5 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Thursday November 3rd at dawn, 8 military jeeps with around 25 soldiers and one bulldozer arrived at Um Alfagara. The bulldozer immediately began to demolish six pylons built for bringing electrical wires from the nearby village of Attwani to Um Alfagara. The bulldozer worked a couple of hours, guarded by the Israeli Occupation Forces until the six pylons were torn down and destroyed.
Destruction in South Hebron village – Click here for more images
Um Alfagara is a small village with 150 inhabitants in the South Hebron Hills on the edge to the Jordanian dessert and beside a large area declared to be a permanent closed military area used as a shooting practice range by the Occupation Forces. There is no access to water except from the wells belonging to the villagers and no electricity except from the electricity provided by a small windmill producing just about enough for the villagers to charge their phones.
A new project for bringing electricity is the latest attempt to ease the life for the villagers who mainly stand the poor conditions in their village in order to protect their land against land grab both from the Israeli Occupation Forces and from the settlers in the neighboring settlement Ma’on. The project received the second demolish order on the electric poles around one month ago.
A local coordinator in the area answered when asked why the Occupation forces demolished the pylons, “The occupation has tried for many years to make life as hard as possible for the citizens in the South Hebron Hills in order to force people to move to the major cities so that settlers can steal our land for good. The policy used against the inhabitants in the South Hebron Hills are very similar to the suppression of the Bedouin population”
The Israeli Civil Administration is planning to expel Bedouin communities living in Area C as soon as January 2012, claiming that the Bedouins do not have rights to the land on which they live and that all Bedouin construction has been done without permits. Demolition orders have been issued against most Bedouin structures. Um Alfagara lies in Area C, under full Israeli military and civil control.
Attwani the neighboring village, inhabited by around 300 Palestinians, managed last year in the month of Ramadan to implement electricity and running water. The water is brought in by the neighboring settlement and was finally approved by the District Coordination Office after some months, but the electricity pylons have been destroyed several times. Two pylons on each side of Road 316 have been destroyed many times, but since the villagers of Attwani rebuild the electric pylons every time, it seems that for a while the Occupation Forces stopped harassing the villagers and destroying their pylons until recently.
The electricity villagers seek is not only useful for getting light in night but also for charging phones and cameras that are essential for documenting the violation by settlers and the Occupation Forces. Though attacks by settlers have eased a bit, there is still a high risk factor of settler violence in the area of Um Alfagara and Attwani. The settlers from the outpost Havat Ma’on have a long history of violence. The last severe attack was June 2011.
Aida Gerard is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name changed).
3 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The streets of Tel Rumeida are locked-down and divided; physically occupied by a forceful Israeli military. For the Palestinian community living in this part of H2, Israeli-controlled Hebron, military occupation is an inescapable intrusion into everyday reality. The existence of an estimated 500 Israeli settlers is facilitated by up to 4000 Israeli soldiers stations in Hebron. Grey, austere watchtowers gaze over streets in which Israeli soldiers and military vehicles are stationed at regular intervals, frequently stopping Palestinians as they walk through their own neighbourhood to demand they prove their identity. Those wishing to travel into H2 from Palestinian-controlled H1 must pass through metal detectors and checkpoints, where they may be arbitrarily harassed or detained by bored Israeli soldiers.
Movement around H2 is severely restricted. In some streets Palestinians are allowed to walk but not drive, forcing them to manually lug heavy supplies such as gas canisters and food. Even ambulances are not allowed to drive through certain areas. Palestinians are forbidden from passing through some streets by car or by foot; the main street linking north and south Hebron has been closed to Palestinians; turning a 5 minute journey into a 45 min trek through alternative roads.
However, despite the enduring hardship in Tel Rumeida, resistance to the Israeli occupation remains strong. The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’ is located on Palestinian land that is surrounded by four Israeli settlements – the closest of which is only metres from the rear of the building. It faces south Hebron, overlooking steep, dusty terraces, planted with olive trees and cratered by old archaeological digs of excavated Roman artifacts. The centre is a hub of nonviolent resistance and its existence is a testament to the spirit that exists in a beleaguered community under occupation.
The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’
The property that houses the centre used to belong to a Palestinian family who were forced to vacate the premises in 2004 by the Israeli authorities, who claimed that the owner’s Jerusalem identity prevented him from living in the area. The Israeli military took over the property in 2004 and turned the house into a detention centre, fortified with barbed wire.
The campaign to reclaim the house began in 2006. After local Palestinian activists had gained approval to rent the property from the lawful owner in Jerusalem, dozens of people, including local Palestinians and international activists, started to go to the house to re-occupy the land; maintaining a presence, removing the barbed wire and dismantling a military tent. The large numbers of people attempting to reclaim the property forced the Israeli military into negotiating and, with the services of an Israeli lawyer, the activists took their claim to court. After three months, an Israeli court ruled in favour of the protesters and the house was taken back by the Palestinians.
Palestinian control of the house remained perilous as the local Israeli settlers fought back. Badia Dwaik, the 38-year old Deputy Director of Youth Against Settlements (YAS) explains; “The settlers went crazy, they started to attack the house and us physically. Groups of 100-200 settlers came and made speeches full of lies”. The activists arranged a 24-hour presence at the house to protect it from attack or seizure by settlers. As Dwaik says, “It was tough and exhausting but we didn’t give up. The home became safer although the settlers still attacked; they burnt a sofa, stole a laptop and broke the gate a couple of times.”
As the Palestinian activists consolidated their control over the house, they started to consider how best to use the property to serve the community. It was agreed that it would become an educational centre for local people, run by volunteers.
The centre now trains people in Tel Rumeida to use photography and video cameras to record violence by settlers and the military, as well as documenting their daily lives under occupation. As local activist Tamer Atrash says, “The camera is our weapon.”The centre also offers English classes, painting, gardening workshops and shows films.
YAS (Youth Against Settlements)
The property also functions as the base for the Palestinian nonviolent activist group, Youth Against Settlements (YAS). Badia Dwaik is keen to stress the distinction that exists between the work done by the educational centre and activism by YAS, although both make use of the property.
YAS originated as a response to the repeated attacks by settlers on Palestinians in the area. As Dwaik says; “The main problem here is the settlements. They steal land and push us into a corner until we leave. We had to target them in our work as they use settlements as an excuse to continue the occupation and control the population. They divided the streets [in Hebron] and broke the social life with checkpoints and gates to protect settlers.”
In 1994 American-born Baruch Goldstein fired on Palestinians in Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque whilst they prayed, killing 29 and injuring a further 200. Atrash describes the massacre by Goldstein as a “turning point” in shaping the divided and fearful environment for Palestinians in Tel Rumeida today. After the attack, the Israeli military closed many of the Palestinian shops in the area and divided the streets. Hebronis now divided into H1 (under Palestinian control) and H2 (in which an estimated 40,000 Palestinians, and 500 Israeli settlers, live under Israeli control). As Atrash says, “The victims were punished.”
Dwaik continues; “It is an apartheid situation – the electronic gates, the checkpoints, the security – all happened after the massacre.” The Ibrahimi mosque now has separate spaces for Muslims and Jews; the Jewish section is the only synagogue in the world containing a Qu’ran.
YAS organize demonstrations against the checkpoints and the Israeli presence in the area. They run a program hosting internationals, who stay with local families that live close to Israeli settlements, to show them the impacts of occupation in Tel Rumeida. The group also organizes olive harvesting in the area, which is not just about economic necessity but is also a form of political defiance as settlers and the military attempt to disrupt Palestinian attempts to tend their own land. Crucially, YAS stages events protesting against the closure ofShuhuda street, the principal thoroughfare and shopping district in the area. .
Although YAS originated in Hebron, it now has groups and actions in Ramallah and Nablus. Overall the YAS has around 70 members and attracts hundreds to its demonstrations and actions. Dwaik says that older people are involved in the group’s activism, however they “focus on the youth as they have energy and they are the future.” The organization says that they welcome activists from all Palestinian political parties.
YAS adopts a strictly nonviolent approach to its activities and provides training in nonviolent resistance. “Nonviolence is more difficult to deal with than violence. You have to control yourself, it is not easy. We are already surrounded and occupied, it is not possible to carry guns. Nonviolence is difficult and may take a long time but violence would create a violent community” said Dwaik. Nonviolent tactics help to recruit Israeli and international peace activists to their cause and the strict adherence to nonviolent principles combats the Israeli narrative that Palestinians resisting occupation are ‘terrorists’.
Dwaik also points to several examples of successful nonviolent resistance in other countries such as Egypt, South Africa andSerbia- in which Otpor!, a nonviolent youth movement, played a significant role in the peaceful overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in 2003. YAS has established links with Otpor!, with the latter providing training to YAS activists in nonviolent resistance tactics.
Despite the work done by the educational centre and YAS, intimidation and harassment by the Israeli military and settlers continues. Attempts to pick olives on Palestinian land in the area a few days ago were disrupted by the Israeli security forces, who detained a group of Palestinians, confiscated their identity cards and filmed them for around 20 minutes. Soldiers pushed and shoved Palestinians and international observers and then unlawfully forced people who had been picking olives to leave the area.
On the same day, settlers walked onto the land and attempted to intimidate Palestinians as they picked olives. Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist Israeli settler, provoked outrage by standing on a Palestinian flag in the olive groves. A recently painted-over Star of David and anti-Palestinian graffiti remains visible on the rear walls of the building and the property’s water supply was deliberately cut earlier.
However, Dwaik claims that the work done in reclaiming the house and the subsequent success of the educational centre and YAS has helped reinvigorate the once divided Palestinian community in Tel Rumeida – “Now we have created a life here”. Atrash continues;, “We want our rights, we will never give up and we don’t use violence. We can prevent Israeli expansion in this way. The house is a living example.”
Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
2 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Below is an abridged transcript of talks given by Palestinian former-prisoners, (released as part of the Hamas-Shalit deal) at PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs ) Roundtable on ‘Prisoner Release – Palestinian Narratives’ on 31 October 2011.
Ibrahim Mish’al
I was captured on the 28 March 1990. The Israelis entered my house with explosives and dogs; they didn’t care about the fact that there were children in the house. My son was two years old then and my daughter was one years old. My wife was three months pregnant. It was really horrifying for them and my daughter couldn’t speak for one year afterwards.
I will never forget those moments or the look on my family’s faces when the whole house, the walls, everything was demolished. I was taken to an interrogation facility and on the way I was hit with everything that they had in their hands, including their rifles.
I was interrogated for 50 days, during which I was tortured. I was deprived of sleep, they made me sit in a special way of sitting, handcuffed from behind. I was exposed to extreme temperatures – both extreme cold or heat. I can’t really explain how these methods affected me. Afterwards I knew that my wife was also interrogated. Once the interrogation ended I was transferred to prison. During the transfer I was also hit and when I arrived the way they accepted me was very cruel; each prisoner was handcuffed together by their hands and their legs and we entered a cell which had nothing in it, except for the walls.
I was suffering continually. We asked the prison authorities for a long time to improve our conditions. They improved some of our conditions but they were less than the minimum expected for an acceptable existence.
When it came to transferring me to court, it was living hell. Usually they used to come early in the morning and handcuff two prisoners together and take us by bus into a detention centre in Ramallah. We used to stay there for several days in a room situated underground, it was very overcrowded. Sewage pipes passed across the ceiling and they were leaking all the time. There were rats, cockroaches – the smell was awful.
Because of that and because we wanted to improve our conditions, the only move we had was to go on hunger strike. It was a very cruel method but it was the only method that we had. It can be said that it’s negative or passive resistance. We used to throw all the food that they tried to give us outside the cells. We don’t just have to face the hunger but also what the Israelis did to us – searching the rooms, hitting us. Some of the prisoners were transferred to other prisons, others were put in solitary confinement. Hunger strike is like death itself but unfortunately we used to get our rights only when we used to go through this experience.
Even after we got our rights after these hunger strikes, usually they take all these achievements that we reached away again slowly and because of that we had to go on hunger strikes each year or two because the situation in jail is really bad. Each prisoner has only 1m2 where he has to live and do everything during the day time. During these hunger strikes many prisoners died.
I want to talk about the resistance of the Palestinian people. We don’t like killing. We resisted the occupation because we wanted liberty, we wanted to ensure our children’s future. Israelis say that we are terrorists and our hands are covered in blood but they forgot that their leaders are drowned with Palestinian blood – especially Sharon and Netanyahu. All Israeli leaders committed crimes against Palestinian people. I can’t really talk about the suffering I went through for 23 years in this short period of time.
Ibtisam Issawi
I am the mother of four daughters and two boys. I spent 10 years in prison, I was sentenced to 15 years.
If prison is so difficult for a man, imagine how it is for a woman. Israel always claims that it is the only democracy in theMiddle East, and that there is equality between men and women but this is something we only hear and don’t see on the ground. From the moment I was arrested I was treated very badly, they didn’t give any importance to the fact that I was a woman – I was also hit, humiliated.
I was arrested in 2001 and maybe in this period there is no more physical torture but there is psychological torture. They used to insult me and use very bad words – I think that such words shouldn’t be used by someone who thinks that they’re a democrat.
They always used to threaten me by [invoking] my family and used to imply that Palestinian women when they resist occupation they don’t do it for the sake of resistance but for social problems, this is not the truth.
Regarding transfer between prisons and from court; they didn’t take any consideration to the fact that I’m a woman and I have other needs than a man. Sometimes it took long hours, sometimes over one day. We didn’t have any privacy in jails, they used to enter our cells whenever they wanted to search and sometimes to search us naked.
At the beginning of my imprisonment I was in Ramle prison, there I was treated not as a security detainee but rather as a criminal one and I was treated the same way as people that were murderers and people convicted of robbery or prostitution. They were always searching us because they used to always claim that we might enter some drugs into prison. Because of this we had to go on hunger strike to ask for our rights – because of that they treated us very badly and sometimes they used to try to force the needle of glucose into our arms to stop the strike.
My family lives in Jordan and my father is really old so he couldn’t visit me. I always used to ask them to at least give me one phone call to speak with my father but they always refused saying that phone calls are only allowed when someone from the family dies.
Although we were in prison we used to try to have some kind of celebration to mark our holidays but they didn’t even let us put up some decorations to celebrate Eid. They always used to say that ‘you are in prison not in a hotel’.
Palestinian prisoners are known to be well educated; although there was bad treatment, we managed to study in universities and to turn the prison into a university. And even when it comes to studying, they always waited for the right moment to prevent us from studying, another reason why we had to go on hunger strikes. I’ve been released now for 2 weeks and they’ve put so many restrictions on us. For example, we are not allowed to enter the West Bank but the problem is that most of my family and my brothers live there – they can’t come toJerusalemand I can’t go and meet them.
Nasser Abed Rabbo
I was arrested 23 years ago – on 9 February 1988. I still ask – why was I taken away from my city [Jerusalem] and my beloved ones? I want an answer because I’m still under occupation.
I was arrested from my house – they destroyed everything in the house. I was handcuffed and blindfolded. My arrest was not usual – I was not taken straight from my house to the police car; they took me through several neighbourhoods in my village, a very long distance – almost 2km, in order for the people in the village to see. I was hit, especially on the head, and everyone saw me bleeding. I think the purpose of this was to make me an example for any other person who tries to resist occupation.
After interrogation I was taken to prison, this period of time is very important for the prison authorities and for the intelligence. They all tried to exert psychological pressure on us and also during our transfer from prison to court. They do this in order to make us finish our trials as soon as possible and not deny the charges. They all imply that if you do so then the whole phase of torture and ill-treatment will come to an end.
The Israelis always over-exaggerate in the media that they arrested a terror cell that was responsible for killing lots and lots of Israelis. Yet lots of the times these people were imprisoned for 1, 2, or 3 years in prison. The purpose for this action in order to show that the Israeli people that they [the security forces] actually work and achieve things and on the other hand to show that Palestinians are terrorists.
Capturing our bodies between four walls, the reason is not just the act of capturing but also to capture our minds and to take us away from the society in which we used to have an active part. They always used to put us in very small society circles and they prevented our family members from visiting us and restricted our family members from visiting unless they were first degree family members.
They also restricted the number of TV channels that we could watch and even radios didn’t work without an antennae. Although we were allowed to have TVs, we weren’t allowed to have control over which channels we watched. They also prevented us from studying in Palestinian universities. All of this was to prevent us from being a part of society to prevent us from understanding what was going on outside.
The laws that govern Israeli prison authorities entered into force in the 1970s and most of the provisions of these laws are not used. They don’t take into consideration that the world is developing all the time and our treatment partly relies on these laws.
Palestinian prisoners represent all sectors of the Palestinian people. There are also some prisoners who are from other Arabic countries and from all political parties. Since the beginning of the occupation, prisoners tired to stay in touch with the political parties outside and tried to transfer these parties into prison as we believe that we are fighting for a just cause. Everyone had the feeling that we had an obligation to continue resisting, even inside prison. This was named the Palestinian Prisoners Movement – the Israelis didn’t like this movement and it was treated very badly. They tried to impose policies and regulations and categorize prisoners as terrorists.
In the 1970s in some prisons there were factories that used to manufacture the shields that were used to cover tanks. Tanks that kill our people. They tried to force prisoners to work in these factories in order to undermine our struggle and keep them away from their national cause. But the determination of prisoners inside prison was a direct reason for forming a national unity with all parties and there were laws that governed the relation between the Palestinian parties in jail. This was in order to ensure prisoners had the continuance of life and ensure that had a certain quality of life. This movement was very strong, although the Israeli prison authorities always tried to weaken this body.
Hunger strikes allowed us to gain some of our rights and those who say that the prisoner authorities are the ones that gave us these rights are lying, we used to get these rights by fighting and preventing our bodies from eating. It was the only strategic weapon that we could use against the prison authorities to get our rights.
Ali Maslamani
I spent 30 years in prison. We live inside jails under one highlight – the struggle of wills. National dignity and humanity. We succeeded using civil and organized life to live in pride. We are optimistic – even inside jail. Because we are right holders. I say optimistic but not perfectionist – because we know what reality is like.
We achieved many physical achievements but the most important achievements are the moral ones. Life in prison became a very unique kind of life – everyone respected the other. I have to say that I’m really happy and words can’t express what I feel now I am free and I am among my family and friends.
When I was released I started feeling time. The problem in prison is that you don’t feel time – we used to call time in prison ‘compressed time’ because there are no incidences, nothing happens, each day is the same. But when I was released I told my mother that only in one day I did so many things and went to so many places and this is the value of freedom.
After we met our families and friends we forgot all the suffering and we knew that it was not for nothing. We wonder whether this will help the awareness of our people and we also say that we will also be soldiers in order to help our people.
We think that this is a continuous ceremony where the Palestinian people are celebrating their own sons that came to liberty. Every single one of us is a big humanitarian case. I’ve seen so many emotional scenes in my life but it was an amazing scene when we went out of prison and we saw how our families and friends shared our happiness and congratulated us. There is a need for a poet to really explain how we felt.
In prison everyone has their own case – some throw stones, some did an operation, others killed Israelis but when we are asked about this we never brag about this, we always say that we resisted occupation in order to get liberty and to live in pride and have our own country.
We used to send letters to national personalities and we always called for peaceful resistance for our people because we think bloodshed should stop and our people have the right to live on this land with holy Jerusalem as its capital. Today UNESCO accepted Palestine as a full member and because of that we will keep being optimistic.
Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
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.
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.”
