06 February 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Occupied Palestine
Three Palestinians are still being held in detention following last Saturday´s Al-Manatir protest camp in Burin. The three of them are suspected of participating in a march without permission as well as throwing stones.
The two adults, Wahid Qadoos and Ashraf Abu Rahma, are also facing potentially an extra charge of assaulting soldiers. Dhia Audhh, the other defendant is a minor from Tammun aged just 17 years old.
Yesterday (5/2/12) the Israeli authorities were pursuing a prosecution, against all three suspects. Today as they arrived in court the military prosecution chose an unusual change of tact. They presented secret files to the military judge explaining why The need five days in order to complete the investigation. According to the military Judge this will include looking into violence from the Israeli settlers that attacked the Palestinians residents of Hai Al-Manatir.
This seems to be as a direct result of attention of the media and human rights groups in the trial.
Although the trial is being delayed so an investigation can be made into the settlers and soldiers violent attacks, the price of the delay is being paid by the three detainees who remain inside Israeli Jails. All three detainees were assaulted by soldiers. Young Diaa was assaulted by settlers, who also egged the soldiers on to “kill him” as they beat him. The military judge didn’t find Diaa’s final high school exams to be a good enough reason to release him or that release to house arrest on bail would suffice for any of the detainees.
The Military Judge ordered them to be held untill the next hearing in their case on Sunday.
Update on 8 Feb: Mamun is now home with his family!
Thank you to all contributors who donated so far! We have received $950 and managed to borrow the other $150 for Mamun’s bail. If you can, please donate. Any amount helps. In the event that the bail money will returned atthe end of Mamun’s trail, it will go towards the ISM legal fund to support similar cases. Thank you!
5 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Madama, Occupied Palestine
Shepherd Mamun Nasser has spent almost two months in an Israeli military prison after he was severely beaten by settlers while tending to his sheep. Military court has agreed to his release if the sum of 4000 NIS is paid for bail. Mamun’s family can not afford this amount. Help us raise the funds to secure his release.
On 17th December Mamun Nasser was tending his sheep on a hillside in his village land close to the illegal settler colony of Yizhar. Settlers sought out Mamun and handcuffed him then beat him. His brothers, two of his sisters and his mother who were first to arrive to his aid found Mamun surrounded by settlers covered in blood with most of his face severely swollen. As they attempted to get Mamun from the settlers Israeli soldiers arrived and opened fire shooting live bullets at his family, with one bullet passing through his sister’s dress. Mamun’s brother Amir wasn’t so ‘lucky’ and was hit in the leg. As word of the attack on Mamun spread more villagers arrived and fought to try to free Mamun. In the process a settler was hit by a stone and wounded.
Mamun was arrested by the military and taken away while family and friends managed to carry Amir to an ambulance. Mamun was first taken to Huwwara military base on 17 December and then transferred to Megiddo prison the next day and charged with assaulting both the settlers and soldiers. He has spent almost two months in military captivity. Then on 22 January, Mamun’s brother, Amir, who was shot in the original incident was also arrested by the military when he returned home after a days work.
This incident is only one example of collaboration between settlers, soldiers and military courts. Settlers from Yitzhar and other settlements regularly attack Palestinians whose land they confiscate. When Palestinians try to defend themselves from these attacks the soldiers take over, attack the Palestinians and kill, injure or arrest them thus keeping them off their land.
The Military courts are willing to release Mamun provided the sum of 4000 NIS ($ 1100) is paid for bail and on the condition that he does not return to the land where he was attacked until the end of his proceedings. Mamun’s family can not afford to pay this amount. Please help us raise the funds needed to secure his release now. Please donate here and send us an email saying how much you were able to raise/donate. Thank you!
Video: Settlers and soldiers attacking Madama. It shows collusion between settlers and soldiers in Madama the day Mamun was arrested.
27 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Asira al Qibliya, Occupied Palestine
According to OCHA statistics Yizhar is the most violent settlement in the whole of the West Bank with 70 recorded incidents in 2011 alone. Every week there is at least one attack by Yizhar settlers in the six affected villages.
Four months ago, settlers from Yizhar built a temporary outpost on top of a hill belonging to villagers from Urif. This continued until earlier in the week when Israeli authorities delivered maps to the village which showed that Yizhar had laid claim to 2 dunums of land. This was a massive understatement; they had in-fact seized the entire hill.
The land grab of this hillside seems to be all but complete; a shepherd who was working the land around the Yizhar outpost was recently beaten whilst tending to his sheep: the injuries he sustained were serious but not critical. In another incident, as the Palestinian owners of the land were walking along the road towards the hill this week, they were fired on by Israeli soldiers. Villagers want to challenge this latest land grab, however the law in this country is anything but just. The villagers are all too aware that if they resist they have only stones in the face of tear gas, stun grenades and the very real threat of being fired upon with live ammunition.
Harassment of the residents has also been on the rise. Currently at least once a week soldiers have been invading Asira in the middle of the night. They have been banging on villagers doors with the butts of their assault rifles, making sure people are disturbed in much the same way as has been reported in Urif as well as in Burin.
Yizhar a relatively small but very aggressive settlement in the north of the occupied West Bank. It is situated on a hill surrounded by six Palestinian villages which are all made to live in a state of constant fear.
27 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Madama, Occupied Palestine
A month after unprovoked settler and army attacks, the victim of severe violence Mamun Nasser remains in Israeli prison. The arrest of yet another member of the Nasser family, Amir Nasser, shows Israeli army’s continued harassment in Madama.
On December 18th the notorious security guard charged with the protection of the illegal settlement of Yizhar, Jacob, attacked Mamun Nasser while he was tending to his flock of sheep in a hill outside the settlement. Mamun was handcuffed and beaten in front of his entire family, who desperately tried to intervene.
The Israeli army arrived on the scene, who responded by firing live ammunition on the Nasser family and others who tried to help, quickly ending their attempt to stop the vicious assault. One round passed through Mamun’s sisters clothing narrowly missing her while another one hit his brother, Amir, in the leg. His mother told us “They wanted to kill him [Amir]. I heard the officer giving that order. He was lucky that he was only shot in his leg.” Severely beaten, Mamun was then arrested and taken away by the Israeli military into custody. One month later he remains detained in Majdou Prison.
On January 23rd at 4 pm, the Israeli army followed up the harassment by raiding the Nasser family home in Madama, arresting Mamun’s brother Amir who was still recovering from the gunshot wound he received only a month prior. This is another episode in the continued harassment of villagers surrounding Yizhar which is described as the West Bank’s most violent settlement by the United Nations.
Video taken by settlers during the incident on December 18th
26 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Iksa, Occupied Palestine
The people of Beit Iksa were joined by other Palestinian activists on Friday morning to make their way to the site of the recently demolished Bab Al Karama camp, bringing with them a number of young olive trees to plant for the future.
A large group of enthusiastic men, women and children made their way from the village of Beit Iksa to the hill top that hosted Bab Al Karama, in a convoy of vehicles while waving Palestinian flags from the windows. They gathered to pray alongside the ruins of the mosque, demolished alongside Bab Al Karama.
With over one hundred people to help, a number of olive trees were then planted around the hill top; which is classed as area C and in Israeli control. This same area was picked by the council of Beit Iksa for the site of the camp protest which was assembled the previous Friday and then destroyed by Israeli forces just two days later in the early hours of Monday morning.
The people of Beit Iksa are planning to plant more olive trees at the site every Friday. At this Friday’s demonstration of resistance the desire for a peaceful existence in the village shone from the faces of young and old alike.
Olive tree planting in Bab Al KamaraPrayer alongside the ruins of the mosque in Bab Al Karama
Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)
