Category: Reports - Page 280 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli politician attacks Palestinians in Hebron

Update: Issa Amro was arrested yesterday afternoon and accused of assaulting Baruch Marzel. Issa was released yesterday night on bail.

by Team Khalil

9 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

A non-violent activist group was attacked last night by a gang of settlers including the ultra right-wing Israeli politician Baruch Marzel.

Members of the Hebron based non-violent Youth Against Settlements group say that Marzel’s son and friends came to their centre, located on the edge of the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement, and began throwing stones at the activists.

Baruch then arrived, entered their property without permission and attempted to strike Issa Amro, the group’s coordinator. This event was captured on film.

The group also told how Marzel attempted to kick Jawad Abu Eysheh. Soldiers soon arrived and separated the crowds. Amro and Abu Eysheh were detained and the settlers were allowed to return home, despite video evidence of their violence.

Marzel, who recently stood for election in the Knesset, is no stranger to violence. He has an extensive criminal record that includes assaulting Palestinians and vandalism. He used to be a member of the Kach party, considered to be a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Video from the attack: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=493377500724787

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

17 year old youth arrested in Tel Rumeida, Hebron

by Team Khalil

7 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

A 17 year old youth was arrested and 2 others, including a 13 year old boy, were detained at checkpoint 56 in Tel Rumeida, Hebron.

At around 8 pm on 7th February Israeli occupation forces soldiers detained three men, accusing them of throwing stones at the checkpoint. After an hour Munir Zehdeh, 17, was arrested and taken in an army jeep to the police station at Givat Havot, near Kiyrat Arba in Hebron.

The other two Palestinians detained, one 25 year old from the Sharabati family and the other 13 year old from the Atrash family, were released without any charges after being held for an hour.

This is the second such incident at this checkpoint in consecutive days. People at the scene claimed that no one had thrown stones at the checkpoint. In the incident that happened the day before a 14 year old boy was detained for throwing stones when he was on a family visit with his mother. Bystanders said that the soldiers lie about youths throwing stones at them to arbitrarily detain Palestinians for no other reason than to harass them.

Checkpoint 56 is located on the boundary between the H1 Palestinian controlled area, and the H2 Israeli controlled area of Hebron, at the end of Shuhada Street. This checkpoint is the main entrance for Palestinians to access Tel Rumeida and is often closed on the whim of the soldiers stationed there. The soldiers regularly abuse Palestinians’ rights to freedom of movement and routinely harass people passing through the checkpoint, making men take off their belts to pass through the metal detector and searching peoples’ bags at gunpoint. This customary harassment increases tensions in this volatile location, close to where there are illegal Israeli settlements in the centre of a Palestinian city. Checkpoint 56 was the focus of Palestinians anger during the clashes between the shebab and Israeli occupation forces during the November 2012 Israeli assault on Gaza, and after Mohammad Ziad Awwad Salayme was murdered by the Israeli occupation forces on his 17th birthday near the other end of Shuhada street from Checkpoint 56.

The arrest of a 17 year old youth in Tel Rumeida, Hebron

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

14 year old boy detained in Hebron

by Team Khalil

7 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

A 14 year old boy was detained at checkpoint 56 in Tel Rumeida, Hebron.

At 2 pm on 6th February Amir Ibrahim Shawar was taken by soldiers of the Israeli occupation forces near the Jewish cemetery in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. He was accused of throwing stones at the soldiers, he was then marched down to the checkpoint where he was detained for about an hour. Amir from Azaria near Jerusalem was on a family visit with his mother when the incident happened.

Whilst at the checkpoint the soldiers said to Amir’s mother, “We know he is not guilty but we want him to tell us who threw the stones”.

Members of the local community came to the checkpoint to complain about his detention and filmed the incident to help deter the soldiers from any unnecessary abuse of the teenager. One person filming the incident had his ID checked by a soldier. At one point Amir was grabbed by his coat and forced inside the checkpoint out of sight of his mother and family members causing concern about the boy’s welfare.

The Palestinian police were called to the scene and Amir was handed over to them and taken through the checkpoint into Palestinian controlled H1 area of Hebron. He was questioned by Palestinian police and then released.

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Israeli forces destroy refugee camp cistern

by Team Khalil

6 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Israeli occupation forces demolished a rainwater cistern on the outskirts of Fawwar refugee camp this morning.

The 130 square metre structure was destroyed after soldiers arrived at 9 am and began bulldozing the cistern which was constructed 5 years ago.

The cistern’s owner said that the demolition order was given to him the previous day and he did not take legal action to prevent the action. They also gave a demolition order for 2 more cisterns in the vicinity and the residents of the camp fear their imminent destruction.

10 soldiers, an army jeep and a bulldozer arrived and the area was secured while they destroyed the cistern as locals watched.

Rubble of the demolished cistern — What remained left of the demolished cistern

Fawwar lies 10 km soutwest of Hebron. The camp was was established in 1949 and its original inhabitants came from 18 villages in the Gaza, Hebron and Beersheeva areas. The area surrounding the camp lies in Area C which makes up 60% of the West Bank and is under full control of Israeli occupation forces. Demolitions in Area C are commonplace. Residents are often water vulnerable and according to the UN, 46 rainwater cisterns and pools were demolished in 2011.

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

International Day of Action for the Boycott of Israeli Agricultural Products in Gaza

Wednesday, 6th of February, 2013 | Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine

Today´s press conference in support of Palestinian farmers and fishermen held in the port of Gaza City launched several days of activities leading up to the International Day of Action for the Boycott of Israeli Agricultural Products on Saturday 9th February. Speakers were from the Boycott National Committee, the student boycott movement in Gaza, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, PNGO and International Action for Palestine.

On Saturday 9th of February, thousands of people all over the world will participate in actions calling for the boycott of Israeli agricultural products. In the Gaza Strip, farmers and solidarity activists will plant olive trees in the east of the district of Zeytoun, near the so-called “buffer zone”, a unilaterally imposed no-go zone near the border fence. A few years ago, this area was covered with hundreds of olive trees, that have since been bulldozed by the Israeli Army.