Category: Reports

The price of intellectual resistance

by Sylvia

14 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

“Our souls are not devastated, we are hanging on”

On the 7th November 2011, founder of the Palestinian Cultural Enlightenment (Tanwer) and lecturer at the An- Najah University, Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, was arrested from his home at two o’clock in the morning. Dr. Yousef is in his 70’s and his health has suffered from mental strain and poor prison conditions. Well known for his calm and peaceful nature, Dr. Yousef’s daughter insists that her father “will always support his people by telling the truth: a lot of people  are living in poverty because they are  under occupation. If my father tells the truth, eventually everyone will understand.”

Administrative detention is legally incompatible with basic international standards of human rights, when Israel holds the accused without charge or trial for long periods of time. The evidence of his or her offense is held in a “secret file,” which cannot be seen by the detainee or defense lawyer. The file is prepared by the Israeli intelligence service, which has gathered “evidence” by illegal means.

This has left Dr. Yousef’s family with no clue as to why he was taken in the middle of the night.

“No one has told us anything” says Yousef’s 21 year old daughter Shayma, a third year student at the An- Najah University. Dr. Yousef is a lecturer in economics and human rights and his co-creation of the Palestinian Enlightenment Project has painted him as a symbol of peaceful and intellectual freedom.

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abducted by Israel and taken to Zionist prisons. 
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Shayma describes the last night she saw her father, the rapping of fists and unfamiliar sound of Hebrew at her door house. She remembers distinctly as he faded into the shadow of the jeeps outside her windows.

Shayma, the daughter of Dr. Yousef, poses next to her father's portrait

“It’s strange” she said, “My father was laughing.  He is as strong as iron or steel. When we talk to him, it is him who encourages us when it should be the other way around.”

On that night, the family assumed he would be interrogated then released and waited from two until six in the morning before reading in the newspaper that he would be kept under administrative detention for four months.

It is this absence of information which makes this experience so agonizing for Palestinian prisoner’s families. Now in the sixth month of his administrative detention, Dr. Yousef’s release is pushed further back from the horizon each time it comes into sight with no explanation or court hearing.

When asked what she thinks will happen, Shayma explains “We hope for something. My mother is depressed, she is worried and she can’t sleep since she has heard of how they torture inmates.”

Though the family has rare permission to visit Ofer prison inside ‘48 territory, Dr. Yousef has advised against it. The journey has been made degrading and lengthy, sometimes waiting for hours in uncomfortable conditions as a further means of adding to the suffering of the Palestinian people. “It will only make it harder for us emotionally,” Shayma explained.

Articles 42 and 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention permits administrative detention only “if the security of the Detaining Power makes it absolutely necessary “or for “imperative reasons of security”. These terms are widely accepted as applicable to the occupied territories of Palestine. The convention articulates that all civilians, weather in occupies territories or not, are fundamentally “entitled, in all circumstances, to respect from their persons, their honor, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices and their manners and customs”. These terms can only cease after the effective end of occupation. Israel ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1951 and is bound by its terms.

That Dr. Yousef’s detention denies a class of young, educated Palestinian’s of human rights lecturer is of no coincidence.  Israel’s use of administrative detention to silence political figureheads is a concern raised by human rights movement Amnesty International, who explained that prisoners of conscious were being held “solely for non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.”

“Our souls are not broken, we are hanging on”, says Shayma. As the struggle for her father’s freedom continues, she recalls her father’s advice, calling for unity and intellectual freedom.

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

42 days of hunger strike: Take action to save Hassan Safady from dying in administrative detention

by  Silvia and Andreas

13 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Please SUBMIT pictures in solidarity with Hassan Safady
FREE HASSAN SAFADY
FREE ALL PRISONERS IN ADMINSTRATIVE DETENTION

Today Hasan Safady entered into his 42nd day of hunger strike. Ten months ago, he was brutally arrested from his home in the old city of Nablus and has since then been kept in administrative detention. Hassan’s older brother Fouad Safady explains that their family have been denied any communication or visits to Hassan, so any information gained has been acquired through his lawyer. Since Hassan began his hunger strike he has been exposed to severe violence and beatings from prison guards. In a further attempt to silence his resistance, Hassan has been threatened with an 800 shekel fine for each day of his hunger strike. This will have devastating economic consequences for him and his family.

Hassan’s condition became more critical ten days ago, when he was transferred to Ramla prison hospital. His health is said to have further deteriorated since he stopped taking water five days ago. This extreme measure was a response to his placement in solitary confinement. After being transferred to Ramla Hospital, Hassan’s lawyer was presented with a report about his medical condition stating that he has severe pains in stomach and head, and that his kidneys are in danger of taking irreparable damage.

Until now his family has had no information of his release. Hassan has been in administrative detention for a total of 105 months during the last ten years. His family is unsurprisingly resigned about the situation; “They will probably release him at some point and then arrest him again after two or three months. They play with us,” says Fouad Safad.

The Safady family has suffered irrevocably at the hands of the occupation. In 1996 Hassans brother Farik was killed by the Israeli army. Hassan’s parents have had to watch as each of their children were imprisoned or detained in Israeli military jails. In a deal  like that of Hana Shalabi’s, Hassan’s sister and husband have been deported to Gaza in exchange for their freedom, adding to the agonizing division of the Safady family.

Outside the family home, pictures and posters of Hassan plaster the walls of a solidarity tent, a final act of resistance allowing friends and family to gather and share support. However, the Israeli army is determined to relinquish any remaining hope the Safady family may still hinder. On Sunday night the occupation forces entered the old city of Nablus, destroying the tent and tearing up photographs of Hassan.

Hassan Safady is one of many Palestinian prisoners who have found the refusal of food to be the only remaining tool in their political resistance to administrative detention. Hassan’s hunger strike has now entered a critical phase, as everyday it becomes less and less likely that his body will ever gain a full recovery.

Immediate international attention and solidarity is needed for Hassan and his family as they continue their struggle for freedom and justice.

Andreas and Silvia are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

Passover violence in Occupied Al Khalil

by Paige

10 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Israeli army enforced a system of extensive closures, detentions, and violence against Palestinians and internationals activists during the Jewish holiday of Passover in Al Khalil (Hebron).

The army closed off the busy Beersheba road to allow Jewish settlers to visit the tomb of Othniel Ben Knaz inside of Palestinian controlled Hebron. Under the Hebron Protocol the city is divided into two parts; H1 is under complete Israeli military control and H2 is under the control of the Palestinian Authority, although the Israeli army frequently violates the protocol by entering P.A. controlled Hebron.

The closure of the street involved forcing Palestinians to close shops, restricting Palestinians from passing through the main checkpoint into H1, and blocking off the road with military jeeps, soldiers and an attack dog. Palestinians trying to access their road and return to their homes were met with violence by the Israeli army, who shoved and pushed several people. International activists who tried to intervene during the assault of a Palestinian by Israeli soldiers were violently kicked, hit and dragged by the army. An Italian, Canadian and a Dutch woman were slightly injured and a Palestinian-American activist was violently arrested by Israeli soldiers, who choked her and smashed her head into the army jeep during the arrest. She was released after several hours.

The army also imposed severe restrictions of Palestinian freedom of movement all throughout H2 , detaining, and body searching dozens of Palestinians at checkpoints in the area. Two men were detained until 1:45 am at Checkpoints 55 and 56 near Beit Haddasah settlement. Both were held for three hours. The house of the Sharabati family near checkpoint 55 on Shuhada street was raided by Israeli soldiers just past 10 PM. The soldiers forced the family to remove the CCTV cameras on their windows supplied by Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem to record settler violence and army violations.

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

Fadi Abu Zeitoun, killed as settlers attacked farmers

by Rana H.

9 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Israeli settlers attacked and chased a group of Palestinian farmers last Thursday, causing a tractor to flip over during the chase, causing the death of the Palestinian driver.

On Thursday, April 5th, armed settlers from the illegal Israeli colony of Itamar attacked a group of Palestinians en-masse. In haste and in fear for his life, twenty-eight year old Fadi Abu Zeitoun’s tractor tipped and crushed him as he fled from the pursuing settlers.

The villagers who own olive groves near Itamar rarely get “permission” from the Israeli District Coordination Office to access their own land. During the harvest season, they are permitted a few days, but in the spring when the land needs to be tended they have more difficulty acquiring permission. During this spring harvest, the villages of Hawarta, Yanoun, Aqraba, and Beita were told they had only four hours to  access their land. The area to be tended is approximately 1000 dunums so the villagers collected forty tractors to work as much land as possible in the shortest possible time. Israeli activists from the movement Peace Now, and a group of international activists were present in solidarity. Prime Minister Salam Fayad joined them to make a statement re-affirming their right to utilize the stolen land that they were standing upon.

During the Prime-minister’s visit, Israeli authorities were positioned nearby and prevented the settlers from passing. However, shortly after Fayad left the area, Israeli soldiers permitted a mob of settlers to converge upon the Palestinian farmers tending to their land. They began by throwing stones, causing the group to separate and begin descending the hill. The settlers then proceeded to fire M-16 assault rifles in the direction of the unarmed farmers before releasing dogs. In the ensuing chaos,  and as Fadi desperately attempted to escape, his tractor flipped over and fell on him, mortally wounding the young man.

Palestinians witnessing the incident ran back towards the scene to offer assistance. The settlers promptly dispersed as they rushed him down the hill to the road, unfortunately he was already dead.

Fadi is of the village of Beita . With a population of only 12,000, this death resonates among all the residents. As Fadi’s father-in-law, Isam Bani Shams says, “This is not our first martyr nor our last, we have been in this situation for sixty-four years. Our village has lost some seventy martyrs.”

On the same date, twenty-four years ago, two men from the village of Beita were also murdered by settlers from Itamar.

In the gathering following the funeral, Fadi’s father, Sleman Abu Zeitoun, sat with his head down. Beside him sat three other men who have had a son murdered by Israeli soldiers or settlers.

Fadi was newly married to nineteen year-old Fida’ Bani Shams who is left widowed and six months pregnant. Her brother was killed at the age of sixteen by Israeli soldiers during the second intifada, and as her father says, “She has lost a brother and a husband so what can I say of her emotions? She is in grief. She is exhausted.” Fida’ sat slouched in a corner of the room, her eyes closed and blankets covering her feet.

Fadi’s sister has had a nervous breakdown since the death of her brother. She does not recognize  her husband or her daughters. Their mother, Mona Fihmeh says, “in terms of how I feel, I have patience, but my back has been broken from the burden.” Mona spent last night praying over her feverish body, and today she sent her daughter to the hospital. Her husband was on the way back from a funeral in Jordan when the accident occurred. He returned to Beita to find that his son had been killed.

Throughout the funeral, political talk arose about the various results of Israeli occupation and apartheid on Palestine. At first, the unemployment rate among Palestinians does not seem relevant to the death of Fadi Abu Zeitoun, but one soon realizes that Israel’s apartheid policies are to blame for both the impunity with which settlers are treated, and the numerous other negative consequences on livelihood.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory  reported that over 90% of complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians to the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment. OCHA’s report on settler violence notes that “the root cause of the settler violence phenomenon is Israel’s decades-long policy of illegally facilitating the settling of its citizens inside occupied Palestinian territory. This activity has resulted in the progressive takeover of Palestinian land, resources and transportation routes and has created two separate systems of rights and privileges, favouring Israeli citizens at the expense of the over 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank. Recent official efforts to retroactively legalize settler takeover of privately-owned Palestinian land actively promotes a culture of impunity that contributes to continued violence.”

Declared one of the men at the funeral, “every time Israel builds a colony, we will build another Palestinian town; every time they erect a building, we will build a new building.”

“Our steadfastness protects our land,” another proclaims.

 Rana H. is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Kufr Qaddoum: “You took our fathers so today we lead the demonstration”

by Jennifer

8 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Friday the 6th of April, in celebration of the Day of the Child, the weekly demonstration was held in the village Kufr Qaddoum outside of Nablus. This demonstration was particularly charged as the previous night the IOF (Israeli Occupying Forces) had violently raided houses in the village and arrested 20 men, leaving dozens of children fatherless. So this Friday the children of the village lead the demonstration, sending out a message that the resistance will live on as long as the Israelis keeps on stealing land and oppressing the Palestinian people.

Villagers gathered outside the meeting house on Friday morning accompanied by the International Solidarity Movement, where a children’s party had been arranged to mark the occasion. Twenty five children enjoyed face painting, horns and balloons in the sunshine and prepared to open the demonstration, demanding the return of their fathers and brothers.

Signs reading “You took our fathers so today we lead the demonstration” and “Return our fathers” were held by the group of children following the Muslim noon prayers with adults close behind. The protest followed the familiar route towards the road block Israel said it would remove almost a year ago. As they approached the road block they were met by the usual sight of soldiers, jeeps, a tractor and the “skunk water” truck, and this day the IOF had also invaded one of the houses on the outer part of the village where they stationed approximately 5 soldiers on the roof.

After a time of chanting, the children returned back to the village and the adults took over. The demonstration soon turned violent as the soldiers sprayed the crowd with the foul smelling “skunk water” and shot tear gas at Palestinian youth who threw stones as a symbolic resistance to the oppressive occupation.

The demonstration became calm after approximately one and a half hours and the soldiers withdrew, followed by the crowd of demonstrators. Together, villagers and internationals walked close to the nearby illegal Zionist settlement, singing and chanting reminding the watching settlers of the great injustice they have cast upon the village of Kufr Qaddoum.

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