16 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Kufr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine
Approximately 200 Palestinians, joined by a handful of International activists, participated in yesterdays weekly demonstration in Kufr Qaddum.
At around 12 am, after midday prayers, protesters marched from the center of the village up the main road leading to Qedumim settlement. Clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers had already erupted when the Israeli military began bulldozing pre-made barricades. The clashes continued as Palestinians resisted by throwing stones and the Israeli army shot tear gas canisters directly at people. The demonstration lasted for over two hours during which protesters went back and forward along the main road.
One journalist was hit with a tear gas canister on his foot and collapsed; he was carried away to be treated by the ambulance crew. An elderly woman from the village had to be stretchered away from her house as a result of overexposure to tear gas. At least three protesters, Odeh Abd Alfattah (20), Rani Ali (30) and Mohammad Salih (25) were also reported to be hit by tear gas canisters, without any of them resulting in serious injury.
Kufr Qaddum, a small town of 3,500 inhabitants, is situated in the northern West Bank, between Nablus and Qalqiliya. Kufr Qaddum’s total land area used to consist of nearly 19,000 dunams, of which 11,000 are now under total Israeli control. Village lands have been repeatedly confiscated to build and expand the settlement of Qedumim. The expansion of one the settlement’s neighborhoods, Mitzpe Yishai, became relatively well-known when even the Israeli Civil Administration described land takeover as theft. Furthermore, the village has been effectively besieged since the beginning of the Second Intifada, when the main and only entrance to the village was blocked by the army. The main road has been, since then, closed, forcing residents to travel around an extra 15 km to get to Nablus.
Since 2011, residents of Kufr Qaddum have been resisting the land grab and the road closure by holding weekly demonstrations. The Israeli army often violently suppresses the protests shooting tear gas canisters, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets.
15 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ofer Prison, Occupied Palestine
A demonstration was held outside Ofer prison in Ramallah as part of a week of action in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners, and in particular to protest the continued detention of Samer Assawi who is on his 207th day of hunger strike whilst being held without charge.
Several hundred attended traditional Friday prayers which were held outside the prison gates in an act of nonviolent resistance.
Prayers outside Ofer prison
Clashes ensued between protesters, including stone-throwing youth, and the Israeli army which responded by firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and, later on, live ammunition. During the clashes, which continued for around three hours, two Palestinians from Ramallah were hit by live ammunition in the shoulder and the leg. Dozens of Palestinians, including journalists, were taken away in ambulances to be treated for injuries caused by rubber-coated steel bullets as well as teargas inhalation. There are also reports of ambulances being deliberately targeted with rubber-coated steel bullets as injured protesters were being carried inside. This demonstration coincided with dozens of others across the West Bank.
Person being taken away in a stretcher after being shot with live ammunitionPerson being carried away in stretcher after tear gas inhalation
14 February 2013 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Divided Palestine
The Gaza Strip has often been called an “open air prison” in light of the illegal closure imposed on it by the Israeli authorities. However, the territory became a prison for many Palestinians long before the closure came into effect. In the early stages of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since 1967, Israeli authorities conducted a census in the occupied Palestinian territory, and counted 954,898 Palestinians. This census excluded all Palestinians who were not present during the process, either because they had been displaced due to the 1967 war or because they were abroad for studies, work, or other reasons. These Palestinians were not included in the population registry. Thousands more Palestinians, who spent any considerable length of time abroad between 1967 and 1994, were also struck from the registry. Israel requires Palestinians to be included in this population registry in order for them or their children to be considered lawful residents and obtain Israeli-approved identification cards and passports. Israel, being the occupying power of the Gaza Strip, decides which Palestinian citizens should receive identification and travel document. According to the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip, there are 4058 Palestinians in Gaza who do not have travel documents to enable them to travel outside Gaza.
Mona Khrais, 27, and her family have borne the brunt of these harsh policies for many years. Mona’s father, Abdulfattah Hussein Khrais, 70, was forcibly displaced to the Gaza Strip in 1948 and lived there for many years as a refugee. In 1967, when the Israeli census was carried out, Abdel was studying abroad in Egypt. Mona explains: “From Egypt my father moved to Libya and worked there for 15 years, where he got married, and then my parents moved to Saudi Arabia and stayed there for 20 years until 2000. My father worked as a physics teacher in Saudi Arabia and when his tenure ended there, we came to Gaza. To reach Gaza, we had to obtain visiting permission from the Israeli authorities but, since arriving here, we have not been able to travel outside Gaza.” Mona adds: “We are not able to leave because we are not recognised by Israel as Palestinian citizens. We need Israeli-approved passports to be able to travel outside Gaza. We applied for them after coming here in 2000, but so far we have not heard anything from the authorities.”
Mona and her family have suffered great hardship as a result of being trapped in the Gaza Strip, and her frustration is reflected in her voice as she says, “We are recognised as Palestinian citizens by the government in the Gaza Strip, but because Israel does not have our names on a list we are not recognised anywhere outside Gaza. The local government in Gaza has issued us identity documents, but these can be used only inside Gaza. These documents are meaningless beyond the borders of Gaza.”
Mona further explains the impact of the lack of valid identification and travel documents: “We have had to face many problems because of our situation. My brother, Hani, who lives in Canada and has a Canadian passport, was denied entry into Gaza by the Egyptian authorities because, just like us, he too is not registered as a Palestinian by Israel. Last year, in July, he and his wife and three children travelled from Canada to visit us. They were not allowed to enter Gaza and had to stay in Egypt for an entire week. During that time, they travelled to the Rafah crossing every day to try to reach Gaza, but they were denied entry each time because they don’t have Israeli-approved passports. I have not seen my brother in 12 years, and my nephews not even once.
Other family members living outside Gaza have also been affected: “My mother’s brother, who lives in Sweden, cannot travel to Gaza due to a serious heart condition and, because my mother cannot go outside Gaza, she has not been able to see him for a very long time. Also, my father has not seen his brother, who lives in Gambia, for years because he can’t come to Gaza either. My family has been separated because of our situation.”
Not having a valid travel document has negatively impacted Mona’s ability to advance in her education and career. She explains, “I wanted to study Management in a university abroad but, because I cannot travel outside, I cannot apply. I am also not eligible to apply for various jobs because they require me to hold a travel document. My younger brother, who lives with us in Gaza, achieved a score of 96% in his high school exams but, just like me, he has been unable to enrol in a university abroad. It is my right to choose my education and the same goes for my brother.” Despite these difficulties, Mona has been trying to make the best of the past 12 years. She presently works with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza.
The family’s inability to leave the Gaza Strip could have serious consequences in the event that a member of the family falls ill, something Mona fears: “My worst fear is that if anyone in my family falls seriously ill and has to travel outside Gaza for treatment, they won’t be allowed because they don’t have a passport.”
Mona’s father Abdulfattah says: “The simple thing is that, because we are Palestinian citizens, we should have Palestinian passports. Just like us, there are many other Palestinians who are in this difficult position.” Mona’s mother, Samira Ibrahim al-Najjar, makes a plea to the Israeli authorities, saying, “I want my passport. Please give it to me. I want to see my son and grandchildren.”
Under international law, Article 12 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees that “everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” Moreover, according to the United Nations Human Rights Committee [General Comment No. 27], “Freedom to leave the territory of a State may not be made dependent on any specific purpose or on the period of time the individual chooses to stay outside the country. [. . .]The right of a person to enter his or her own country recognizes the special relationship of a person to that country. The right has various facets. It implies the right to remain in one’s own country.” The Human Rights Committee also observed that “A State party must not, by stripping a person of nationality or by expelling an individual to a third country, arbitrarily prevent this person from returning to his or her own country.” Also according to the International Court of Justice, persons who have a genuine and effective link to a country, such as habitual residence, cultural identity, and family ties cannot simply be banned from returning to that country.
12 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Sabastiya, Occupied Palestine
Sabastiya is an ancient city located just 10 km north of Nablus, West Bank. It contains Canaanite, Israelite, Hellenistic, Herodian, Roman and Byzantine ruins as well as the tomb of John the Baptiste. The winding city streets along with its history make Sabastiya an ideal place to visit. Yet, as charming and beautiful as the old city is, the nearby Israeli settlement of Shafi Shamrom is making lives of Sabastiya’s residents very difficult: settlers uprooted olive trees, introduced wild boars into the environment to damage the land, and most recently, sewage has started leaking from the settlement flooding Palestinian fields.
In 2001 settlers uprooted and destroyed around 1000 olive trees, substantially damaging the land of several families. In 2006 the army put up a fence in an attempt to confiscate the land where the trees had originally been. Sabastiya’s farmers acted: they pulled the fence down in a defiant act of resistance and since that time there have been no further attempts to install it again.Flooded Palestinian agricultural land
The most recent and disturbing action on the part of illegal settlers of Shafi Shamron is pumping their raw, untreated sewage directly onto Palestinian fields. As the sewage is absorbed into the land, olive and apricot trees are rendered diseased and, according to the residents, “poisoned”. The flow of human waste begins from a pipe on the perimeter of the settlement, creating a sort of reservoir which then runs through the adjacent Palestinian fields, compelling each subsequent land owner to create a canal in order to drain the sewage water on to his neighbors land and further away.
Residents of Sabastiya are currently bringing legal action against Shafi Shamron in order to stop the settlement from dumping its sewage on Palestinian lands. The malodorous sewage running through the fields must remind a regular visitor of non-violent protests of a very effective strategy used by the army; the “skunk” water, which is chemical liquid smelling of excrement commonly sprayed on protesters. Settlers are evidently using a similar technique to make local residents’ lives even more difficult. The Shali Shamron settlements sewage pipe
12 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif, Nablus, Occupied Palestine
UPDATE: All of those detained today have been released and the Brit who was pepper sprayed has been let out of hospital
At around 11am this morning, a group of internationals including three volunteers from the Michigan Peace Team travelled to Urif in Nablus. They were attempting to assist in planting olive trees at the top of the village near the school, an area which has been the scene of much of the recent troubles in Urif.
Despite being nowhere near the illegal Israeli settlement, Yizhar, Israel forces have a constant presence on the hilltop. One local resident said, “we always know when we are about to be attacked by settlers, because the army leave their position at the top of the hill“.
On arrival activists were immediately approached by the Israeli Occupation Force who were asking for internationals’ passports, the army then tried to arrest a Palestinian farmer.
The internationals tried to intervene but 6 including three from the Michigan Peace Team and 3 volunteers from the ISM were arrested. The three ISM activist currently in detention at the Ariel settlement are from America, Denmark and Finland; no Palestinians were arrested.
Two ISM volunteers were pepper sprayed which hospitalised one British volunteer.
participated in yesterdays weekly demonstration in Kufr Qaddum.
One journalist was hit with a tear gas canister on his foot and collapsed; he was carried away to be treated by the ambulance crew. An elderly woman from the village had to be stretchered away from her house as a result of overexposure to tear gas. At least three protesters, Odeh Abd Alfattah (20), Rani Ali (30) and Mohammad Salih (25) were also reported to be hit by tear gas canisters, without any of them resulting in serious injury. 
