13th October 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Today at the Salaymeh checkpoint in al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli soldiers fired four long-range tear gas canisters, and threw three stun grenades, all towards children leaving school to walk home. One tear gas grenade was also thrown directly at ISM activists documenting the military violence.
Israeli soldiers were positioned very close to the school, due to the new position of the concrete blocks that designate the end of H2 (the area of Hebron under full Israeli military control). Yesterday they were moved further away from Salaymeh checkpoint to further encroach upon Palestinian territory.
Two Israeli soldiers also occupied the top floor of a Palestinian apartment block and positioned themselves above the schoolchildren.
12th October 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Today in al-Khalil (Hebron), as part of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, thousands of settlers and Zionist tourists descended upon the city. The Israeli military presence in Hebron, which is already a large an oppressive part of everyday life, greatly increased.
Many tour buses lined up filled with Zionist tourists
Hebron is the only city in the West Bank where there is an illegal settlement in the heart of the city. It is split into H1 and H2, H1 under Palestinian Authority Control, and H2 under Israeli military control.
This morning, in both the Salaymeh and Qeitun neighbourhoods, the checkpoints designating the end of H1 were extended further into Palestinian territory.
A closed road in Qeitun.The roadblocks moved further down in Qeitun.The roadblocks moved further down in Salaymeh.
Israeli soldiers drove between Salaymeh and Qeitun, entering houses, hiding in alleyways, and aiming their guns at passing schoolchildren and other people in the area.
In the afternoon, the army presence was just as heavy, with children walking home past heavily armed soldiers.
In H1, Bab al-Zawiye (the centre of Hebron), Israeli forces partially closed the road to allow settlers and Zionist tourists through the checkpoint to visit a religious holy site.
Settlers entering their religious site in H1.
They were escorted by approximately 45 Israeli border police and soldiers. Several Palestinian shops were forced to close for several hours, to allow the setters and tourists to pass.
The Ibrahimi mosque and nearby checkpoint was also closed today, with all Palestinian shops in the area forced to close with it.
9th October 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday at approximately 10 PM in the Qeitun region of Al-Khalil (Hebron), a group of 6 Israeli soldiers accused 14-year-old Amjad Taha of throwing fire crackers at them outside of his home. Amjad’s cousin, Muhammad Taha (17 years-old), was standing close by with his 2-year-old cousin when the Israeli soldiers began to aggressively grab Amjad. A few of the soldiers then grabbed Muhammad, who was still holding his baby cousin. The soldiers began to take Amjad, Muhammad, and their baby cousin away from the front of their house.
Jamil’s 2-year-old son
The 2-year-old’s father and the boys’ uncle, Jamil, hearing the soldiers outside his home, came outside to where the boys were to find the Israeli soldiers attempting to take his nephews and son away. Jamil took his baby son from Muhammad and then the soldiers became increasingly aggressive to both boys. The Israeli soldiers proceeded to hit Muhammad in his leg and then push him against the wall causing him more pain. While this was happening, the boy’s uncle, Osama Taha (27 years-old), ran towards Muhammad and attempted to stop the Israeli soldiers from beating him by pushing a soldier away from his nephew. Then the soldier grabbed Osama and told him that he would kill him. The Israeli soldier then shot a live bullet into the air as a warning. Seven more Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene and they proceeded to blindfold Amjad, Muhammad, and Osama. Then the Israeli soldiers violently forced them into an Israeli army jeep. As Muhammad was being forced into the jeep, the soldiers pushed his head onto the vehicle causing him pain. Amjad was also pushed against the jeep very forcefully resulting in a broken finger.
The three blindfolded Palestinians were then taken to Shuhada checkpoint in Tel Rumeida and transferred into Israeli police custody. The Israeli police took all of them to the police station by Ibrahimi Mosque in H2 for questioning. Amjad and Muhammad were held there until 1 in the morning. Osama Taha was kept in the police station and then transferred to a prison near Bethlehem where he is currently being held without charge. Osama’s brother told ISM activists: “I can’t believe they still have him. He didn’t do anything. He was just trying to protect his nephew. Osama has learning disabilities. I really fear for how this will affect him and how they will treat him.”
As a result of the Jewish holidays, the amount of soldiers in Al-Khalil (Hebron) has increased immensely. The Israeli army enters Palestinian neighborhoods almost weekly, detaining and arresting Palestinians without cause or reason. This method of harassment is one of many tools that the Israeli army uses in an effort to force Palestinians out of their homes.
10th October 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team |Burin, Occupied Palestine
Tuesday afternoon, the 7th of October, olive farmer Mahmoud Rga Mahoud Aid, his wife, and thei three children were attacked by a a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Giv’at Ya’akov. The attack took place on the family´s land near the village of Burin, south west of Nablus.
Mahmoud Rga Mahoud Aid
The the family had only three days permission from the District Coordination Office (DCO) to access their land and pick their olives, starting from the 6th of October. To harvest all the olives on the land would normally take about a month.
On the first day of picking, Zionist settlers came down from the illegal settlement and tried to prevent Mahmoud from entering his land. The Israeli military interfered and told the settlers to leave, and Mahmoud was able to finish his working day without further interference from the settlers.
On the second day of picking the family was able to access the land but in the midst of picking the nearby soldiers started yelling at them, ”They are coming, they are coming for you!”
Mahmoud looked up and saw five male settlers wearing masks coming down from the hill towards him and his family. The settlers started throwing rocks at them and Mahmoud tried to protect his family by covering them with the tarpaulin used to collect the olives in. This helped for a while, but the settlers came closer and physically attacked Mahmoud. They continuously hit him in the chest, stomach and the head, and his foot was badly bruised by a stone thrown by the settlers.
The Israeli soldiers watched the settlers attack the family, but didn’t react until a considerable amount of time had passed. Eventually they came down from the hill and told the settlers to leave the area.
Mahmoud walked down the hill, wounded, and was stopped by another group of soldiers who detained him for allegedly attacking the settlers and “causing trouble”. The commander called one of the soldiers that witnessed the attack and even though this soldier told the truth, stating that Mahmoud was attacked, the commander asked for Mahmoud’s passport number and personal information to make a file on him. Furthermore Mahmoud lost his permission for the third and last day of olive picking.
Over a period of ten years, illegal settlers have destroyed approximately 240 olive trees owned by the family. They have about 60 trees left and the settlers keep taking over more and more of their land. As mentioned before, they are permitted a very short time to harvest olives from their trees so a lot of the olives goes to waste which ultimately effects the families income. Mahmoud is afraid that the settlers are planning to destroy all the trees so the family will not have any reason to enter the land the settlers are slowly taking over. Mahmoud anticipates the settler harassment to escalate in the olive harvest high season, which is in two weeks.
4th October 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Qarawat Banea Hassan, Occupied Palestine
On the 30th of September, six young men from the village of Qarawat Banea Hassan, south of Nablus, were arrested by the Israeli military.
At 1am, five jeeps with around 20 solders surrounded the village looking for Jema Kanan (23-years old), Jema Rayan (22-years old), Yousef Rayan (19-years old), Khalil Assan (20-years old), Wahbi Rayan (17-years old), and Hazem Assi (18-years old).
The solders entered several houses looking for the men, breaking doors and terrifying the families.
A broken handle left over from the night raid (photo by ISM).
The solders arrested two brothers from the same family, the older brother has just got married and his wife is four moths pregnant with their first child.
She was alone in their house sleeping when the solders broke up two of their doors. The woman had to go to the hospital due to being afraid of miscarrying their child.
The solders threatened many of the families, including a 16-year-old brother who they threatened to beat if he did not give information about his brother.
Since July, 21 men have been arrested from the village. In July the villagers held a demonstration to protest the massacre in Gaza, and shortly after the arrests began.
Only five of the men have been given a date for their trial, the other 16 are still waiting in prison.
