Category: Reports

Israel’s 64th Colonial Day answered by Nabi Saleh’s peaceful resistance

by Sam 

28 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Last Friday, April 27, around 100 Palestinians and their supporters gathered in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh to protest the nearby illegal Israeli settlement and the unjust conditions of life under occupation. The protest comes just a day after Israeli ‘independence day’ celebrations. This week’s demonstration painted a stark picture of the harsh reality still faced by Palestinians 64 years after what they know as the Catastrophe, or Nakba.

Following the midday prayer on Friday, demonstrators assembled in the center of the small village of Nabi Saleh and marched down the main road towards the neighbouring Israeli settlement of Halamish. The non-violent procession of residents, solidarity activists, volunteer medics, and journalists were only halfway down the hillside when they were met by the waiting Israeli army, who had blocked the road at the village’s entrance.

Upon sight of the chanting marchers, the military deployed the infamous “skunk truck.” Protesters were sent in a panicked sprint back in the direction they had come to avoid being drenched by the long-reaching streams of foul-smelling skunk water. After finding safety behind makeshift roadblocks of rocks strewn across the road, the Palestinian youth, or shabab, equipped only with homemade slings, countered with stones and paint balloons.

The crowd let out a cheer when a boy landed one such balloon on the skunk truck, splattering white paint across the windshield. Celebration of the small victory was cut short when soldiers responded by unleashing a barrage of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets that sent the unarmed demonstrators running for cover.

From this point on, the young Palestinian stone throwers and Israel’s modern army engaged in a familiar call and response that lasted for hours.

The march for an independent and free Palestine - Click here for more photos

During a moment of relative calm, one Israeli activist narrowly avoided being struck by a surprise tear gas canister, but did not escape the terrible effects of the noxious fumes that billowed around her. Other canisters started small fires in the dry grass of the hillside, and some were hurled back in the direction of the army.

Friday’s demonstration comes one week after the release of Bassem Tamimi, a prominent community organizer and resident of Nabi Saleh who spent a year in prison on charges of “incitement” of such protests. Despite the fact that Israel’s settlements in occupied Palestine are a violation of international law, and resisting the occupation is widely considered to be a moral and legal right of the occupied, Palestinians who exercise these rights face constant arrests, house raids, and violence at the hands of the Israeli forces. Tamimi, who Amnesty International has named a prisoner of conscience, was unable to attend the day’s demonstration as he remains under house arrest in Ramallah until further notice.

The weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh began in 2009 when the encroaching Israeli settlement of Halamish illegally annexed additional Palestinian land, including the village’s fresh water springs. Since then, the Israeli army has regularly denied the town its right to demonstrate and suppressed the protests with excessive force. In December, protester Mustafa Tamimi was killed at a demonstration when he was shot in the head with a tear gas canister at short range.

Despite the real dangers that come with resisting the occupation, the residents of Nabi Saleh show no sign of giving up. The growing Halamish settlement is a daily sight and reminder of what has been taken from them. So while the settlers hoist the Star of David in celebration of the independence of the “Jewish State,” the residents of Nabi Saleh continue to struggle because for them, the creation of Israel has been nothing short of a castastrophe.

Sam is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been  changed).

The right to water: Water cistern demolitions in Hebron area

by Joseph

23 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Monday April 23, 2012, the Israeli occupation forces destroyed four water cisterns outside of the city of al-Khalil (Hebron). Two of the destroyed cisterns were located in the Abweire area, a small agricultural neighborhood of 400-500 residents northeast of al-Khalil. The other two cisterns destroyed were located in Hal-Houl, south of al-Khalil. The demolitions came just one week after another four cisterns were destroyed in the Meshroona area south of al-Khalil.

Palestinians in these areas, who are located in Area C, are forced to depend on rain water cisterns for their crops and livestock because of unequal distribution of water resources to surrounding illegal, Zionist settlements. The destruction of such cisterns is part of a calculated strategy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing in occupied Palestine. According to the Israeli organization Diakonia, water cistern demolitions over the past two years have directly affected almost 14,000 Palestinians, among whom several hundred have been forced to leave their homes because of lack of water. International law forbids the targeting of structures essential for the survival of the civilian population.

The day after their water cistern was demolished, activists with ISM visited members of the Ashfour family in Abweire in order to talk and survey the damage. The occupation forces did not stop with removing the top of the cistern, but actually smashed the sidewalls, rendering the structure totally useless. The occupation forces came without warning in four jeeps, an armored personnel carrier, an armored bulldozer, and another armored earth-wrecking machine, along with personnel from the Israeli permits and construction offices. They claimed that the cistern was constructed illegally, without the necessary permits, and began to destroy the cistern.

Within an hour the Ashfour family’s hopes for irrigating their crops lay in ruins. According to Hisham Ashfour, the cistern had been built almost ten years ago and served not only his family but about fifty people in his neighborhood. The other cistern destroyed in Abweire was also rendered completely unusable, having been filled in with dirt by an Israeli bulldozer.

Joseph is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

The Battle of Empty Stomachs: Khader Adnan highlights the consolation of solidarity

by Sylvia

24 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On the 17th of April, Palestinian political prisoners launched a mass hunger strike against the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS) dismissal of the Fourth Geneva Convention and basic international law. The call for action comes on Palestinian Prisoners Day after a wave of high-profile hunger strikes evoked a global reaction.

Palestinian Support and Human Rights Association Addameer originally estimated that some 1,200 Palestinian prisoners would participate, along with approximately 2,300 others refusing meals in preparation for a wider campaign. Today, Israeli lawyers say the campaign has reached 3,000 participants.

The hunger striking prisoners’ demands include: an end to the IPS’s abusive use of isolation for “security” reasons, currently affecting 19 prisoners, some of whom have spent 10 years in isolation; an end to the detainment of Palestinians without charge or trial in administrative detention, under which 322 Palestinians are currently detained; a repeal of a series of punitive measures taken against Palestinian prisoners following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, including the denial of family visits for all Gaza prisoners since 2007 and denial of access to university education since June 2011.

These demands were echoed yesterday when Khader Adnan visited the village of Tubas, where the relatives of political prisoners gathered in a tent outside the Municipal offices. Standing before a wall covered in the cherished photographs of absent men, Adnan spoke of his 66 day hunger strike, giving solace to worried parents and siblings:

“We have a message for those mothers; we honour you. If the doors to the prisons are closed, the door of God will always be open.”

The International Solidarity Movement accompanied members of Tubas Prisoners Club and Khader Adnan to visit families of prisoners in their homes. Mohamamad Taj, who is 42 years old, has been on hunger strike since March 15. His family has not been given permission to visit the prison and await news of his condition. Adnan’s visit brought strength and resolution, stressing the need for solidarity amongst prisoners with sight of a clear goal. He mentioned that prisoners are united despite political differences outside the prison walls.

Acts like these are being mirrored all over Palestine. The prisoners’ solidarity tent has been standing since Palestinian Prisoners Day and is welcome to visitors to express their support and write a message in the visitor book. The face of Hassan Safadi is present amongst the many photographs plastered to the tent’s walls. As he enters his 53rd day of hunger strike, his family are still being denied contact with him and his health condition is still unknown. As his struggle is replicated by some 3,000 prisoners, the international community stands in solidarity against Israel for the same goal.

FREE HASSAN SAFADI

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS OF PALESTINE 

 

Sylvia is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Impunity Under the Law: Settler attack in Jabari neighborhood

by Paige

22 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Marwan Borqan several days after he was attacked by an Israeli settler – Click here for more photos

Marwan Borqan always locks the main door to his house at night. Late at night, soldiers will often knock at his door, ‘checking,’ they say, although Marwan has never known what they are checking for.

That is why he did not find it unusual when he heard a loud banging at his front door at 10:30pm on Wednesday night. However, this time it was not the Israeli army but an Israeli settler from the nearby illegal settlement of Givat Ha’avot. As soon as Marwan opened the door he was violently punched and kicked by the settler, who then dragged him out the door.

Outside the beating continued, causing Marwan to fall down a flight of stairs as other settlers, the settlement security guard, and Marwan’s shocked children looked on.

Finally, two police cars arrived and with the help of Marwan’s brothers, detained the attacker.

At this point, Marwan’s father arrived to find that Marwan had lost consciousness. He called an ambulance and was forced to wait forty-five minutes as the ambulance was detained at the metal gate restricting Palestinian vehicular access to their own street.

Marwan’s father demanded that the Israeli army commander arrest the settler who had attacked his son, only to have soldiers threateningly point their guns at his head and tell him to ‘shut up’. At a point throughout the night, the army released the settler who was responsible for the attack. They later claimed they did not arrest him because they could not find him.

While awaiting the ambulance’s arrival, the Israeli army evacuated the entire building where Marwan lived. Forty-five people, including many children,were forced to wait on the street while the army searched the victim’s house.

An Israeli police jeep then arrived carrying a settler who claimed rocks were thrown at her by a Palestinian earlier that day. The girl scanned the families lined up on the street and admitted that none of them had thrown rocks at her.

After Marwan was taken to the hospital, settlers attempted to occupy his apartment but were later escorted from the building by the Israeli army.

Commonly, following an accusation by a settler, all Palestinians are perceived as guilty by both the illegal settler communities and the Israeli army. Revenge may have been the reason behind the Israeli army raiding a house or the savage beating of a Palestinian by an Israeli settler.

Nonetheless, raids and attacks also take place in lieu of any accusations. Above all, the violence is arbitrary and systematic. The reason is always the same: to make life for Palestinians so difficult that they will be forced to leave. Those who refuse will continue to pay the price.

For Marwan Borqan the price for him and his family has been very high. He suffers from a concussion, and many bodily injuries, and was forced to wait while Israeli soldiers detained the ambulance attempting to reach him.

Marwan explained that he was “shocked” by the beating. His family regularly suffers from settler and soldier harassment, but it was “the first time the settlers actually tried to enter the house.”

His children were up late watching a football match with him when the attacker arrived, and to their horror witnessed his brutal beating. Marwan’s eight year old daughter, Afnan, is still traumatized by what she saw. Marwan explains that she shakes and has difficulty eating. He intends to find psychological help for her.

The Borqan house lies near to the illegal Israeli settlements of Qiryat Arba and Givat Ha’avot in Western Hebron, an area which experiences repeated torment from extremist settlers. Qiryat Arba was one of the first settlements established in the West Bank by members of the far right Kach party and Givat Ha’vot began as a police station which was occupied by settlers in 1990. Both settlements are in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention, prohibiting the transfer of the occupying power’s civilians into the occupied territory. The illegality has been repeatedly confirmed by the International Court of Justice, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the United Nations Security Council.

Paige is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Israel opens fire on protesters in Ni’lin: One youth injured by rubber-coated bullet

by Sunny

22 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

For more photos click here

The weekly demonstration in Ni’lin on Friday April 20th was relatively quiet compared to previous weeks. Nevertheless, it showed again the disproportionate measures taken by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian resistance.

The Israeli army propelled skunk spray, tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber-coated steel bullets at protesters. Some of the Palestinian youth, or shabab, responded by throwing stones. One local youth masked with the flag of Palestine was pelted by a rubber-coated bullet, although did not suffer critical injuries. A local photographer was nearly struck in the face by a tear gas canister while attempting to take a closer photo of the Israeli soldiers.

As with each week, the demonstration in Ni’lin began after the midday prayer. It was a leaderless group of approximately thirty people including the shabab, internationals, members of the press, and medics. The protest began with the military deploying streams of skunk water over the Apartheid Wall at protesters including the half-dozen stone slinging youth. Approximately fifteen minutes into the demonstration, the first tear gas canister was launched, aimed at demonstrators near the valley. Moments later, volleys of tear gas canisters were launched over the Wall where the majority of the protesters were gathered.

The first victim of the initial tear gas shots was a local photographer. The canister struck the ground five feet away from him. Before he could run away, he began coughing severely and his eyes turned red. As the pain eased, however, he carried on as if nothing had happened, evidently accustomed to the sensation.

After another half-hour, much of the group slowly made their way towards the valley. As the concession merged in the valley, more tear gas canisters were shot. One medic was struck on his side by a canister but emerged with light injuries. Minutes later the silence was broken by the scream of a young Palestinian. He had been struck by a rubber-coated steel bullet. The medics immediately rushed to him and fortunately he was not seriously injured. The Israeli army continued firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters and the shabab replied with their stones.

When a local photographer approached the Wall to take photos of the Israeli soldiers, a tear gas canister was launched in his direction. It missed hitting his face by millimetres but there was no escaping the suffocation that ensued from the gas.

The demonstration came to an end shortly thereafter. As the shabab walked away, the rest of the group followed. The Israeli soldiers maintained their position securely behind the Apartheid Wall, while some of the demonstrators continued to suffer the after-effects of the tear gas.

Since 1967, the town of Ni’lin has been subject to land expropriation to an extreme extent. Following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, a large part of Ni’lin was annexed to the nascent Israeli state. Over half of the town’s land has come under the control of Israel through the building of illegal settlements and the Apartheid Wall.

In 2004, Israel disclosed their intention to build the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin, annexing much of their agricultural land. In 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court gave authorization for the wall to be built. The construction was initially blocked through legal procedures as well as popular non-violent demonstrations. These demonstrations were continuously suppressed through brutal measures taken by the Israeli government, including the killing of five innocent residents, curfews, random deployment of tear gas, and frequent night invasions by the army into homes, which inspired fear and humiliation for the families of Ni’lin. Two years later, the Wall was built. Although Israel claimed it was built in Ni’lin for ‘security purposes’, the Wall de facto annexed land from the villagers of Ni’lin for the profit of the nearby illegal Israeli settlement.

Every Friday the residents of Ni’lin continue to demonstrate and fight for what is rightfully theirs. The tear gas canisters, the sound bombs, the rubber-coated steel bullets, and the occasional live ammunition will never be enough to stop Ni’lin’s resilience. Even the Wall does not lie in portraying the statement that Ni’lin is “still going strong.”

 Sonny is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).