Category: Reports

Israeli soldiers violently suppress demo; sweep through houses to carry out arbitrary arrests in Nabi Saleh

29 July 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Military checkpoints were set up early in the morning on all roads leading in and out of Nabi Saleh this Friday, as the Israeli army does every Friday in its attempt to prevent people from outside the tiny village to support the villagers in their struggle for land and dignity under the Occupation.

A few hours before the demonstration was scheduled to begin, a number of armored military vehicles drove into the village and unloaded dozens of soldiers into its single street. In the clashes that ensued with local youth, the soldiers shot volleys of tear-gas and took over two houses. In the first of what seemed to be a systematic attempt to stifle media coverage, a Palestinian cameraman was beaten and then detained despite having showed his accreditation with the al-Ayyam daily newspaper, only to be released a few hours later without his camera’s memory card.

Meanwhile, and American activist on his way to the protest, was detained by the soldiers manning the checkpoint at the main entrance to the village. His wallet, phone, passport and driver’s license were taken away from him as he could see smoke and hear shooting coming from the direction of the village.

Eventually, his possessions were returned to him and he was told to turn around and head back to Ramallah. A military jeep was sent trailing his car to make sure he indeed does so. Shortly after regaining his phone, the activist found out that soldiers at the checkpoint used his logged-in twitter account to post anti-protest messages in broken English.

After the Friday midday prayer, people were able to gather next to the village’s mosque, but were attacked less than a hundred meters after the peaceful march began in a hail of tear-gas shot from multiple directions. Every attempt to regroup and resume marching was again answered by a shower of tear-gas projectiles, many of them shot directly at demonstrators. Three protesters were injured that way, including one in her head.

At some point, soldiers begun sweeping through houses, going door to door, randomly detaining people in the street or from inside their houses. Three Palestinians and three international activists were detained this way, only to be released later with no charge and without even being questioned. Soldiers also detained an Israeli cameraman who tried to film the soldiers wanton rampage through the village. His camera was violently snatched from him, causing it to break. Like the other detainees, he, too, was released shortly after.

Military resorts to violence in Al Walajah peaceful demonstration

27 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A peaceful protest against the construction of the apartheid wall in the village of Al Walajah was brought to a violent end by the Israeli army this morning with five arrests.

At 09:00 AM a group of Palestinians, Israelis and international activists walked through the village’s threatened olive groves to where the Israeli diggers were destroying a road, which was funded by the EU to facilitate the villagers’ access to their land.

The protesters attempted to block the digger from reaching the olive groves but were met by fifteen Israeli soldiers, who proceeded to arrest an Israeli activist. The protest continued peacefully for fifteen minutes before the assault and arrest of a Palestinian villager and another Israeli protester. An international activist, David White, who witnessed the arrest said “the Israeli soldiers used disproportionate force to arrest the man, he was screaming – they seemed to be causing him a lot of pain, it was horrible to see.”

The soldiers used sound bombs to disperse the protesters and forced them from the area. As the protesters made their way back through the village the soldiers surounded and arrested Sheerin Alaraj, a member of the village’s Popular Committee. International protesters attempting to leave the village were then harrased at a flying checkpoint.

Al Walajah is already surrounded by the apartheid wall on three sides; if planned construction on a fourth side continues the village will retain only 1800 dunams of their original 13000. A map of the area reveals the extent of the separation barrier surrounding the village. A legal challenge has been mounted by the local Popular Committee but the Israeli Supreme Court has so far refused to rule. An appeal will be heard in 14 days but meanwhile construction work continues.

The Israeli Security Commission claims the wall is necessary for security purposes, but the Popular Committee has stated its belief that “the wall is a structural displacement tool, which aims to deprive the local population of their freedom of movement and natural growth area.”

 

 

 

 

Bedouin community endures demolitions

24 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On July 24th at around 1PM, a bulldozer accompanied by 10 military jeeps arrived in the Bedouin community of Mughayyar ad-Deir, about 12 km north east of Jerusalem, near the Ma’ale Michmas settlement and demolished residential structures, structures for livestock, and confiscated vehicles, displacing three families.

16 people were affected by this demolition, including children and a baby less than a year old, who were all forced to sleep on the ground that night with no shelter from the sun in the morning. The community had been issued two eviction orders: one was issued two years ago, the other 5 days before the demolition. Israel justified the demolitions by claiming the community was established on land that was a closed military area. Israeli further suggested that if the community had moved 10 meters or so to the other side of the dirt road, then the demolitions would not have occurred.

Israel justified confiscation of village tractors because they were not licensed. Confiscation of their tractors, according to community members, takes away their means of transporting water. It will also prevent them from transporting goods such as food or taking the goods they produce to be sold at markets. The community did not obtain licenses because of the price (1200 NIS per tractor). Of course now that they have been confiscated, they will have to pay fines if they want to get the tractors and the a trolley back.

After the families slept without shelter the night of the demolition, the neighbors constructed a small temporary wood and tin shelter so that the families would have somewhere to sleep. The Red Cross and the ICRC will be returning to the village with basic aid such as tents and perhaps hygiene kits.

Ni’lin demonstrator hit with shrapnel during weekly protest

23 July 2011 | Ni’lin Village

Today in Ni’lin, one demonstrator was hit with shrapnel and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation during the suppression by the Israeli occupation forces of the anti-wall weekly protest.

The march organized by The Ni’lin Popular Committee was supported by many Palestinians, International’s and Israeli peace activists. Upon arrival at the gate of the racism wall, the people of Ni’lin sent a message to the Israeli Occupation Forces, (IOF) confirming that the weekly protests will never stop until our land is free, and we have dismantled the illegal racism wall.

The protest was stressful, following the threats of the Israeli Occupation Forces who had claimed to be planning a trap to surround the demonstrators in order to arrest them. However, their threats were all in vain.

After about fifteen minutes from the start of the protest, Israeli Occupation forces began to shoot tear gas grenades at the protesters which lead to many suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation. One protester who was hit with shrapnel in his eyes had the necessary treatment.

 

IDF shoots live ammunition at ISM activists at sea

24 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

On Saturday the ISM crew for CPS Gaza rode out on the trawler that rescued us during the second attack on the Oliva on Thursday, July 14th.  As I mentioned before, the Oliva project is currently on an indefinite hiatus.  Nils, Joe and I went to the port at 7:10 am and we rode out to sea around 7:30.  There were 3 adult Palestinian men on the boat and two young boys.  Joe, Nils and I sat on the deck of the ship’s bow and the captain and other passengers stayed in the middle and back of the vessel. Around the 2 to 2.5 mile point we spotted the Israelis coming towards us from the north.  When they were still about a mile’s distance from us I called them over the radio and said that we were “Unarmed international observers on board, 2 United States citizens and one Swedish citizen.”  I repeated this a number of times but they continued to approach us at a high speed.  Joe and I were on the bow of the boat when we noticed that the Israeli Navy was now about 100 meters from us and had fired 2 shots into the water.  We retreated to the center of the boat where the steering cabin is and I repeated again over the radio that we were “unarmed international observers.”  This did nothing to sway their actions and they fired live rounds both in the water and directly at the boat for around 15 or 20 minutes.  Joe returned to the front of the boat and tried speaking to them over the megaphone, repeating the fact that we were internationals and that the boat had no hostile or military intentions and the captain and his crew were just going to fish.  By this point the trawler had reached the 3-mile limit.  The captain desperately wanted to go further out to 4 or 5 miles because the 3-mile area is completely overfished and he said “it’s better to return home than to even bother fishing here.” While the shooting was still taking place, we decided to have Nils speak to them over the radio so they could hear someone with a Swedish accent.  We were holding out desperate hope that our status as internationals would save the boat and allow the men to fish.  At one point the gunboat retreated slightly—only to double-back and continue harassing us.  Nils repeatedly said over the radio, “Israel, why do you do this?  We are peaceful people, we mean you no harm.”  After at least 30 minutes of creating turbulence and shooting live rounds at us the boat retreated again, this time for good.  I jumped back on the radio and told them to “let us go, we are not hostile and the captain only wants to fish.”  The Israelis responded and claimed that we were past 3 miles and were somewhere between 4 and 5 miles out to sea and insisted that I tell the captain to go back to the 3 mile mark.  The captain said that we were basically 3 miles, then he corrected that we were 3 miles and about 700 meters.  He asked me to tell them that he wouldn’t go past this point and only wanted one hour to fish here because there wouldn’t be any fish within the 3-mile limit.  He said they need to fish for food for Ramadan and there would be no food if we were to move further in to shore.   I said this to them in English several times awaiting a response since it had only been a few minutes since they had communicated with us directly.  After this the captain and his friend took the radio and begged them in a broken mixture of Arabic and Hebrew to let the boat stay where it was for one hour—just to fish—just to get food for Ramadan.  It was heartbreaking to watch.  It’s perverse that the Palestinians should have to beg for this right from an illegitimate occupying force.  Although it seemed that the Israelis weren’t concerned with the status of the international passengers as they were shooting at us, I have to assume that it would have only been worse had we not been on board.  The captain seemed used to this procedure and was firm in his decision to stay at sea to fish—in the face of Israeli violence.  After about 10 minutes had passed and the captain was still on the radio begging to be allowed a few extra hundred meters for just one hour, the gunboat left and another warship equipped with the water canon took its place.  The intensity of the water pressure seemed stronger than ever and the hit the boat for 20 or 30 minutes before we were able to get away.  Unfortunately at this point the captain saw no use in staying out there and brought the ship back to the port.  While we were riding back I leaned over the edge of the bow and saw the new bullet holes from the day’s attacks.

When I went out today, one of my intentions was to observe the situation in the absence of the Oliva, and after this experience I can say two things with confidence.  My first conclusion is that this harassment is a frequent, if not daily occurrence for Palestinian fishermen.  The second is that Israel’s claim that the Oliva is a “constant provocateur” has not a shred of validity (not that it did before, but this confirms it) as the Israeli Navy is equally if not more violent without the Oliva and its observation crew at sea.

A longer version of this report originally appeared on Against Empire, the blog of International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip member Alexandra Robinson.