Category: Reports

Kufr Qaddoum cutting the wire on illegal settlements

19 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A joyful demonstration occurred in Kufr Qaddoum today, when more than 100 demonstrators successfully cut open and tore down a razor wire fence on a road leading to Nablus just outside the city.

The demonstration began at around 12:30 p.m., when about 100 Palestinians and 15 international activists began to march down the main road of Kufr Qaddoum. Amid the clapping and chanting, they encountered around 20 armed soldiers further down the road towards the settlement of Qadumim, standing about 50 meters beyond a razor wire fence that blocked the road at waist’s length. As the soldiers and Palestinians watched, a few ISM activists used wire cutters to sever the fence, and dragged it off to the side. The crowd erupted in cheering, and after 20 seconds the soldiers began firing volleys of tear gas into the crowd. At that point, a cat-and-mouse game ensued for about 20 minutes between Palestinians and soldiers, whereby the former threw stones and the latter shot tear gas. Through the course of the demonstration, soldiers fired tear gas at protesters’ bodies and faces, and on at least 2 occasions fired high velocity tear gas canisters.

The deliberate act of cutting the wire fence, in plain view and in plain defiance of Israeli soldiers and the illegal settlement, inspired feelings of great hope and perseverance among Palestinians and activists alike. This was the 9th week of Friday protests, organized by the Popular Committee in Kufr Qaddoum since the beginning of July. The main road, which has been used by residents of the land for centuries, has been closed at portions by the Israeli government for nine years, as part of the expansion and colonial policies resulting from the illegal settlement Qadumim, which was established in 1975. Because of the settlement, which itself occupies 600 donums of land, there is now an Israeli Military Camp on Kufr Qaddoum land, many colonial neighborhoods have been established around the settlement, and more than 3,000 olive trees have been uprooted. After this great success, the weekly protests at Kufr Qaddoum will surely continue well into the future.

As protesters hold Iftar in the “buffer zone,” Israeli bulldozers sever Gaza’s links with the world

16 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

On Tuesday, August 9, members of the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip joined the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative for its weekly protest by the Erez Crossing against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone.” During Ramadan, these protests take the form of Iftars with local farmers threatened by Israeli incursions. Protesters observed Israeli military bulldozers operating by the crossing, and later learned that they had severed electronic cables running under it, shutting down the Gaza Strip’s telecommunications and Internet networks for between 12 and 18 hours.

Illegal settlement, Qadumim, upheld over Kufr Qaddoum’s rights

13 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Friday the 12th of August, the weekly demonstration called by the local Popular Committee in Kufr Qaddum was held. Despite the blazing heat and that most of the participants are fasting for Ramadan, an impressive contingent of around two hundred began the march towards the illegal Israeli settlement of Qadumim. Sitting at the head of a spit of land, protruding, in violation of international law, past the green line by seventeen kilometres into the West Bank, the settlement has brought with it the land confiscations, restrictions on movements, and arbitrary harassment that typifies Zionist incursion into Palestine.

Before passing the last house in the village, the noisy and spirited mass was confronted by two groups of Israeli soldiers; one blocking the road to Qadumim along with Border Police, and the other on higher ground to the left, on a ridge above an olive grove. Those on the left are recognised by some of the demonstrators as being armed with rubber coated steel bullets. After a standoff in which the crowd voiced their anger at the forces of the occupation and reasserted their rights to freedom and self determination in the face of carefully planned ethnic cleansing, the military opened fire with volleys of tear gas.

Some young Palestinian men answered each volley with stones and defiance as the amount of gas fired steadily increased. Over the course of an hour or so, the back and forth continued, ending with an unknown number of mostly older people treated by the Red Crescent, converting the Mosque into a makeshift field hospital although no one was seriously hurt. At one point several soldiers managed to out flank the front of the demonstration, throwing sound bombs directly into groups of people. Towards the end, the Israeli military deliberately fired high velocity tear gas rounds into dry scrubland, setting alight a large olive grove, owned by Kufr Qaddum.

Israeli military forces attack the freedom of theatre

13 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp has faced targeted repression by the Israeli Army in recent weeks.  At 3pm on August 6th, 2011, Israeli Occupation Forces arrested a Freedom Theatre actor at the Shave Shomeron checkpoint on his way from Ramallah to Jenin.  Rami Awni Hwayel, a 20 year old acting student, was returning to Jenin from Ramallah to visit with family over the weekend during Ramadan.  Rami’s acting colleagues and friends describe his arrest as “devastating” as Rami plays a main role in “Waiting for Godot” which is scheduled to perform in New York in early September.  Rami has so far been denied his right to see a lawyer, and his loved ones still have not been informed of where he is. Israel is citing ‘security’ concerns for their refusal to release his whereabouts or any other information concerning his arrest.

A member of the Jenin Freedom Theatre points to the location where Israeli armed military threw bricks at the theatre, vandalizing it.

Rami is the third member of the Freedom Theatre to be abducted by Israeli Occupation Forces in recent weeks.  In the early morning hours of July 27th, 2011, Head Technician Adnan Naghnaghiye and Chairperson Bilal Saadi were arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces.  The soldiers also caused damage to the theatre, smashing windows with bricks and destroying what they could from their position out in front of the building.  Night guard and technician student Ahmad Nasser Matahen was forced to remove his pants by IOF after being ordered out of the theatre.  The general manager of the theatre, British citizen Jacob Gough, and the co-founder, Jonathan Stanczak from Sweden, arrived to the theatre and attempted to call the Civil Administration to inform them that the army was attacking a cultural venue.  The person in charge hung up on their phone call.

The Freedom Theatre is a cultural centre which has operated in the north of the Occupied Palestinian West Bank since 2006.  The theatre aims to assist the youth of Jenin in coping with the stresses they face living under continued brutal Israeli military occupation.  It serves to provide a safe space where youth can express their emotions through the arts with the aim of constructing a free and healthy community.  The Freedom Theatre offers a drama workshop space, acting school, filmmaking and photography studio, library, talent campus, and various performances.

 

Windows smashed by bricks thrown by the Israeli military makes for just some of the damages caused.

The targeting by Israeli Occupation Forces of the Jenin Freedom Theatre and its community members is one of many instances clearly demonstrates the campaign of intimidation Israel has embarked on in the minds of Palestinians and international observers. Israel continues to repress with ruthless violence those who nonviolently oppose the illegitimate occupation of Palestine.

For more information on the Freedom Theatre, and to express your solidarity and support with the Freedom Theatre Community, please contact:

Jacob Gough, acting General manager at +972 (0)595348391, jacob@thefreedomtheatre.org

Jonatan Stanczak, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre at +46 (0)707908296 jonatan@thefreedomtheatre.org

Nabi Saleh consumed with raids while fasting

9 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Following the unusually short demonstration on the first Friday of Ramadan, the Israeli army raided the village of Nabi Saleh just before Iftar, the Muslim time for breaking fast during Ramadan, resulting in the detaining of a 14 year old boy for approximately two hours and an excessive amount of tear gas in the village.

These raids continued to happen on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, again 45 minutes before Iftar, while locals prepared to break their day long fasts. On the Sunday invasion 3 jeeps with a group of soldiers started shooting teargas without discretion, even reaching within the homes through open windows.

Manal Tamimi’s child was sleeping in the living room alone where he inhaled a large amount of tear gas for half an hour resulting in him vomiting for over an hour while the army was still in the village. Tamimi states in an interview with ISM that she was scared of the thought that she may have been outside of her home, visiting her mother, and no one would have heard the scream of her child.

Without her presence at home, she says, this invasion may have ended with a fatality within her family.

At the same time her brother, Rami Tamimi, was standing under an olive tree while the soldiers started shooting multiple rounds of rubber coated steel bullets, resulting in a broken finger and a broken arm. According to the villagers of Nabi Saleh, on Monday a large number of Israeli soldiers invaded the village firing tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets randomly at the houses.

The Popular Committee  of the village states that in any case their struggle for justice and human rights will not be stopped by the repression of an army which has violently tried to suppress any form of public advocacy and peaceful resistance.