Category: Reports - Page 283 - International Solidarity Movement

Farming injustice: end all trade with Israeli agricultural companies

22 January 2013 | Palestinian agriculture organisations, Occupied Palestine

Palestinian agricultural organisations and the Palestinian BDS National Committee call for the launching of worldwide campaigns on February 9 against Israeli agricultural export corporations in light of their deep complicity in Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and Palestinian human rights. Following the successful campaign against Israel’s former leading agricultural export corporation Agrexco, and in light of the growing international consensus on the duty to enforce an effective ban on trade with the illegal Israeli settlements, we invite social movements, nongovernmental organisations, trade unions and human rights campaigners to take creative and effective action on February 9th in support of Palestinian farmers defending their land and natural resources.

The sale and purchase of goods from Israeli agricultural companies, such as Mehadrin and Hadiklaim, finance and reward the on-going illegal Israeli exploitation and colonisation of Palestinian land and further undermine the chances for a just peace based on international law and respect for universal human rights. As was demonstrated in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa and the wide international solidarity movement with it, citizens can make a difference by refraining from buying products of complicit companies and by working to convince their supermarkets to stop trading with them.

Agriculture is a vital part of the Palestinian economy and national heritage, yet Palestinian farmers are being displaced from their lands and prevented from accessing it. Israel systematically exploits Palestinian natural resources in violation of international law and implements a range of restrictions on Palestinian agriculture in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, while allowing Israeli agricultural corporations to profit from Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.

As Palestinian agricultural organisations have noted, Israeli agricultural export companies are at the heart of Israel’s system of domination over the Palestinian people. They are an integral component of the on-going process of colonisation and environmental destruction of Palestinian land, the destruction of Palestinian agriculture, the theft of water, and the abuse of Palestinian workers’ rights, including child labourers.

Supermarkets should follow the lead of the Co-Operative Group in the UK, which has pledged to end trade with any company exporting goods from illegal Israeli settlements. Governments must meet their legal and moral obligation to take action in support of Palestinian self-determination and ban all forms of trade and cooperation with Israeli agricultural export companies complicit in the illegal settlement enterprise. People of conscience around the world can make sure such measures are taken. We count on your support to end business as usual with Israel’s agricultural companies as a contribution to our struggle for freedom, justice and equality.

Endorsed by:

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee
General Union of Palestinian Peasants and Cooperatives
Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees
Palestinian Farmers Union
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Stop the Wall
Union of Agricultural Work Committees
Union of Palestinian Agriculture Engineers

Please contact info@bdsmovement.net to let us know about your planned campaigns and actions or to discuss your ideas.

Bulldozing the ceasefire

15 — 17 January 2013 | Khuza’a, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine

At about 8.30pm on Tuesday 15th January, Israeli tanks and military bulldozers breached the border adjacent to the village of Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis and intruded inside the Gaza Strip. The incursion into Palestinian farmland continued through the night and added to the long list of Israeli ceasefire violations.

Heavy shooting was reported during the assault but fortunately there were no injuries on this occasion. Also, explosions were heard but no homes were damaged. Terrified locals contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross but were told that the Israeli military wouldn’t listen to anyone.

The raid continued on the night of Wednesday 16th January, when Apache helicopters were reported to have also been deployed. Then, on Thursday 17th January, the Israeli military aggression continued in the area for a third consecutive night.

A large swathe of agricultural land was damaged, about eight kilometres along the border fence and about 250 metres back from it. Within this area about 300 dumuns were razed, including wheat crops planted in December. Fields belonging to about 500 different farmers were affected, according to local officials. Farmers have attempted to approach their lands since the attack but haven’t been able to reach land closer than 100 metres from the fence.

The mayor of Khuza’a, Kamal Al-Najar, explained that 800 of the 2,000 dunums of agricultural land in Khuza’a is close to the border fence and wasn’t accessible prior to Israel’s eight-day offensive on Gaza in November. At that time, farmers in Khuza’a had only been able to access their lands which lay half a kilometre or more from the border fence.

Since the ceasefire announcement, they have accessed land 300 metres from the fence and had managed to cultivate about 400 dunums within that area for the first time in ten years. However, most of this has now been destroyed in last week’s attack. Over the course of the last ten years, the Israeli military has destroyed olive and citrus groves, greenhouses and water pumping facilities in the border areas.

A farmer from Khuza´a, photo by Desde Palestina — A farmer from Khuza´a pointing at his land that was bulldozed by the Israeli Army last week. (Photo: Desde Palestina)

Damaged farmland near the border, photo by Desde Palestina — Razed farmland in the “Buffer Zone” in Khuza´a. An Israeli automated gun-tower can be seen in the background. An Israeli soldier stationed at the other side of the border made two warning shots on the ground a few moments after this photo was taken. (Text and photo: Desde Palestina)

Beit Iksa’s peaceful camp protest evicted and destroyed by Israeli forces

21 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Occupied Palestine

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Israeli forces stormed into a peaceful Palestinian camp protest in the small village of Beit Iksa to demolish a half built mosque and tear down four large tents that had been erected since Friday.

Israeli occupation forces surrounded the camp after giving only 6 hours notice to the organisers that the building of a mosque and erection of tents was illegal due to the fact it was in Israeli controlled area C. The land on which the camp was set up on belongs to local Palestinian villagers and was a communally organised event to protest against the annexation of land by the Israeli government.

After forcing young and elderly civilians into the centre of the camp, Israeli forces then dragged and pushed the group down a rocky valley to check each individuals ID.

The group of peaceful locals and international and Israeli activists were then made to wait in cold temperatures as the mosque was destroyed and the tents were ripped down and confiscated. At the time of the eviction there were around 40 Palestinians and six Israeli and international activists.

After one and a half hours Israeli forces told the group to stay at the bottom of the valley until they had left the area with their vehicles and bulldozer which was used to demolish the mosque and remove the confiscated belongings.

Beit Iksa has a long history of being victim to the aggressive and forceful tactics used by the Israeli government to capture legally owned Palestinian land.

Demonstration in Budrus following the fatal shooting of 16 year-old boy

17 January 2013 | PSCC and International Solidarity Movement, West Bank, Occupied Palestine

A demonstration will be held on Friday 18th January in Budrus to commemorate Sameer Awwad (16) who was shot on Tuesday 15th January with 3 live bullets. Awwad is the fourth to be killed near the Barrier in five days.

On Tuesday morning, while children were clearing out of their classes in the village of Budrus, Israeli soldiers who convened by the Barrier near the school shot and killed 16 year-old Sameer Awwad. According to eyewitnesses, Sameer was walking away from light clashes that had erupted by the Barrier when he was shot from the back with three bullets, from a distance of about 100 meters. One bullet hit his leg, another at the back of his neck and exited near his eyebrow, and the third entered his rib cage and exited from his chest.

Awwad was immediately transferred to Ramallah Hospital, where he was pronounce dead shortly after. He is the fourth Palestinian to have been killed this week by Israeli forces in the vicinity of the Barrier. Anwar al-Mamlouk, 21, was killed last Friday in Gaza , near the Barrier in Jabalya. On Saturday, Oudai Darwish from Dura near Hebron was killed in the South Hebron Hills, when trying to cross the barrier to find work in Israel. Another Plaestinian, Mustafa Abu Jarad, 21, was killed yesterday near the Barrier in Beit Lahia.

Israeli military attacks funeral in Beit Ummar

by Team Khalil

16 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Ummar, Occupied Palestine

At around 2:30 pm the Israeli occupation forces violently attacked a funeral in Beit Ummar using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.

The funeral of Masouza Alja’ar, an elderly woman who died of natural causes, was attacked by the Israeli army with large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. For over three hours the town was rocked by the unprovoked actions of the soldiers. The youth of Beit Ummar defended their town as clashes broke out. Not until dusk, around 5 pm did the town return to normal. Tear gas canisters were fired at the residents forcing them to take refuge in their homes and inside shops.

Most funerals in the town of Beit Ummar are attacked by the Israeli army. The last funeral to be violently disrupted in the town was on 25th December, Christmas day. Again there was nothing out of the ordinary about this funeral so it remains unexplained why it was being attacked by the Israeli army. The violence spread to an area where there were also clashes between the Israeli occupation forces and people from the town, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kharmei Tzur.

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