Category: Reports - Page 384 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli gunboat fires on fishermen in Gazan waters

1 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Ramadan Zidan, 51, and his son Mohamed, 20 set sail from the harbor in Gaza at seven in the morning, they didn’t plan to go far, only to fish outside of the harbor. For an hour and half everything went well, it was a beautiful morning and they still hoped to have a successful day of fishing. When the Israeli gunboat first started to approach them at eight thirty a.m. they thought nothing of it, they were close to the port, nowhere near the Israeli imposed three mile limit on Palestinian fisherman. Unexpectedly the gunboat started to shoot around their boat. The boat wasn’t hit, and the gunboat left the area, so the men went back to fishing. Then they saw the gunboat turn around and come at them again. It opened fire on the boat again; the front of their boat was hit several times with bullets. The gunboat then told the men that they were under arrest. Fearing that after confiscating the boat the Israeli’s would either damage the boat while it was in Ashdod, as routinely happens to the seized boats of Palestinian fisherman, or even worse refuse to return the boat, the fisherman started the engine and began to return to port. The gunboat shot the engine of the boat, but miraculously the engine didn’t stop working and the fisherman made it safely back to port despite the shell in the engine and the many bullet holes in their ship. They hope to return to fishing soon, they have no other way to support their families.

Settler arson attack on the village of Madama

01 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

On Monday 30 May at 4pm, the villagers of Madama reported that a fire had been started by seven to eight settlers in one of the village’s wheat fields. The field was close to the place where less than a week ago, Hamad Jaber Qut – a 66 year old shepherd, was attacked by 15 settler youths with knives and sticks whilst tending his sheep and getting ready for prayer.

Mohammed, a resident of Madama, witnessed the arson attack which came at the hands of settlers who reside in the illegal settlement, Yizhar which is 1.5km away on top of one of the hills overlooking the Palestinian village. Mohammed saw them throw petrol and light the wheat. On seeing the smoke, the residents of Madama called the fire brigade to put the fire out, by which time the settlers had retreated back into the settlement. The fire was put out in due course.

When the ISM went to see where the attack had taken place, a jeep of Israeli soldiers could be seen watching the area.

This arson attack follows a violent physical attack on Hamad Jaber Qut who has sustained serious injuries to his face including two black eyes, gashes to his head, and bruising to his abdomen and legs after being attacked by 15 settler youths. When asked by the ISM whether he would go back to the land, he replied; “This land is our land, the settlement is in an area they should not be. The settlers did not take into consideration that I was preparing to pray before I was attacked. They are animals. This will not make us feel afraid, we have the right and god will be with us. All the world should know that their [the settlers] existence is illegal.” When asked whether he will go back to the land to tend his sheep, he replied; “Yes, I will go back. They will not stop us going.”

Madama is a village with 2,000 inhabitants located in the south of Nablus, in the West Bank. According to its mayor, Lehab Tahsin Qut, since the construction of the illegal settlement of Yitzhar in 1985, 1,000 dunams of land has already been confiscated from the village.

Israeli forces destroy house and barn in the Bedouin village of Arab Abu Farda, south Qalqilya

1 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

At 8am on Monday May 30, eight Israeli jeeps and two bulldozers destroyed two Bedouin “barracks” (shacks) in the village of Arab Abu Farda, south of Qalqilya. One of the barracks belonged to Abdul Qader and was home to 12 people and the other housed cows which belonged to his neighbor. According to Abdul Qader, the Israeli army came without warning, gave the family no opportunity to take out their belongings, (not even anything for the children) and used unnecessary force and aggression with them.

Abdul Qader lives with his wife and his eight children, the eldest being 13 years old, the youngest being one year old, plus two female cousins. They are agricultural people, who work with sheep. The barrack had no running water and no electricity; the family used a motor for electricity and had to buy very expensive water tanks to enable them to have water for them and their animals. They have lived like this for many years. Qader´s wife told ISM that one of her children had asked her: “Why do we live like this, we have no electricity, no water, no school”. And she has always tried to find an answer for her children. Now she has no answer for them when they ask why they have no house. They were struggling to find a place to stay for the night and repeatedly said “Where are my children going to sleep tonight?”

The Qader family's home after demolition

Arab Abu Farda is a small Bedouin village with approximately 75 inhabitants in the south of Qalqilya, but it is located on the other side of the separation barrier, which makes it isolated from the West Bank.

Palestinians remember Freedom Flotilla martyrs in Gaza port

31 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement – Gaza

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in Mina, the port of Gaza City, to remember the nine Turkish activists killed by Israeli naval commandos during their attack on the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010.

The gatherings occurred over Monday, 30 May and Tuesday, 31 May. The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) organized Monday’s commemoration. The Palestinian government in Gaza hosted Tuesday’s dedication of the Freedom Flotilla Martyrs Memorial and Square, a project of the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing and the Ministry of Transportation.

Both events drew hundreds of Palestinians, as well as the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip and other foreign activists.

“The monument is composed of nine 12-meter-hight sails, symbolizing the nine martyrs, in addition to a metal ball which crowns the top of the edifice,” Yasser Al-Shanti, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, told Alresalah.ps about the Memorial before Tuesday’s unveiling. “The ball symbolizes planet Earth, in a clear indication of this heroic action which drew the world’s attention to the siege of Gaza.”
The Memorial and Square were dedicated following addresses by representatives of the Palestinian government in Gaza and international organizations involved in efforts to end the ongoing blockade, including the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
After Monday’s ceremony, dozens of participants took to the sea in boats, tossing flowers into the waves to commemorate the shooting deaths of Cengiz Akyüz (42), Ali Haydar Bengi (39), İbrahim Bilgen (61), Furkan Doğan (19), Cevdet Kılıçlar (38), Cengiz Songür (47), Çetin Topçuoğlu (53), Fahri Yaldız (43), and Necdet Yıldırım (32).

The events followed a year after their killings, which sparked global outrage and were condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Council as the products of “[a] series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law.” The international reaction forced the Israeli government to modify its occupation policies, which it falsely claimed as an “easing” of its siege on Gaza.

They also came only three weeks before the launch of Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human, which will send 15 ships to challenge the blockade beginning 20 June.

Olive trees destroyed outside Bethlehem

31 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

This morning Maher Abu Sab’a’ discovered that 248 out of the 250 olive tree saplings that had recently been planted on his land had been destroyed over-night. The saplings which had been planted three months previously had been systematically uprooted from the earth and broken with their remains left scattered over the earth. The land is situated outside Bethlehem next to a number of illegal Israeli settlements including Kiryat Arba, one of the largest illegal settlement in the West Bank with approximately 10,000 inhabitants. The attack took place right next to the Israeli checkpoint and watch tower on road 60, however it would appear that there was no intervention in the attack. Last year Maher lost all of the almond and grape trees from his land when settlers set light to the same field. He now plans to re-plant all of the trees he has lost.