Category: Reports - Page 399 - International Solidarity Movement

Settlers set two cars on fire in Burin

24 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Settlers came down from the illegal Israeli settlements of Bracha and Yitzar thuesday night and harassed families in the village of Burin.

Around 7 o’clock in the evening settlers attacked a family that live near the Yitzar settlement, throwing red paint on their house. At about the same time settlers entered the village throwing stones and harassing the villagers. The settlers then got escort back to their homes by the Israeli Army.

At midnight settlers came back, throwing molotov cocktails at two cars, setting them on fire. Both of the cars were parked on in front of the houses of their owners.

One of the cars belongs to Abdeel Aleem Shuhade. He purchased his car just two days earlier, because the previous car was also burned and destroyed by the settlers. In 2002 his brother was shot and killed by settlers in his home and his wife that was pregnant at the time was injured.

Waleed Najar, the owner of the second car, reported the incident to the Israeli police, who then accused him of setting his own car on fire.

Attacks like this are common in Burin, to date 13 cars have been burned by settlers.

Burin is a small farming community located 7km southwest of Nablus. Former incidents in the village include settlers destroying olive trees, stealing and shooting animals, setting crops and houses on fire, destroying homes, shooting at people with live ammunition and firing rockets at the village.

On 27th January, 20-year old Oday Maher Hamza Qadous was killed by settlers from the same settlement whilst farming between the villages of Burin and Iraq Burin.

Home demolitions in Amniyr, a community north of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills

International Solidarity Movement

This morning the Israeli army demolished homes, wells and trees in the village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills. Two families were made homeless.

A total of five tents, two wells and a number of olive trees were demolished. Tens of troops and two bulldozers were used.

Neighbours were prevented from reaching the families, and teachers on their way to school in Susiya were stopped, and their IDs confiscated, until the demolition was completed.

The families had received their third notice of demolition in January 2011 but were not informed of the date of demolition.

Three Palestinians were arrested and two international visitors were threatened with arrest when soldiers and police arrived in the evening declaring the area a closed military zone.

The families were evicted from a nearby cave which they were using as temporary housing until the new housing could be rebuilt. They formerly lived in the cave, but later moved into tents and were forced to move to the current location because of harassment from illegal settlers and the Israeli army.

Susiya is a small farming community in the hills south of Hebron. Being close to illegal settlements, it is often the target of harassment from settlers or the army. Being in Area C under the Oslo Accords, the Israeli military has full control. Building permits are almost impossible to obtain for Palestinians, so they live in makeshift tents, most of which are constantly under threat of demolition.

Internationals assist by living in the community and by accompanying shepherds as they graze their sheep. The constant threat of home demolitions is very stressful for the Palestinian residents of the area.

CPT: Israeli military demolishes village of Amniyr

22 February 2011 | Operation Dove & Christian Peacemaker Team

Amniyr, South Hebron Hills, West Bank: At 5 AM this morning the Israeli army, accompanied by members of the Israeli District Coordinating Office, arrived at the village of Amniyr and demolished five tent-houses, two cisterns and the village’s olive trees. The demolitions effectively destroyed the entire village and left its three families homeless. All that remained unharmed after the military left was a cave and a small taboun oven.

According to villagers, the military had been coming frequently for the past several months and delivering demolition orders and maps claiming that the village was on Israeli state land, and that their homes would be demolished unless everyone left.

Residents of Amniyr told CPT that they have suffered from years of settler and army harrassment. Years ago, members of the Jaboor family lived in the cave in Amniyr, but Israeli military and settler harassment forced them to move to a different area a few kilometers away. The harrassment continued in their new location, however, convincing the family to move back to tents close to their original cave just over a year ago.

What was once a small village is now a pile of dirt mounds, uprooted olive trees and shattered clocks and dishware.

“Where are we supposed to sleep tonight?” said Moath Jaboor, who lived in a tent with his mother. “We’ll have to rebuild our homes so that we can sleep.”

Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Israeli army arrests teenagers at protest north of Tulkarem

20 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Eight young Palestinian men were arrested by the Israeli military yesterday in the village of Deir Al Ghusun, north of Tulkarem. Three of them remain in custody, Jala Anwar, Omar Abu Safa and Sohayb Abu Shakra, all aged 17 years. The teenagers were taking part in a protest against the illegal Israeli separation barrier when soldiers and the border police entered through the gate on foot and in army jeeps. The protesters were running away from the army, but the soldiers managed to grab and take eight young men from the crowd and detain them in their army jeeps. Activists tried to get between the soldiers and one of the youths in an attempt to protect him, but without success.

It is still unclear what will happen to the three boys who are still in Israeli custody, and the families have not been told there were they are being held.

Israeli army demolishes homes in Khirbet Tana for the fifth time

20 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

The villagers in Khirbet Tana, near Beit Furik in the Nablus region, once again faced Israeli bulldozers destroying their homes. Only ten days after the last demolition, the Israeli army arrived in the village, and jeeps full of soldiers blocked the roads to the village whilst the bulldozers and diggers completely destroyed ten structures, including homes and animal shelters. A sheep was found on the ground that had been crushed by a bulldozer and was left dying. One tractor was also destroyed, and it has been reported that another one was confiscated by the army.

Two of the tents that the Red Cross had provided the families with after the last demolition were seized by the Israeli army, leaving them without shelter.

Palestinian man sits amongst the ruins of his home

The soldiers blocked the road and prevented anybody that wanted to go to the village during the time the demolition was going on. Around a dozen men from the village had to wait on the road while the army destroyed their homes, and were prevented from going to their families.

One asked: “What are you doing here?” The soldier answered: “We are carrying out orders from the Israeli government, army business. These houses are illegal; they don’t have permission to live here.” When asked, “Permission from whom? Do you have any proof which says these houses are illegal? Do you have papers that say you are allowed to destroy these homes and to make these people homeless?” The soldier answered, “We don’t need a permission, we don’t need a paper, I am your paper, I am a soldier.”

One of the people that had their home destroyed was Radi Mahmoud Hanani. Sitting in the remains of his home, he asked: “Where will we cook now? Where will we eat? Where will we sleep?”

The residents of Khirbet Tana are determined and soon after the Israeli army departed, they commenced with rebuilding the structures with what materials they could salvage.