Category: Reports

Israeli bulldozers destroy farmer’s land in Al Ma’asara

30 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Yesterday private Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village of Al Ma’sara in the West Bank and destroyed a section of farm land belonging to the Brijia family, uprooting five grape trees and an abundance of wheat. The bulldozers who were accompanied by Israeli military jeeps belonged to an electrical company who were installing an underground cable to provide electricity to the nearby illegal settlement of Efrat. The family of farmers, who have legally owned the land since 1964 had been given no prior warning of the destruction and neither the workers nor the army could provide any paperwork when asked. This latest destruction of property is a sad blow to a family who have already lost four dunums of their land to illegal Israeli construction.

Al Ma’sara, 13 km south of Bethlehem, is home to about 900 people. The village is situated in a mountainous and fertile rural area which enjoys an abundance of natural water resources. Construction and expansion of Gush Etzion – one of the nearby illegal settlements – has already confiscated a large portion of village lands. Villagers believe that this latest destruction of land is part of the Israeli government’s bigger plan to expand the illegal settlements around Bethlehem and link them together, isolating Palestinian villages, who are already a minority in the area and strengthening Israel’s hold on the West Bank

Random arrests and assaults during and after Nakba day in Hebron

29 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Head injury after assault by Israeli soldiers
Several teenage boys were arrested after the 15 May Nakba Day demonstration in Hebron. On May 24 the International Solidarity Movement met one 16 year old boy and his father to hear his story.

The boy had been on his way home from work at around 6 pm on May 15 when he was stopped by Israeli soldiers near the old city of Hebron. Suddenly and without reason, two soldiers jumped on him and without saying anything started to beat him in his head and chest with the stocks of their guns. The boy was then dragged into a military jeep where there were other arrested Palestinian boys and was handcuffed and blindfolded. The soldiers kept on beating the boys as they drove them to the police station. The boy ISM met was bleeding heavily from a cut in his head, for which he did not receive medical care until the day after the arrest. The boy required three stitches for his wound.

In the police station, the boy saw 15 other young boys who had been arrested the same day. After nine hours of arrest, the boy was told that he was accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Throughout his arrest and detention, the soldiers and police humiliated the boy, calling him a donkey and making him stand for hours facing a wall. They also asked him continuously which Palestinian party he was part of.

That night the boy was taken to a different jail which is used for longer detentions, where he was kept for four days. He was eventually released from prison after being made to sign a paper in Hebrew which he didn’t understand. He later discovered that the paper said that if he gets arrested again he has to pay 2000 shekels.

At the time of writing, several boys who were arrested on Nakba day were still being held without charge. ISM does not have any information about the number of arrested boys.

Three members of ISM arrested during peaceful demonstration in Iraq Burin

28 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

This afternoon three members of the International Solidarity Movement were arrested during a peaceful demonstration in Iraq Burin. The activists from the UK, Denmark and Iceland had joined the villagers in protesting the loss of their land to the illegal Israeli settlement of Bracha, however the demonstration had barely began when the army began firing tear gas at the protesters. After four hours of shooting tear gas the army entered the village and occupied houses. The three activists were taken from the street and detained in a house with other Palestinians for over an hour before being arrested. The activists were released after four hours without charge.

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. The villagers of Iraq Burin held weekly demonstrations last year to protest the expansion of Bracha, and their continued inability to access their agricultural land. This began as a reaction to a sharp increase in attacks from residents of the settlement. The attacks were frequently aided by the Israeli military, who would in turn invade the village, firing rounds of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition at Palestinian civilians. However the village took the decision to stop the weekly protests when Mohammed Qadous (16) and Asaud Qadous (19) were shot dead by the Israeli military during a demonstration in March 2010. In January this year Oday Maher Hamza Qadous (19) was also shot dead by settlers whilst farming his land.

66 year old shepherd from the village of Madama attacked by settlers

27 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

On Thursday May 26, Hamad Jaber Qut, a 66 year old shepherd from the village of Madama, was taken to hospital after being attacked by settlers with sticks and knives.

At about 16:30 whilst Hamad was herding sheep in the mountains of Madama, situated near the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, approximately 15 settlers approached him. Due to his sight problems Hamad wasn’t initially able to recognize that the men were settlers. In an unprovoked attack the settlers beat him with thick wooden sticks and knives for about five or ten minutes, until one resident of the village saw what was happening and called for help. Hamad, who was badly injured was taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus, where he is still feeling very weak. He has approximately 25 injuries all over his body, especially his head and hands, and will stay in the hospital until he recovers.

Madama is a village with 2,000 inhabitants located in the south of Nablus, in the West Bank. According to its mayor, Ihab Tahsin Qut, since the construction of the illegal settlement of Yitzhar in 1985, many villagers have been attacked by the settlers and 1,000 dunams of land have already been confiscated from the village. Settler attacks on the farmers have severly effected the village’s agricultural trade in the past years.

Apartheid expanding in Hebron

24 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

During Sunday 22nd May several streets were closed in the H1 area of Hebron for illegal settlers to walk through the city followed by approximately 50 soldiers. Meanwhile the shops in the Palestinian area were closed and Palestinians were prohibited from walking through the streets and entering through checkpoint 56.

Hebron is divided into two areas, H1 and H2. H1 is under the rule of the Palestinian Authority and the illegal settlers are usually prohibited from entering it, while the H2 area which includes illegal settlements is under the Israeli military’s control. In contrary to these rules, the illegal settlers were allowed to walk the streets of H1 area on Sunday whilst the Palestinians were put under curfew.

On Saturdays, illegal settlers are normally allowed to take a tour in the old city of Hebron followed and guarded by the Israeli military. A few hours after the settler tour on Saturday May 21st the main street of the old city was attacked by the Israeli military with two sound bombs. One man was injured in his head after being hit by the sound bomb. He and a woman, who became temporally deaf, needed hospital care for their injuries.