Category: Reports

Israeli military targets al Khalayla in demolitions

11 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Monday, July 11th, the Israeli military demolished 5 buildings of local Palestinian businesses in the closed neighborhood of al -Khalayla near al-Jib village outside of Jerusalem. At 6:30am the owner of a window shop received a call  from the Israeli military that part of his business’s building structure would be demolished. Not long after the phone call, he arrived to the shop to find that they had already finished demolishing part of the structure.

At around 8am, the Israeli military destroyed a lumber factory owned by the al-Asmar family for 8 years.  In the process they also took 4 lumber machines, in addition to demolishing part of the al-Asmar’s home that was attached to the factory. One of the sons
explained that the military had come one month prior to issue the demolition. He then mentioned that twenty people were occupying the residences before they were demolished. The police also accompanied the military in 3 Hummers.

Later that morning at 10am, the Israeli military demolished Ismail Abu Rabah’s supermarket. Four months prior they had come to the village to issue the demolition. Ismail explained that he had hired a lawyer to work on the case in Israeli court, but was not successful in suspending the demolition for a longer period of time. Ismail had only short notice before his supermarket was demolished. While he was able to move refrigerators, shelves and products from the store into his home before the Israeli military arrived, the destruction of his business has cost him his livelihood.
In the late morning and early afternoon, the Israeli military demolished buildings of a mechanic garage and a truck and storage company. The owner of the garage explained that the military had arrived only one week before to issue the demolition. At approximately 1pm, structures of the Nasr storage and truck facilities were demolished. One of the sons, Tilal, explained that their equipment and storage structures were damaged, including a tractor owned by the family.

Al-Khalayla is located in Area C on the Jerusalem side of the Apartheid Wall. It is inhabited by about 700 Palestinians, 250 of whom hold West Bank Palestinian ID cards. Approximately half of Palestinians holding West Bank IDs are registered as refugees with the UNRWA.

CPT: Palestinians protest expansion of Havat Ma’on Outpost; Israeli Military responds with violence

9 July 2011 | Christian Peacemaker Team – At-Tuwani

Carrying a large banner that read “We want to live in Peace and Dignity,” over one hundred Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists marched in protest of an extension to the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Ma’on on the morning of July 9th.

In response to the nonviolent march, Israeli soldiers declared a closed military zone, fired tear gas and threw sound grenades. One Palestinian man suffered minor burns on his legs when a sound bomb landed at his feet.

The extension of the Israeli outpost consists of a tent that settlers built about two months ago. Settlers built the tent on ground that belongs to families in the nearby Palestinian village of At-Tuwani.

The police detained one Palestinian and one international, but released them when activists refused to leave the area without them.

ISM volunteer kidnapped from court–finally released

8 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

An ISM volunteer was detained and threatened with deportation for participating in a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration in the village of Iraq Burin last week, and was finally released by Israel since there was no justification for her arrest or deportation.

These weekly demonstrations come following the January shooting of  a 19 year old  Palestinian man, Oday Maher Hamza Qadous, by a member of the same illegal settlement. Saturday’s demonstration also follows an illegal nighttime raid into Iraq Burin on Thursday night–consistent with an ongoing Israeli policy of repeated incursions into the village.

About 30 local villagers, including children, were accompanied by 3 French, 2 Swedish, 2 British, an American, and  1 Brazilian international observer during their weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli settlement of Bracha. Local villagers and international activists were forced to flee down a steep escarpment into the valley and adjacent village, while under fire from what observers noted to  be high velocity tear gas canisters according to their range, as well as rubber coated steel bullets that were shot at head height. During the attempt to escape pursuing Israeli forces, two international activists, who wish to remain anonymous, suffered minor injuries.

At one point Israeli forces were also seen throwing stones at a Palestinian medic  after protesting their illegal and unjustified arrest of a nonviolent, international activist.

“She was ahead of us all,” commented a British activist who witnessed the arrest of the woman. “Three soldiers were around her, and a male soldier made the arrest. She went limp while soldiers dragged her away.”

The activist, from Brazil, was arrested and accused of assaulting Israeli police by throwing stones and told she was going to be taken to a court hearing on Sunday, facing  possible deportation.  The hearing was scheduled to take place at 8:00 Sunday morning, yet she was transported to a deportation center without hearing.

A representative of the State  affirmed in an informal meeting with the woman’s lawyers that she had been released around approximately 9:30 AM, while Prison Administration insisted that the activist was still in custody as of 12pm.  Lawyers commented that this inconsistency opened a window for deportation police to illegally transport the woman to a deportation center without a hearing or legal consul. Lawyers commented that the woman’s illegal detention facilitated a planned deportation process.

The volunteer remained in custody while lawyers petitioned the state to release her. On July 6th the court answered with a decision that the volunteer  may not be deported and that the State has to respond until July 7th at 12:00 PM to the lawyers’ request to release her immediately. After waiting for the state’s response the volunteer was released yesterday without any conditions and her visa was extended for an additional week.

Gaza summer camp teaches service, struggle

6 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp
Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp

At Vittorio’s funeral in Gaza the crowds chanted “Viktor is with the fisherman, Viktor is with the farmers”, Vittorio is still with the people of Gaza. He lives on in their hearts. He has been honored with a football tournament in Rafah, with a street in Gaza, with a school in the Jordan Valley, but I think that perhaps the honor that would be closest to his heart is the Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp in Beit Hanoun. Vittorio had worked in Beit Hanoun his entire time in Gaza. Riding in ambulances during Operation Cast Lead and supporting the weekly demonstrations against the buffer zone since then. The Fursan Al Ghad Youth Center honored him by naming their summer camp in his honor, the Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp.

Fursan Al Ghad is a small center, just a small three room building, a courtyard, and a van. It is a center with big goals though. It seeks not only to provide the children with a safe space for summer fun, but to remind them that they are part of something bigger than themselves. The children not only participate in art and music programs, but they also perform community service and protest the occupation.

The Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human camp opened in mid-June. It serves sixty children from age eight to fifteen. Sixty children in one small building.  Every morning the children stream in at nine A.M. Soon the entire building is alive with singing dancing children. Like Vittorio, the teachers at Fursan Al Ghad love to sing, Bella Ciao, Inadakoom, traditional Palestinian songs. The children love to both sing and dance debka. Many of them are surprisingly good, eight year old Fred Astairs.

The children also do art projects, both in the classrooms and outside. The wall across from Fursan Al Ghad is now covered in a beautiful new mural. The most beautiful project though, was building kites. A dozen amazing kites with beautiful geometric designs. The kites had long tails made from old homework cut into strips, perhaps to celebrate the end of the school year. On the kites the children wrote messages, messages like “the children of Gaza deserve freedom” and “end the siege”. We went out to the hills east of Beit Hanoun, on a beautiful Tuesday morning to fly the kites. The wind was brisk, the air was beautiful, the kites soared into the air. After admiring them for a while, the strings were cut, the kites sailed across the wall towards Sderot, hopefully the messages carried by the kites will be read and understood.

Kids being kids, the camp also provides games and sports. Days were organized to play football, basketball, volleyball and jump rope. The children participated in a 1k race; the five winners received t shirts. There was even a trip to the beach so the children could go swimming. That was, obviously, a very popular day for the children. Going to the beach is one of the few trips that children can take in Gaza; the siege prevents them from leaving, even from going to the West Bank or Jerusalem.

The children also learned about being part of a community. One day was devoted to cleaning the streets of Beit Hanoun. Sixty hands makes light work. They left a mural across from Fursan Al Ghad for everyone to appreciate.

Perhaps the best day though, was the last day. The children went to club where they could ride horses and camels. After being entertained for a few hours of singing dancing clowns, the horses were brought out. The children were entranced. Even the ones that were afraid couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride the horses. They also enjoyed seeing their teachers ride horses, some for the first time. After they were finished riding horses the children came to the port of Gaza. At the port, they boarded boats, and went to sea, some for the first time. They did this in memory of Vik, who loved the sea, and loved the fishermen that worked there.

Fursan al Ghad strove to not only provide the children with fun things to do over the summer, but to show the children that they can have a positive effect on their community, to help them find their voice in the struggle for freedom and justice. Fursan Al Ghad remembered not only the music of Vik, not only Bella Ciao, but also that struggle was part of Vik. The children not only sang, like Vik, they raised their voices against the occupation. For this, thank you Fursan Al Ghad, for remembering all of Vik.

Iraq Burin Raided

6 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

More than 300 Israeli soldiers raided the village Iraq Burin at approximately 10:30pm to 5am commencing on the 5th July. Soldiers accompanied by dogs forcefully entered all 150 houses within the village. The searches commenced with the families and children having to wait outside for further instructions. Two males (15 and 23) were arrested and multiple boys were taken to a local school to be questioned and photographed for future Israeli intelligence at demonstrations. During the raids the houses were turned upside down and many possessions and windows were broken. Several gates were kicked in. The memorial stone of a man killed by settlers within the village during the illegal occupation was deliberately rammed by an Israeli jeep and broken in to several pieces. Weapons were not only used to threaten Palestinians but also as hammers withing the properties.

The catalyst of this raid seems to be the demonstrations that are held locally every Saturday on occupied land. The Palestinians have been warned that future demonstrations will result in more raids in Iraq Burin. Palestinians and international activists will however continue to demonstrate. This will be increasingly dangerous for Palestinians in the village due to the information and pictures obtained during these raids.

Iraq Burin is a small village 8 km southwest of Nablus. The illegal settlement of Bracha is located approximately one mile southeast of the village, and is situated on around 100 dunams (25 acres) of village land, as well as more land from surrounding villages. In addition to the settlement itself, the land surrounding it is off-limits to the farmers who are prevented from accessing it due to its close proximity to the settlement, leaving them with less land to graze their sheep and harvest from.