Category: Reports

Egyptian Ambassador promises to deliver petition to open Rafah Border

2 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On November first, activists from popular committees and activist youth movements through out the West Bank met with Egyptian ambassador , his Excellency Yasser Othman, in Ramallah to express their congratulations and support for the people’s revolution of Egypt and to formally present a petition to open the Rafah crossing unconditionally and permanently.

This petition was originally issued by Gaza-based civil society sectors including academics, students, workers, and youth. It was immediately supported publically by Egyptian revolutionaries and grass-roots organizations as well as renowned International human rights defenders such as Desmond Tutu and Richard Falk.

Meeting with Egyptian Ambassador - Click here for more images

The delegation expressed it’s commitment to the struggle against the deadly and criminal Israeli imposed siege on Gaza as an essential part of the struggle to end Israel’s Occupation and Apartheid.

The delegates welcomed the opening of the door of hope for a new Arab world grounded in solidarity and freedom by the peoples revolution. “Our hope from the new Egypt is to ensure that Gaza’s only exit to the outside world that is not under the control of Israeli soldiers will be open completely, permanently and unconditionally.

As we are sure your Excellency would agree, freedom of movement is a basic human right and should not be made subservient to political considerations, especially given that Rafah is the only lifeline the people of Gaza have to the outside world.”

The delegates pointed out that the current crossing process often results in significant, and in some cases inhumane, suffering on the part of the ordinary residents of Gaza. For example, Gazans often have to register and wait for weeks for “their turn” to leave the territory. The nature of the process often requires people to spend over 10 hours waiting to cross, including the time it takes to gather in a collection area in Gaza and be transported by buses to the crossing.

They also ask that Palestinians with foreign passports  (who do not carry Palestinian ID cards) should be allowed to visit their families in Gaza.

The delegates gladly acknowledge recent improvements to the situation in the crossing: the fact that the quota of people allowed to cross daily has been raised to 500-800 and the fact that some people who were banned from entering Egypt by the previous regime are now being allowed to cross.

These improvements are welcomed but are not enough to eliminate the suffering caused by the closure of the crossing.

They asked that the last remnants of the old era’s policy, the daily quota and the list of banned individuals, be eliminated as we the people of Palestine and Egypt work together for a future of Justice and dignity.

The ambassador responded that great changes and improvements have taken place since the revolution and that improvements would continue to happen in the coming days. He promised to deliver the petition to the responsible officials in Egypt. He responded positively to invitations of the activists to visit locations throughout the West Bank engaged in popular resistance against the Apartheid wall and settlements.

Israel drops missile on North Gaza neighborhood, no one cares

Radhika Sainath | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Israeli missile strikes Beit Hanoun – Click here for more images

The Israeli Air Force fired a missile into a Beit Hanoun residential neighborhood in north Gaza early Sunday morning. The missile landed in a grove surrounded by homes, creating a crater the size of a tennis court and destroying over forty orange and olive trees. Chunks of shrapnel and oranges lay scattered about the grove

Local children and area residents interviewed appeared to be in shock. Ayman Ismail Hamad explained that “[a]t 3 a.m. we heard a huge boom. It was so scary for the children and women here and they started to shout and cry – such a scary thing for them. When we looked out to see what happened we found everything there totally destroyed … and the windows from the houses in this area – totally nothing. The [Israeli] F-16 didn’t leave anything behind.”

The owner of the farmland, Sufyan Musa Muhammad, reported losing approximately 40 orange and olive trees, not including the uprooted trees at the periphery of the crater, valued at approximately $200 a tree. “It’s not just the price,” he added, gazing sadly at the upturned alien landscape. “It’s that there’s no more fruit.”  According to Muhammad, no journalists had approached him regarding the Israeli missile attack, which went unreported.

Thirteen-year-old Amer Ayman Hamad, whose house is about 50 meters away from the impacted area said, “There was boom … I didn’t scream, I just woke up … it was during the night we didn’t hear any plane except for the sound of the drones … after that I went to the bathroom.”

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack which terrorized local residents. No one was injured. Palestinians in the area believe that Israel used an F-16 to bomb the residential neighborhood due to the size of the crater and the thickness of the shrapnel.

When asked if he believed Israel should compensate him for his loss Muhammad replied, “I don’t want money from the Israelis. Whatever they do to us we are steadfast and strong and we won’t leave our land.”

Nil’in: The solitary confinement of olive trees

by Aida Gerard 

31 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The selective Israeli permission system prevents many families from Nil’in from reaching their land behind the wall to pick  their own olives as the olive harvest season nears its end. The families who received permissions have until the 10th November to pick their trees Most of the Palestinians from Nil’in who received permission are women and young children studying, forcing them to choose between school obligations and the important harvest of olive trees.

Harvest beyond the barrier - Click here for more imagines

In the morning the families who have land behind the Apartheid Wall in Nil’in gathered in front of the gate to be allowed access to their land and pick their olives. The gate was supposed to open at 7 AM but the families had to wait more than an hour before the gate was opened and two soldiers called the Palestinians one by one to enter. Palestinians who did not get permission gathered together with Palestinians with permission. If they by chance were able to enter without permission, they could protest the system of land grab by illegal Israeli occupation and the selective system of permission and collective punishment.

Yet the soldiers prevented everybody without a permission to enter. Yet they acknowledged the ownership of the land, admitting to the land grab, as they stated to those who waited that, “Only Palestinians with permission a can enter her land.”

The soldiers ordered the families to be back at the gate at 4 pm but the soldiers again showed up an hour later and left the exhausted families to wait for an hour.

The Palestinians who went to their land behind the wall found their trees in bad conditions because they were not able to cultivate the trees throughout the year.

One of the Palestinians who was not allowed entrance to his land said, “Before the wall [was built] we would work on our land everyday, and now we are not even allowed to harvest. My children have a skin condition that only can be eased by using the expensive olive oil. Now I have to by the oil instead of harvesting it from my own trees.”

Israel began building the inhumane separation barrier in May 2008, first with a fence marking the construction route of the fence, when in 2009 the fence was replaced by a concrete wall. During the resistance of the wall’s construction, five Palestinians, all children, were murdered by the Occupation Forces.

Ahmad Yussif Amira a 9 year old child was killed in the end of July 2008 and at his funeral Yussif Amira, 16 years old, was killed with a rubber coated steel bullet shot at close range. Muhamad and Arafat Khawaja were killed the same day as the bombing of Gaza in the end of 2008, and Aqil Amira was killed with a 22mm bullet in June 2009 when he tried to carry away a wounded child. The numbers of injuries are uncountable since the demonstrations began in 2008 and in periods the demonstrators faced life bullets during every demonstration because the Occupation Forces had decided to break the bones of all young men resisting the wall. LINK

In 2010 two young boys with learning disabilities signed confessions when facing time in prison. Three members of the local popular committee were imprisoned for around a year for among other things, organizing foreign presence at demonstrations, leading the young boys to through stones and participating in what Israel claims to be illegal demonstrations.

Though facing this massive repression of death, injuries, and imprisonment, demonstrations are still taking place every Friday after midday prayer to resist the presence of the Apartheid Wall.

Israel: Charging house demolition victims to pay costs of demolition equipment

by Samira | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The people in the Bedouin community, Mihtawish, in Khan el Ahmar area outside Jerusalem today faced a house demolition. Three family houses were demolished, which hosted in total 39 people. 30 of them are children. One family lived in their house year round and two were soon to come for the winter. The families will now stay temporary  in tents provided by the UN, but they will have to move to another area, while the demolition order is still valid.

The families received the first demolition order 10 days ago and were then told to demolish their own houses. When this did not happened a final demolition order was sent three days ago. Around 10 AM today 15 military vehicles arrived and the army demolished the three houses. Two of the sons of the families spotted the jeeps and called the head of the community, Abu Rayyed, who contacted the UN and the president of the whole area.

Charging victims of house demolitions - Click here for more images

Of course the families did not demolish their homes themselves. Not only did they loose their homes, but they will also be held responsible to pay for the rent of the bulldozer that demolished the houses. Only one woman and one child were present when the demolition happened. All the men stayed away from the location in order not to be held financially responsible.

The area is considered Area C, which means no Palestinians are allowed to build anything, yet Bedouins, known for their nomadic lifestyles, have been caged between areas. They are also prohibited from rebuilding old encampments or houses.

Abu Rayyed recently brought new wooden panels and corrugated iron for his house, but all building materials were confiscated by the Israeli army. The area is also a nature protectorate, but the hills are all sand and stones and the only green to be seen is inside the illegal Israeli settlements that are surrounding the Bedouin communities.

The families in the Bedouin community in Khan el Ahmar are originally from southern Palestine, but were displaced in the 50’s.

“I was born in ’58, but I am born here too.” Says Aby Rayyed.

Now the families are soon to face a second replacement. This was the first demolition in the whole area of Khan el Ahmar, but not the last one. The villagers have received a verbal demolition order for the whole area, and the whole Bedouin community will be displaced. There are speculations that this will happen In January, but yet none knows for sure when and how it will happen, or where they will go, as expressed by a woman who lost her home today.

“They want us to go away, but where should we go? There is nowhere for us to move. But they want us all to disappear. All of us,” she said.

Samira is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Literal buzzkills: What it feels like underneath an Israeli drone

Sami Kishawi
30 October 2011 | Sixteen Minutes to Palestine

Drone

Unmanned Israeli drones have been circling over the Gaza Strip for more than a day now. Few people outside of Gaza realize just how psychologically torturing this can be. Not only are the drones loud and incessant, but they also instill fear: the drones are able to fire a projectile at you at any given moment, no warning necessary.

An independent journalist by the Twitter handle @WelshInGaza recorded the following footage to give you an idea of what it feels like underneath an Israeli drone during the day and during the night.

Finally, for those who argue that Gaza is not occupied by Israel, that Gaza is self-autonomous, look to the skies. The airspace is entirely under Israel’s control and the buzzing drones are but one example of the many tactics employed to punish the occupied Palestinian population.