Category: Reports

UPDATED: Murad Eshtewi, and four Palestinian youths from Kafr Qaddum, still under custody after court hearing

12th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Second Update Tuesday 13th May:

Murad Eshtwei’s next court day is Sunday 18th May at Ofer prison. Ream Harham, Mustafa Eshtewi, and Ahmad Hassan Eshtewi have a court date tomorrow in Ofer court at 14:30. Reslan Joma will have his court date next week.

Update Tuesday 13th of May:

On Monday 12th of May there was a court hearing for Murad, Reslan, Ream, Mustafa and Ahmad. Murad is still in remand (pre-trial detention) until the next court hearing. Murad’s attorney will appeal the decision, but if rejected the next court hearing should be on the 9th of June.

The remaining four residents of Kafr Qaddum have been technically released on bail. The court demanded a bail of 10,000NIS for each one (over 2,000 euros). However, the Israeli state has appealed this decision and therefore they are still under custody. Their attorney will appeal against the bail.

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On the night of the 28th to 29th of April 2014, the Israeli army raided the village of Kafr Qaddum to arrest five people, among them Murad Eshtewi, the media coordinator of the weekly Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum. The four other young man who where arrested are Reslan Joma, Ream Harham, Mustafa Eshtewi and Ahmad Hassan Eshtewi.

At this time, all five are still imprisoned by Israeli forces in Meggido prison. This prison is located north of the West Bank and thereby contradicting Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states that “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein”.

Murad is being charged with stone throwing and organizing the demonstration, while the remaining four youths are also charged with stone throwing.

Witnesses from the village state that the Israeli army, numbering approximately 100 soldiers, raided the different houses at approximately 02.30AM. Murad was arrested at his house, however the Israeli army used unconventional methods to arrest him. The soldiers climbed into Murad’s bedroom window using ladders, and took him out of the window. Although no tear gas or stun grenades were used during the arrests, the other four houses that were raided in Kafr Qaddum suffered serious property damage.

According to Murad’s attorney, two youths from Kafr Qaddum were arrested 12 weeks ago. They were held in custody and interrogated for a month and forced to give out names of people participating in the weekly Friday demonstration in their village. The lawyer suspects that Murad Eshtewi and the four youths arrested during the night raid were on the list.

Murad Eshtewi was ambushed and arrested by Israeli forces on December 2013, but he was released on bail four days later. His attorney at the time stated that: “Contrary to the fundamental principles of due process we have not been presented with the accusations against Murad nor has he been interrogated since his arrest.”

Currently, Murad and the other villagers from Kafr Qaddum have been in custody for 12 days. During this period, they have had two court hearings in which their sentences were postponed, allegedly to collect more evidence.

The weekly Friday demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum started in 2011 to reopen the road to Nablus and against the illegal Israeli settlement of Qedumim. The Israeli army responded with systematic arrests. In some cases, the detainees would be under custody for one or two days and then released on bail. According to the former mayor of Kafr Qaddum, this has had an important economic impact: approximately 250,000 shekels (almost 52,000 euros) have been paid by local villagers to release their detainees. As of today, there are 155 villagers from Kafr Qaddum detained in Israeli prisons out of a total population of approximately 4,500.

From a Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum (photo by ISM).
From a Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum (photo by ISM).

15-year-old boy assaulted and detained in Hebron

10th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Today in al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli soldiers viciously assaulted a 15-year-old boy while they were attempting to arrest him. The soldiers accused him of attacking 10 settler youth; he was then taken to Tel Rumeida military base and then released after 20 minutes with no charges.

ISM activists witnessed one Israeli soldier pulling the young teenager towards Tel Rumeida military base, as his two sisters frantically tried to intervene. The 15-year-old was held in the military base, on his own, for approximately 20 minutes before being released.

After the incident, ISM activists spoke to the boy’s father, Abu Shamsiyeh, who described the events leading to his son’s detention. He explained that he was in his house when his two daughters ran to him and said that Israeli soldiers were attacking their brother. Abu Shamsiyeh left the house to witness a group of soldiers grabbing his son by the neck and throwing him to the ground. He told the soldiers that his son has problems with his back, and was ignored.

More Israeli soldiers, including a commander, arrived and when Abu Shamsiyeh tried to speak to them, he was physically grabbed and told he was not allowed to accompany his son to the military base, or to continue filming.

Israeli police did not arrest the 15-year-old as they said it was impossible for a boy of his size to attack 10 settler youth.

Abu Shamsiyeh stated that the family, himself, his wife and all five of his children, have many problems with Israeli soldiers and with the settlers from nearby illegal settlements in Tel Rumeida. However, he explained that on Saturdays (the Sabbath in Judaism), the harassment often escalates due to an increase in settler activity and an influx of Zionists tourists.

Almost three out of four houses in Izbat at Tabib are at risk of demolition

8th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbat at Tabib, Occupied Palestine

Izbat at Tabib, a small town of approximately 300 people located in the northwest of the West Bank, has 33 houses with demolition orders pending. The town totals 45 houses, this means that the demolition orders could destroy over 73% the town.

According to a local witness, the majority of the demolition orders have been standing since 2012, in recent years at least two houses have been demolished in this small town. The first demolition took place in 2009, five years after the demolition order was served. The second house was demolished in 2011; just one year after the demolition order was handed to the family. In both cases the Israeli army gave the families only one hour to gather their belongings before their houses were demolished.

Furthermore, there is Alfe Menashe, an illegal Israeli settlement located just two kilometres away from Izbat at Tabib. The growth and proximity of this illegal settlement is forcing the local Palestinian population to abandon their agricultural land. The villagers recall that the illegal settlers are planning to build a factory near Alfe Menashe, which could end up taking over 160 dunums (16 hectares) of land from Izbat at Tabib. An area of land adjacent to the town has had its trees uprooted by Israeli settlers recently. Allegedly this was done in order to clear the area for the future illegal factory. The villagers, however, have begun replanting the uprooted trees with young olive and pine trees.

As ISM has extensively reported, the Israeli army has also been harassing the town of Izbat at Tabib, although witnesses recall that no major incidents have happened recently. Nonetheless, the Israeli army frequently goes into the small village at night, questioning local villagers and asking for their ID cards. The Israeli army also frequently blocks the local road, which connects Izbat at Tabib with Road 55, forcing the locals to travel through the town of Azzun to reach their village. The last time this happened was approximately two months ago, although local villagers tend to remove the roadblock by their own means.

The town of Izbat at Tabib is located in Area C [under full Israeli military control] according to the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, therefore building or transit permits are very rarely granted to local Palestinians. Since Israeli authorities do not recognise this town, they have placed almost three quarters of its structures under demolition orders, including the local school.

 

Daily Harassment in the Qeitun area

6th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Residents of Qeitun area of Al-Khalil, near Shuhada St. are presented with a very different kind of daily routine than other areas of the occupied West Bank. Israel occupation forces not only raid houses and harass people on a daily basis, but also use the local population as part of their military training.

On Tuesday, the 29th of April, the Israeli army was training for the erecting and working of a flying checkpoint, pulling over cars on the main road of the area which leads to the military base, also called Qeitun. During this training the commander was instructing the soldiers how to stop and search drivers and their cars.

Photo by ISM
Photo by ISM

Two days later, on Thursday 1st of May at 11:30pm, ISM activists were called out to witness the Israeli army performing a massive operation of night raids, with approximately 100 soldiers. When the activist got to the area, the army had detained an 18-year old. The youth was released 30 minutes after the arrival of the activists. Many of the local people, still in their nightdresses, were out in the streets while the soldiers were inside their houses.

At around 1:00am the soldiers left the area and had what seemed like a quick evaluation of the whole operation, making it difficult to know whether it was an actual military operation or just some sort of training, similar to the flying checkpoint training that took place two days earlier. For the people of Qeitun there’s no actual difference between “training” and a live military operation of the occupation forces.

In an ISM visit with a family of the Qeitun area, they report that the soldiers have been starting the raids as early as 9pm and had raided a total of 50 houses. They also reported that during one of the raids the soldiers had broken into a house with such violence that an elderly woman with a heart condition, had gone into coma and had to be rushed to the hospital.

The family reported that the area experiences night raids at least two or three times a week. Israeli soldiers enter and harass the locals on a daily basis and the army has arrested two minors during the last month.

During the second intifada almost all families living in the houses located near Shuhada St. were forced out by the Israeli army, allegedly for security reasons, making this part of the area a ghost town.

Harassment in Awarta

2nd May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team| Awarta, Occupied Palestine

At 4.30 am on Wednesday the 30th of April; a group of Israeli soldiers broke into a family home in the village of Awarta, near the illegal settlement of Itamar.

11 soldiers woke up the family, claiming that it was “security search”. A member of the family asked to see a written order and was shown a piece of paper, written only in Hebrew.

Once inside the house, the soldiers forced the family into the living room, confiscating their mobile phones. Muhammad Sharab, a member of the family, stated they were held for 12 hours.

No one in the house was allowed to exit to go to work or to school, there are six children and the family, all under the age of 14.

During the 12 hours, the Israeli soldiers slept in the house’s bedrooms and used the shower.

Muhammed Sharab described an exchange with the soldiers: “What you would do if I would come in your house in Tel Aviv and do the same as you?”

“I’m just following orders,” was the reply from a soldier.

At approximately 5 pm, nearly 12 hours after they entered the house, the Israeli soldiers left the home and the village of Awarta.

Reports from the village reveal that the same night Israeli soldiers raided another house. That house is located in the same area where just under two weeks ago Israeli soldiers entered houses in Awarta and shot several tear gas grenades inside. 20 Palestinians, including children, were taken to the hospital due to large amounts of tear gas inhalation.

The village of Awarta has been increasingly targeted by the Israeli military, possibly due to close proximity of the illegal Itamar settlement. In the last two weeks, a new road from the settlement, connecting to the main road has been built, and the villagers report that many olives tree were cut down during the construction.