoid languishing in Israeli prison for up to two years while court proceedings drag on to the punchline crescendo of a trial which ends, almost across the board, badly for every Palestinian enduring it- Mahmoud can plead guilty and take a deal giving him several months imprisonment. And it makes it that much easier the next time Mahmoud, or any Palestinian for that matter, is arrested to show a history of supposed criminal behavior with previous guilty pleas and sentences served.
The case of Mahmoud Abujoad Frarjah is another sounding of the death knell for any kind of justice being seen for the Palestinian people.
Sami Ali El Goga – fisherman who was attacked by the Israeli navy.
ISM Gaza met the fisherman Sami Ali El Goga, 36, who lost his hand and part of his arm the 12th March 2007, when he was attacked by the Israeli navy. In the same attack his boat was completely destroyed and his 13-year-old nephew, who was in the boat with him, sustained shrapnel wounds throughout his body.
Eight years later he is still waiting for the assistance promised by several international agencies, as he hasn’t been able to work since the attack, and without the boat a 20-member-family lost its source of income.
On that day, Sami and his nephew had just reached the 1.5 miles naval blockade when the zionist army approached and started shooting rockets towards them. They attempted to escape to the closest beach, as there was no chance to reach the port. Once on the beach the shooting didn’t stop. Whilst attempting to escape from the boat with his nephew, itwas hit by a rocket and in the explosion Sami was severely injured. Henearly bled to death waiting for medical assistance as the Israeli navy prevented any recue from reaching him until 30 minutes later.
After 3 hospitals in Gaza weren’t able to treat him the Palestinian Authority mediated in order that he could be treated in a Hospital in the ‘48 territories (AKA Israel), as the occupation had previously refused to allow him to exit Gaza. The doctors there amputated his hand and afterwards he was taken by the zionist intelligence for an interrogation before sending him back to Gaza.
This wasn’t the first attack Sami suffered, as another boat from his family had been stolen by the occupation in the past.
3rd October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Last night, a group of about two dozen Israeli settlers trespassed on private Palestinian land in al-Khalil (Hebron), protected by the Israeli police.
Firday evenening, a group of about two dozen settlers from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba again came to private Palestinian land situated right opposite the entrance to the illegal settlement to pray.
Settlers trespass with protective police presence on Palestinian property/closed military zone
In the past, settlers have built a synagogue on this land that was demolished in April this year, after an Israeli court ruled that they had no right to build on this land owned by a Palestinian family. Since the demolition, settlers have repeatedly attacked the Palestinian families living in this neighbourhood.
Now, the piece of land has been declared a closed military zone, denying the family access to their own land, even though an Israeli court ruled that the land belongs to them. As the land is a closed military zone, settlers are forbidden from entering, yet Israeli police forces were present and protective of Israeli settlers trespassing on the land.
International human rights observers documenting the illegal use of this land were accosted and threatened by the group of settlers as they left the area.
Settlers accost and threaten ISM observers as they leave the area where they were trespassing
